Full name Carl Owen Hubbell
Born June 22, 1903, Carthage, Missouri
Died November 21, 1988, Scottsdale, Arizona
Buried at New Hope Cemetery, Meeker, Oklahoma (Section 5, Block 13, Lot 7-N1/2)
First Game: July 26, 1928; Final Game: August 24, 1943
Bat: Right Throw: Left Height: 6' 0" Weight: 170
Bats both in 1931 and 1932

Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1947
Named NL Most Valuable Player by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1933 and 1936)
Named NL Most Valuable Player by The Sporting News (1933 and 1936)
Named Major League Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1936)
Named pitcher on The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1933 and 1935 to 1937)

Carl Owen Hubbell, one of the top pitchers of the 1930s, is rated one of the greatest pitchers in the game's history. Born in Carthage, Missouri, on June 22, 1903, he spent his early years on a pecan farm near the small community of Meeker, Oklahoma. After his graduation from Meeker High School, Hubbell went to work for an oil company.

Hubbell pitched for his high-school team, exhibiting a decent fastball and curve but not yet utilizing his yet-to-be-developed screwball pitch. After his graduation, followed by employment with an oil company, he started his organized-baseball career in 1923 with Cushing of the Oklahoma State League. In 1925, at 22, the lefthander had a 17-13 season with Oklahoma City of the Western League. By this time, Hubbell's reverse-curve screwball was part of his pitching repertoire. He had come upon the pitch in attempting to turn the ball over in order to make it sink.

The Detroit Tigers purchased his contract from Oklahoma City after the 1925 season. But Hubbell suffered a bitter disappointment in his first major-league training camp in 1926 when Tigers player-manager Ty Cobb strongly urged him to discard the pitch because of the arm ailments other screwball throwers had experienced. (Interestingly, Christy Mathewson's famous reverse curve "fadeaway" apparently did not injure his pitching arm). Forbidden to throw his screwball, Hubbell lost his effectiveness and, apparently, his confidence. Cobb did not play him during the exhibition season and Hubbell was sent to Toronto where he was instructed not to throw his screwball. He had a mediocre 7-7 year at Toronto and he was demoted again, this time to Decatur, Ill., in the Three-I League. Despite a 14-7 season with Decatur in 1927, the Tigers gave up on him, selling him to Beaumont of the Texas League.