From 1928 to 1943, Carl Hubbell, a New York Giants pitcher who enjoyed the nickname “The Meal Ticket” because of his prowess on the mound, built a Hall of Fame career on his left arm. Pitching against the St. Louis Cardinals on July 2, 1933, Hubbell added a legendary feat to his credentials when he threw an 18-inning shutout. Facing the Cardinals, a 1930s baseball dynasty nicknamed “The Gashouse Gang,” Hubbell dominated. It was the first game of a doubleheader, ending with a 1-0 score.
“The Cardinals were completely baffled by Hubbell and were at his mercy the whole way. Over the eighteen innings they collected only six hits, four being of the scratch variety,” wrote Richards Vidmer in the New York Herald Tribune. “He didn’t issue a single pass, only one Cardinal progressed as far as third base, and only three others got as far as second. He struck out twelve. The Cards waged a grim battle, but Hubbell never for an instant faltered.”
Hubbell’s opposition proved formidable. James “Tex” Carleton hurled sixteen scoreless innings. Jess Haines relieved Carleton, pitching one scoreless inning and then allowing the fatal run in the following inning. Vidmer pointed out that the contest was three innings shy of the record for a scoreless game. A 2-0 game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Braves lasted 21 innings on August 1, 1918. A 1946 Reds-Dodgers game took 21 innings to finish, but it ended in a tie.
In the New York Times, John Drebinger recalled that it was the longest 1-0 game measured by innings, tying a 1918 Senators-White Sox contest; the Senators won. Drebinger added that an 18-inning game in 1882 between National League teams Providence and Detroit ended in a victory for the latter squad. Additionally, Drebinger praised Hubbell while giving an honorable mention to Carleton, whose performance was equally stunning, if not more so, considering the shortened break from the mound. “As he had beaten the Giants in the opening game of the series on Thursday, it was not his turn to pitch,” wrote Drebinger. “Yet he requested that he start, despite only two days of rest, and for sixteen rounds kept the straining Terrymen away from the plate.”
Of Hubbell, Drebinger wrote, “But it was Hubbell who commanded the centre of the state. The tall, somber left-hander rose to his greatest heights, surpassing even his brilliant no-hit classic of 1928. He pitched perfect ball in twelve of the eighteen innings yesterday, with not a man reaching first base.”
Drebinger’s use of the moniker “Terrymen” is a reference to Giants skipper Bill Terry.
Hubbell dominated the National League in his prime, pitching five consecutive seasons of at least 20 victories from 1933 to 1937. In the 1933 World Series, Hubbell won two games—he completed both of them. One was a 2-1 contest lasting 11 innings.
The Giants won the second game of the doubleheader, also by a score of 1-0. Dizzy Dean pitched for the Cardinals on one day’s rest against Giants ace Roy Parmelee who had a 13-8 record in 1933. Ironically, Parmelee went to St. Louis in 1936, his only season in a Cardinals uniform—he went the distance against the Giants in a 1-0 shutout; it was a 17-inning game.
A version of this article appeared on www.thesportspost.com on July 2, 2015.