On January 6, Charles Stoneham died. From Wikipedia: Stoneham had a close business relationship with Arnold Rothstein, a notorious organized crime boss who ran numerous gambling operations. Rothstein, best known for fixing the 1919 World Series, brokered Stoneham's purchase of the New York Giants baseball team in 1919. He also co-owned a billiard parlour with Stoneham's right hand man, Giants manager John McGraw.
Ownership of the Giants passed to Stoneham's son, Horace, who would remain the team's owner for forty years.
On February 2, the first-ever selection for the Baseball Hall of Fame was made. Only Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson made the cut.
On May 3, Joe DiMaggio made his debut with the Yankees. (Spoiler alert- the Yankees will proceed to win 4 consecutive World Series.) Babe Ruth has been gone a couple years and Lou Gehrig is the undisputed superstar. Gehrig will earn the AL MVP this year.
On June 9, my father celebrated his 14th birthday. He lived in Great Neck, New York, on Long Island, about twenty miles east of the Polo Grounds, as the crow flies. He was a Giants fan. I don't know if he just followed them on the radio, or if his dad took him to games sometimes. Maybe they also went to Yankee Stadium or Ebbetts Field sometimes. I'll never know. They weren't poor, so they could have done anything they wanted to do.
On September 23 Carl Hubbell (pictured above) recorded his 16th consecutive victory. His record for the season was 26-6 and he would be the first ever unanimous choice to be NL MVP. My father didn't talk about these days nearly enough, but when he mentioned the Giants of his youth, he always said Hubbell was his favorite.
More Wiki: Hubbell recorded five consecutive 20-win seasons for the Giants (1933–37), and helped his team to three NL pennants and the 1933 World Series title. In the 1933 Series, he won two complete game victories, including an 11-inning 2–1 triumph in Game Four (the run was unearned). In six career Series starts, he was 4–2 with 32 strikeouts and a low 1.79 earned run average. Hubbell finished his career with a 253–154 record, 1678 strikeouts, 724 walks, 36 shutouts and a 2.97 ERA, in 3590 innings pitched. He won 24 consecutive games between 1936 (16) & 1937 (8), the longest such streak ever recorded in either the National league or American League. He was twice named National League MVP (1933, 1936) (1st unanimous MVP pick in 1936). He led the league in wins 3 times in 1933 (23), 1936 (26), and 1937 (22). He led the league in ERA three times in 1933 (1.66), 1934 (2.30), and 1936 (2.31). He led the league in innings pitched in 1933 (308). He led the league in strikeouts in 1937 (159). He led the league in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched in 1938 (5.23). He led the league in shutouts in 1933 (10). He led the league in saves in 1934 (eight, retroactively credited). He compiled a streak of 46 1/3 scoreless innings and four shutouts in 1933. He pitched a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates (11–0, May 8, 1929). He pitched an 18-inning shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals (1–0, July 2, 1933).
The Giants won the National League Pennant in 1936 and lost the World Series to The Yankees, then did it again in 1937.
2 comments:
I remember these posts from last year. Good times. I love reminiscing. Maybe post about Mel Ott next? Everyone always forgets about the short guys.
Speaking of short guys, I still can't believe that Andres Torres got not a single MVP vote. Sadface :(
I wrote something about Ott a while ago. Maybe Mark could find it in the archives and forward it to you.
I think the single coolest thing about both Hubbell and Ott is that they both played their entire careers with the Giants. And both careers were long and glorious.
I try to imagine what it was like to be a 14 year old kid rooting for a team like that. What it was like to be a New Yorker and a baseball fan.
Remember, the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium were only about a mile apart, on opposite sides of the Harlem River.
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