Lowell L. Blaisdell

I love a good baseball biography. However, this biography of 1930s era New York Giants screwball pitcher, Carl Hubbell, is not a good baseball biography.

The author has certainly tracked down a substantial amount of information about this Oklahoma-born pitcher. However, his writing style is awkward and his words often flowery. I felt as though someone gave the author a thesaurus and he managed to find words that were close, but not exactly right.

The excessive verbiage made this book tough to get through. For instance, why not just say that Hubbell married his girlfriend? Instead, Hubbell and his "inamorata"..."decided to venture upon matrimony."

Typically, I'll read a baseball biography in several days or, certainly, in less than a week. It took me over four months to slog through this relatively short volume. If I didn't "have" to read it, I would have put it aside awhile ago. Not recommended.… (mehr)

The author admits that not very much information is available on Hubbell's personal life, that is very apparent after reading the book. The book is not much more than a detailed collection of Hubbell's stats from each of his games. There was no expanding on much more than the numbers. A look into Hubbell's player page in a baseball reference book could have provided the same information. The chronilogical collection of Hubbell's games was no very readable. Although it was a tough read and not much more than expanded upon stats, the book was a good effort on a great pitcher with little information available.… (mehr)

This was an okay book, but I never felt like it is a "must read." Some exciting moments in Hubbell's career are covered including his pitching an 18 inning complete game. His consecutive strikeouts of five American League Hall of Famers in the 1934 All-Star game is also described. (Just don't try to find it in the index.)

Hubbell's career is mostly covered in chronological order with statistics used to support the story of the ups and downs he experienced. He is still regarded as one of the game’s greatest pitchers of all time.

Because of limited resources, little is included about Hubbell’s personal life. But that isn’t really necessary anyway. Hubbell’s life after pitching was spent developing and leading a player development program for the Giants, the only team he pitched for.

Sometimes, it seemed to me that the author was trying too hard to use alternate words to avoid repeating names or descriptive words. For example, I was surprised to see the Chicago Cubs referred to as the Bruins. I found this kind of writing somewhat distracting and unnecessary.

I have not read any other biography of Carl Hubbell, but I hope there is a better one available for reading. This book might be interesting to readers who are interested in the most mundane baseball book.… (mehr)