July 2, 1933: Giants’ Carl Hubbell tames the Gashouse Gang with an 18-inning shutout

The New York Giants’ Carl Hubbell had been outstanding in the first five seasons of his big-league career (1928-32).1 But when he tossed a stunning 18-inning shutout against the hard-hitting St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of a pivotal doubleheader on July 2, 1933, it was becoming apparent that the 30-year-old left-handed screwball artist was emerging as the best pitcher in the National or American League.2

The Giants came into the twin bill with a 3½-game lead over the second-place Cardinals in the NL standings. New York was a vastly improved ballclub after finishing in a tie for sixth place in 1932.3 In addition to the boost from the handover of the managerial reins from a faltering John McGraw to player-manager Bill Terry,4 the Giants were also benefiting from contributions from some unexpected sources.

The Giants’ offense got a boost from a career year by third baseman Johnny Vergez and the acquisition of reigning batting champion Lefty O’Doul in a June 16 trade with the Brooklyn Dodgers.5 In addition to Hubbell’s emergence, 22-year-old pitcher Hal Schumacher had blossomed into a stellar number-two starter.6 Suddenly, the Giants’ pitching staff, which also included starters Freddie Fitzsimmons and Roy Parmelee, was the best in the league.

Hubbell came into his start against the Cardinals with 10-5 record and a 2.08 ERA. He was facing a tough St. Louis lineup that included five hitters who finished with a .298 batting average or better: Pepper Martin (.316 and a league-leading 26 steals), Ripper Collins (.310), 21-year-old Joe Medwick (.306, 18 homers, 98 RBIs), Frankie Frisch (.303), and Ernie Orsatti (.298).

The Cardinals, who had taken two of the first three games of the series from the Giants, countered with side-arming righty Tex Carleton (11-3, 3.07 ERA). The 26-year-old Carleton was pitching on two days’ rest after tossing a complete-game victory over New York in the opener of the five-game set.

A crowd of 42,000 – the largest at the Polo Grounds up to that point in the season – enjoyed cooler temperatures after the stifling heat that had recently blanketed the city.7

Hubbell began the game by retiring the first 12 men he faced. Collins was the first Cardinals batter to reach base when he led off the fifth by beating out a slow roller for an infield single.8 He was quickly erased when Medwick hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

St. Louis catcher Jimmie Wilson led off the sixth with another infield single and Orsatti hit a one-out double in the seventh, but both runners were stranded.9 After Orsatti’s two-bagger, Hubbell set down the next 19 Cardinals batters in order.

Meanwhile, Carleton kept the game scoreless through 10 innings by scattering four singles and three walks.

New York had a golden scoring opportunity in the 11th. O’Doul walked to lead off the inning and was replaced by a pinch-runner, Bernie James. After James was sacrificed to second, Carleton intentionally walked Mel Ott, bringing Vergez to the plate. He walked to load the bases and veteran plate umpire Bill Klem “was roundly berated by the indignant Carleton.”10 But the Cardinals hurler regained his composure and escaped the jam by getting Jo-Jo Moore and Gus Mancuso to hit into force outs.

The Giants put a man in scoring position with two outs in the 14th and 15th innings, but they failed to score both times.11

The Cardinals put a runner on second with one out in the 17th; it was only the third time in the game that Hubbell allowed a runner in scoring position. This rare opportunity forced St. Louis manager Gabby Street to make a fateful decision: He sent veteran right-handed batter Bob O’Farrell up to the plate to pinch-hit for Carleton.12 The move backfired, as Hubbell ended the threat by striking out O’Farrell looking at a “sweeping hook” and retiring Martin on a groundout.13

Thirty-nine-year-old reliever Jesse Haines came in to pitch for St. Louis in the bottom of the 17th. The Giants put runners on first and second with one out on a single by slick-fielding second baseman Hughie Critz, a sacrifice, and an intentional walk to Terry.14 Once again, New York couldn’t get the big hit when it needed it. (The Giants stranded 19 baserunners in the game.)

In the 18th, Hubbell surrendered a two-out double to Collins before getting out of the inning when Medwick hit into a fielder’s choice.

Haines opened the bottom of the 18th by walking Jo-Jo Moore. A sacrifice and an intentional walk put runners on first and second for Hubbell, a career .191 hitter. Unlike Street, Terry chose to let his pitcher bat for himself in a key extra-innings situation, which likely meant that Hubbell would be returning to the mound if the Giants didn’t score. Hubbell hit a grounder to Pepper Martin at third, who made a nice play to get a force out at second, with Moore advancing to third. After Hubbell took second on defensive indifference,15 Critz “smashed a single through the box,” sending Moore home and giving the Giants a thrilling 1-0 victory.16

The New York Daily News reported that after Critz’s walk-off hit “a deafening roar went up and straw hats, torn programs, and other debris rained upon the turf.”17 An exhausted Hubbell retreated to the clubhouse, where the Giants trainer “immediately went to work with liniments on Carl’s arm to try to keep it from stiffening up.”18

It was the longest a National or American League contest had gone scoreless since August 1, 1918, when the Boston Braves’ Art Nehf blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates for 20 innings and then lost the shutout and game in the 21st inning.19

Hubbell finished with an epic pitching line for his 18 innings of work: no runs, 6 hits, no walks, and 12 strikeouts. The indefatigable hurler had 12 one-two-three innings and posted a Game Score of 132, which was the highest figure recorded by a NL or AL hurler from 1901 to 2022 – with the exception of the 26-inning pitchers’ duel between Joe Oeschger and Leon Cadore on May 1, 1920, that ended in a 1-1 tie.20

Hubbell also kept the dangerous Martin and Frisch hitless in the game, as the pair combined to go 0-for-14 with three strikeouts at the top of the Cardinals batting order. Neither man was able to hit the ball out of the infield.21

Despite pitching 16 gutsy shutout innings, Carleton settled for a no-decision. He gave up eight hits – seven of which were singles – and seven walks.

After the titanic 4-hour 3-minute struggle, it was a minor miracle that the second game of the twin bill was finished before darkness fell.22 The Giants defeated the Cardinals by an identical 1-0 score, with Parmelee outdueling Dizzy Dean in a nine-inning game completed in a brisk 85 minutes. The only run of the game came on a fourth-inning homer by Vergez.

The doubleheader sweep increased New York’s lead to 5½ games over the Cardinals. The back-to-back shutouts meant that the Giants had kept the Cardinals off the scoresheet for the final 30 innings of the series. “That means the pennant,” wrote the New York Sun. “Any club with pitching good enough to cop a doubleheader like that can’t be stopped.”23 The hometown scribe hit the nail on the head. New York held the top spot for the remainder of the season, finishing with a 91-61 record, five games ahead of the second-place Pirates. 

Eleven days after his 18-inning shutout, Hubbell began a streak of 45⅓ scoreless innings, which set a new NL record.24 The mark stood until the Year of the Pitcher (1968), when Don Drysdale (58 innings) and Bob Gibson (47 innings) surpassed him. As of the end of the 2022 season, the NL/AL record was 59 consecutive scoreless innings, set by Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988.

Hubbell finished the season with a 23-12 record and a 1.66 ERA. The future Hall of Famer led the league in a slew of statistical categories, including wins, ERA, Adjusted ERA (193 ERA+), Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement (9.0 bWAR), innings pitched (308⅔), shutouts (10), and Walks Plus Hits per Innings Pitched (0.982 WHIP). The performance made him a near-unanimous pick as the NL’s Most Valuable Player.25

Hubbell led the underdog Giants to a four-games-to-one victory over the Washington Senators in the World Series, giving the team its first World Series championship since 1922. He tossed 20 innings in the series without giving up an earned run, including a clutch 11-inning gem in Game Four.

Hubbell’s 16-year career was chock full of outstanding performances, not the least of which was his 1929 no-hitter against the Pirates. But on the 30th anniversary of his 18-inning shutout, that marathon outing stood out among all others. “It probably was the greatest game I ever pitched,” Hubbell admitted.26

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Kurt Blumenau for research assistance. This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and the Negro Leagues Database. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play information for this game was taken from the article “Hubbell Hurls 18 Goose Eggs,” by Will Wedge on page 14 of the New York Sun for July 3, 1933.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1193307021.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1933/B07021NY11933.htm

Notes

1 Hubbell made his big-league debut on July 26, 1928. He tossed a no-hitter in just his 18th career start. From 1928 to ’32, Hubbell went 77-52 with a 3.13 ERA (132 ERA+).

2 The top pitcher in the Negro National League in 1933 is unclear. Leroy Matlock of the pennant-winning Pittsburgh Crawfords had a 10-6 record and 3.03 ERA in 1933. He was known as “the Black Carl Hubbell.” Another candidate is Matlock’s teammate Satchel Paige. He posted a 1.93 ERA in 10 starts and two relief appearances.

3 The Giants and Cardinals finished with identical 72-82 records in 1932. St. Louis improved to 82-71 in 1933 with the emergence of third baseman Pepper Martin and 21-year-old slugger Joe Medwick.

4 Terry was in his first full season as player-manager of the Giants. He took over when McGraw resigned in early June of 1932.

5 Vergez hit .271 with 16 homers and 72 RBIs in 1933. The 36-year-old O’Doul hit .306 with 9 homers and 35 RBIs in 229 at-bats after joining the Giants.

6 Schumacher went 19-12 with a 2.16 ERA in 1933. He was named to the NL team for the inaugural All-Star Game and he tied for 12th in voting for the NL Most Valuable Player Award.

7 Will Wedge, “Hubbell Hurls 18 Goose Eggs,” New York Sun, July 3, 1933: 14.

8 Martin J. Haley, “Giants Take Two 1-0 Duels from Cardinals,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 3, 1933: 6.

9 Wilson’s single deflected off the fingers on Hubbell’s pitching hand. Hubbell took some time out to rub his sore fingers and then continued throwing shutout ball. Haley, “Giants Take Two 1-0 Duels from Cardinals.”

10 Jimmy Powers, “Giants Twice Top Cards, 1-0; Hubbell Wins Opener in 18th!” New York Daily News, July 3, 1933: 24.

11 Hubbell had a chance to win his own game in the 14th inning. He made the third out, stranding runners on first and second.

12 Street was ousted as manager three weeks after this game. He was replaced by player-manager Frankie Frisch. J. Roy Stockton, “Frisch Named Manager of Cards, Replacing Street,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 24, 1933: 1-B.

13 Powers, “Giants Twice Top Cards, 1-0; Hubbell Wins Opener in 18th!”

14 Retrosheet and Baseball Reference don’t specify that Terry was walked intentionally. The New York Sun game story does indicate that it was an intentional walk.

15 Neither Retrosheet nor Baseball Reference shows Hubbell advancing to second on defensive indifference, but the New York Sun noted that Hubbell “at the first chance legged it to second unmolested.” None of the sources credited Hubbell with a stolen base.

16 Associated Press, “Giants Take Two Games from Cards by 1-to-0 Scores,” Missoula (Montana) Daily Missoulian, July 3, 1933: 6.

17 Powers, “Giants Twice Top Cards, 1-0; Hubbell Wins Opener in 18th!”

18 Wedge, “Hubbell Hurls 18 Goose Eggs.”

19 Powers, “Giants Twice Top Cards, 1-0; Hubbell Wins Opener in 18th!”

20 Oeschger recorded a Game Score of 153; Cadore’s Game Score was 140. Both men pitched all 26 innings.

21 “Hubbell Highlights in 18 Innings!” New York Daily News, July 3, 1933: 24.

22 The second game of the doubleheader began at 6:30 P.M. Wedge, “Hubbell Hurls 18 Goose Eggs.”

23 Wedge, “Hubbell Hurls 18 Goose Eggs.”

24 Although Ed Reulbach pitched 44 scoreless innings for the Chicago Cubs at the end of the 1909 season and six more at the start of the 1910 season, Hubbell was considered the NL record-holder because he performed the feat in a single season.

25 Hubbell received 77 of a possible 80 points in voting. He added a second NL MVP Award in 1936.

26 In the same 1963 interview, Hubbell claimed that he didn’t feel tired during his 18-inning shutout. “You don’t notice it during the course of such a game,” he explained. “All that tension builds up nervous energy. About an hour after the game, I noticed it all right.” Associated Press, “Hubbell Recalls Endurance Game of Thirty Years Ago,” Ottawa (Kansas) Herald, July 3, 1963: 2.