(Entry No. 10)

Can You Name This Week’s Mystery Player?

How well you do know your old-time players?

My goal with this feature is to shine our baseball spotlight on some very good players from days gone by who have been overshadowed by the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, Speaker, Hornsby, Grove, Greenberg, Robinson, Paige, Gibson, and Williams, among many other superstars the game has produced. Hopefully, we can give them a little exposure before they are totally lost over the passage of time. 

Player Identity: Cal Hubbard

As always on Baseball History Comes Alive, we can have some fun while enhancing our baseball history learning experience. Each entry will include a short description of the player and highlights from his career. Some of the entries might require you to do a little research on your own. I might even add a personal comment or two about him.

So as to give everyone a chance to guess without the player’s identity being immediately revealed, send me your answer via e-mail instead of leaving your answer in the comments section. Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com.

This week’s Mystery Player:

He’s not exactly a former player, but he’s close enough! It’s sort of a trick question…so put your thinking caps on!

This week’s Mystery Player is the only person enshrined in both the NFL Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

I’m so convinced you won’t be able to come up with the answer that I’m willing to give you a huge hint. OK…here it is: He was an umpire.

The Mystery Player played nine seasons in the NFL. He was a four-time NFL All-Pro First Team selection. He helped the Green Bay Packers win three consecutive NFL Championships from 1929-1931. He’s credited with inventing the linebacker position.

He retired from football in 1936. He umpired in the American League from 1936-1951. He designed the four-man umpiring crew and positioning in 1952 that continues to be used today. He was later named the American League’s supervisor of umpires where he remained from 1954-1969. (I’m actually old enough to remember him in this role!).

This week’s bonus questions:

• Who was his coach during his years with the Packers?
• What year was he inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame?
• What year was he inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Good luck! 

If you’d like to take a stab at identifying the Mystery Player, please send me your answers via email. But feel free to add any thoughts or personal reflections you might have about him in the comments section below. Remember you don’t have to answer everything to submit an answer. Just give it your best shot!

Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com

At the end of the week, I’ll post the names of everyone who go the correct answers, including the winner, the first one to get the correct answer and the bonus questions right. 

Last Week’s Mystery Players:

Wally Pipp, Babe Ruth, Roger Peckinpaugh, Bob Meusel, and Frank “Home Run” Baker.

I mentioned in last week’s post my Facebook friend, Chris Baker, on whose Facebook page I found the pic of the five Yankees. Chris is the great-grandson of Frank “Homerun” Baker. The resemblance is uncanny! Check this out:

Congratulations to:

Don Stokes

as the first to identify last week’s Mystery Players correctly and also answer all the bonus questions correctly. (Actually, I knew this would be a “can of corn” for Don, as we’ve worked together on many player identifications over the years). 

Answers to the Bonus Questions:

The year is 1921, Wally Pipp had the famous headache, Peckinpaugh managed the team briefly in 1914, Baker led the league in home runs with nine in 1914, and the photo was taken at the Polo Grounds.

The following identified all the Mystery Players correctly and also correctly answered the bonus questions:

Don Stokes (first), Terry Farmer, Kevin Barwin, Ed Cassidy, William Carter.

The following identified all or at least some of the Mystery Players correctly (but not all the bonus questions):

Everett Shockley, Mike Bresina, Kenneth Simeone, Fred Holbrook, Bill Cunniff.

Thanks to all for participating!

Click here to see previous Mystery Player entries