The Washington times., 1936-04-06
EanstoSee
Largest
Umpire
D.. V10N AAulED
By KIRK MILLER
Times Sports Editor


My friend, Brother Bill Har
ridge, head man Of the Ameri
can League, has gone in fol
Curiosities.
With the connivance Of We
Tommy Connolly, umpire-in
chief and head keeper Of tn.
loops arbiters, Brother Bill.
has captured a real, live, six
foot-three umpire who weigh!
256 pounds under the shower
The mastadon, whose name i!
Robert Cal Hubbard, will be un
leashed among the American
League ball players for regular
duty come April IA. Fact is, HI
has been rampant for weeks
among the training camps ir
Florida where he umpired no few
exhibition games In order to gel
his eyes adjusted to the big
leagues.
Big As BattleShip
Cal Hubbard is the most
enormous umpire ever harneSsed
in mask and chest protector and
shtnguardS.
You can search the records as
far back as the very beginning Of
baseball and you won't find q ball
and strike caller who brought Sc
much avoirdupois into big league
) umpiring as Hubbard imports
this spring.
We have had 6.foot-3 umpireS
but never with the beam boosted
by Cal Hubbard. George Mort
arty, not exactly q pigmy, and
Bull Dineen, far from q midget
have diSported SamSonian di
mansions to stir the admiration Of
nature students and the ire Of fans
and players, but Cal Hubbard L
bringing to the top tent a new
motif, comparable only to battle
ships and bodyguards.
Great Football Player
BY this time you may be search
ing your memory to determine
where you have heard Of this ia
understanding Cal n U b "a r d
whose shoes are size IL, neck
measure 10, and sleeve length 81
He can't be q total stranger to
some Of you sportSpage addicts,
particularly If you've been watch
ing Piedmont, Sally, or 1nterna.
tional League baseball.
And, If your reverieS go back to
the days Of 30 Mcmillan, when the
latter coached at Centenary Col
lege at Shreveport, La, the name
of Cal Hubbard may mean some
thing to you. The new American
League umpire is the self, same in
dividual who starred as an end fol
Mcmillan at Centenary and later
at Geneva.
From boy1ood Hubbard had had
two great ambitions. One was tC
play on a team that would beat
Harvard and the other to be
named "All-America." At Genevs
he achieved both, his team beating
the Crimson, 16 to Z, in 1926. The
end of the season saw him named
A'l-America end.
An odd thing about Hubbard's
football career is found in the fact
he never played the game until he
was 10, his grammar and high
schools not having teams. So al
prep school in Ohio he donned his
first football uniform.
Was Huge Boy
His enormous size, even then
recommended him instantly to the
coach as football material and II
was also his power house builc
that originally caught the fancy
of 30 Mcmillan, who met Cal q
a track meet in Columbia, Mo.
After college, Cal played pro
fessional football, at guard, will
the New York professional Giant
and the Philadelphia Yellowjack
cts. Andy Coakley gave him hi
first chance at umpiring colleg
baseball and Ed Holley gave him
boost to the president Of the mino
leagues, Bill Bramham, VIII
worked him into harness In thu
small leagues Of the South.
Hubbard has been presiding
over minor league baseball games
since 1929, therefore, and it Is sale
Of him that in all Of his season.
behind the plate and at the bases
no player has ever engaged him II
physical encounter and no fan ha
logged his steps to the dressing
room.
You can be looking for thi
apperation to stroll out onto Grit
18th Stadium at game time any da
starting the middle of this mont,
and the first thing you'll be say
ing to yourself will be:
"Geez, when did Camera start
calling 'em around here?"