Baseball Way Back: Hubbs, Beckert and what might have been
The Chicago drugstore was wedged among a seemingly endless string of Lincoln Avenue motels with names like the Spa, the Apache and the O-MI,
I would visit the store often, not for prescriptions, but for my regular fix of baseball cards. This time, though, I rummaged through the magazine rack and found a booklet guaranteed to slake my boyish thirst for baseball information.
The orange cover flashed the words "BASEBALL GUIDE" in bold white letters and displayed Tom Seaver on the cover with his leg raised and his left foot extending onto the spine. The cover contained a white starburst you might find in a comic book, its black letters promising "New 1970."
This 50-cent guide had everything. Rosters. Player and team records. World Series records. How to keep score.
On page 93 were listed rookies of the year dating back to 1949. I recognized two current players, one from the White Sox, Luis Aparicio, as well as one from the Cubs, Billy Williams. Another Cub was listed who won the award only eight years earlier in 1962, Ken Hubbs.
Hubbs. Strange, I didn't recall seeing him on any of the rosters. Yet he apparently had one really outstanding year. I asked my dad about him but he never really answered my question.
When I learned of the recent death of former Chicago Cubs second baseman Glenn Beckert, the first guy I thought of was Ken Hubbs.
In the stories that followed Beckert's recent death, the second baseman's feats were justly celebrated, including his third-highest .342 batting average in 1971, his four consecutive all-star appearances and his Gold Glove.
He was a favorite of mine as well.
But you didn't read more than a brief mention of Ken Hubbs, although the destinies of Hubbs and Beckert were entwined.
It wasn't until months after I bought the baseball guide that I heard Hubbs' name again, when an award given in his memory was announced.
Another book I bought as a boy told me his story. I learned that Hubbs was destined to be one of baseball's greats, only to be cut down at age 22 in a plane crash.
I was reminded of other stories of interrupted glory - James Dean, Buddy Holly.
The year Williams earned rookie-of-the-year honors in 1961, Hubbs played 10 games for the Cubs. He was 19 years old and described as a "lanky Californian" at 6-2 and 175 pounds and had switched from shortstop to second base that year while in the minors.
But it wasn't until the next year that he dazzled Cubs fans with his spectacular fielding.
Evidence of Hubbs' style can be found in news photographs, in frozen images of him diving and blocking baseballs with his body. A documentary, "A Glimpse of Greatness - the Story of Ken Hubbs," shows Hubbs in action, running frantically to his right to track down a grounder up the middle, before making a successful off-balance throw to first.
On Sept. 3, 1962, the newspapers carried a photo of Hubbs, a rugged jaw jutting from his youthful features, being kissed by his mother, Dorothy Hubbs of Colton, California. He had just set a major league record for second basemen by playing 74 consecutive games without an error, smashing the mark set in 1948 by the Boston Red Sox's Bobby Doerr.
It happened the day before in a 3-1 loss to the Houston Colt .45s.
On Aug. 15, he had already shattered the National League record of 57 consecutive games set by the Cardinals' Red Schoendienst in 1950.
His streak ended at 78 against the Cincinnati Reds, by which time Hubbs also handled 418 successive chances without an error, another record for second basemen.
Hubbs became the first rookie to earn a Gold Glove and was a bright spot on a team that finished in ninth place with a record of 59-103.
In 1963, Hubbs would not match the individual feats of the 1962 season, but he still played solid defense, and Cubs fans were filled with hope after the club finished 82-80.
Hubbs brushed off suggestions of a sophomore jinx during an interview with broadcaster Jack Brickhouse toward the end of the season, saying "you just want to go out there and show them that there is no such thing and you try a little too hard."
There would be no next season. On Feb. 16, 1964, the newspapers reported that Hubbs and his friend Dennis Doyle were found in the wreckage of a light plane that had plunged into icy Lake Utah, near Provo. Hubbs, who had recently received his pilot's license, had been flying the single-engine Cessna 172 in weather "very unfavorable for flying" from Provo Airport toward Colton.
The Cubs' fortunes plummeted as well in 1964, as they dropped to 76-86. The team searched in vain for a replacement for Hubbs, alternating between Jimmy Stewart, who also shared the shortstop position with Andre Rodgers, and future Cubs coach and manager Joey Amalfitano, before trying out Ron Campbell in September.
Beckert, another converted shortstop, came on the scene for the 1965 season and made second base at Wrigley Field his home through the 1973 campaign.
In the 1980s, Cubs fans would embrace a new second baseman, one who would reach the Hall of Fame, Ryne Sandberg.
Hubbs has a place in the Hall of Fame too. The glove he used during his 74th consecutive errorless game is preserved in Cooperstown.
• Reach Steve at szalusky@dailyherald.com