The Dodgers End Carl Hubbell's 24-Game Winning Streak

On May 31, 1937, a Memorial Day crowd of 61,756 packed the Polo Grounds to watch Carl Hubbell chase his 25th consecutive victory. The Brooklyn Dodgers ended the streak with a 10-3 rout in Game 1 of a doubleheader, tagging Hubbell for five runs before he was pulled in the fourth inning. It was the shortest outing of his season and the first loss he had suffered since July 13, 1936.

Brooklyn's Babe Phelps led the attack, going 5-for-6 with multiple extra-base hits. The Dodgers jumped on Hubbell for two runs in the first inning, two more in the third, and another in the fourth. The screwball that had baffled National League hitters for nearly a full calendar year did not have its usual bite. Hubbell's control was off, and the Dodgers punished every mistake.

The crowd was the second-largest in Polo Grounds history. Fans had arrived expecting to witness history extended, not history completed. When Hubbell left the mound in the fourth, the applause was generous but the mood had shifted. The streak that had dominated baseball conversation since the previous summer was over.

Hubbell's 24 consecutive victories across the 1936 and 1937 seasons remain the longest such streak in major league history. He won 16 straight decisions to close out 1936 and eight more to open 1937. The record has survived every era of baseball since, outlasting the dead-ball pitchers who threw complete games on two days' rest, the expansion-era aces who faced diluted lineups, and the modern starters who benefit from bullpen support their predecessors never had.

Hubbell pitched 11 more seasons after the streak ended, finishing his career with a 253-154 record and a 2.98 ERA. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947. The screwball that powered the streak eventually destroyed his arm, leaving it permanently twisted. The price of 24 straight wins was written on his body.