Editing Cal Hubbard (section)

==Professional career==

===Football career===
Hubbard moved on to the [[National Football League]] in [[1927 NFL season|1927]], signing with the [[New York Giants]] for a salary of US$150 per game.<ref name=Packers/>  Playing alongside [[Steve Owen (American football)|Steve Owen]] his rookie year, he helped the Giants defense allow opponents to score just 20 total points all season as they won the league championship.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q0ybG-yMQf0C&pg=PA19|title=New York Giant: The Complete Illustrated History|author=Lew Freedman|date=August 15, 2009|page=19|publisher=MVP Books |isbn=9781616731076}}</ref> For his efforts Hubbard won all-league honors by the press the following year.  But with a lifelong dislike for big cities, he didn't feel comfortable in New York and a 1928 road game in [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|Green Bay]] led him to request a trade to the [[Green Bay Packers|Packers]], threatening to retire otherwise.<ref name=Packers>{{cite web|url=http://www.packers.com/history/hall-of-famers/hubbard-cal.html|title=Biography: Cal Hubbard|publisher=Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame website|year=2013|access-date=April 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625065611/http://www.packers.com/history/hall-of-famers/hubbard-cal.html|archive-date=June 25, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Under Packers coach [[Curly Lambeau]], Hubbard and the team won the NFL title in each of his first three years there (1929–1931). The 1929 team surrendered just 22 points. Lambeau had Hubbard play in the line, ending his "linebacker" days.<ref name=bythenumb>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m9o2_k8zu4QC&pg=PA211|title=Packers by the Numbers|isbn=9781879483903|last1=Maxymuk|first1=John|year=2003|publisher=Big Earth }}</ref> The NFL named its first official All-League team in 1931 with Cal Hubbard being one of that inaugural list. He was chosen for the honor again in 1932 and 1933.<ref name=Packers/> [[Mel Hein]] said Hubbard was "probably the greatest tackle I ever played against."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dRVMBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA183|title=We Are the Giants|page=183|author=Richard Wittingham|date=September 2014|publisher=Triumph Books |isbn=9781629370095}}</ref>

Once while playing the Chicago Bears with [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] fullback [[Bronko Nagurski]], the Bears prepared to punt. Hubbard went to the halfback [[Red Grange]] and said: "I promise not to try to block the kick, Red, but get out of the way so I can get a shot at that [[Polack]]." Grange, glad not to try to block Hubbard for once, obliged. Cal tore through the line, slammed into Nagurski and bounced off. Rising slowly, he turned to Grange and said: "Hey, Red, don't do me any more favors."<ref name=bigumpire>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5339533/cal_hubbard_obituary/|page=16|title=Cal Hubbard: 'Big Umpire' Was A Man For All Sports|author=Bob Broeg|newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=October 23, 1977|access-date=May 21, 2016|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Hubbard stepped away from professional football following the 1933 season, taking a job as the line coach at [[Texas A&M University|Texas A&M]] in 1934.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1870&dat=19760203&id=u00gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jcoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1213,871663&hl=en|work=Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal|title=Cal Hubbard: First To Enter Two Halls of Fame|date=February 3, 1976}}</ref> However, he was persuaded to return to play after that one year on the sidelines, returning to Green Bay in 1935.  The Giants wooed him back to start 1936 with them, but he played only six games the entire season, five for the Giants and a final game for the [[Pittsburgh Pirates (NFL)|Pittsburgh Pirates]], the future Steelers.<ref name=Packers/> Hubbard returned to football coaching briefly, serving as head coach of his alma mater Geneva College in 1941 and 1942.<ref name=MSHS/> He was among the initial class of inductees to the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]] in 1963. In a 1969 poll by the Hall of Fame committee, Hubbard was voted the NFL's greatest tackle of all time.<ref name=SI/>

===Baseball career===
{{Infobox baseball biography
|image=Cal Hubbard Bowman card.jpg
|caption=Hubbard's 1955 [[Bowman Gum|Bowman]] baseball card
|position= American League Umpire (1936–1951)
|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
|hoftype = National
|hofdate=[[1976 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1976]]
|hofmethod=Veterans Committee
}}
Even while Hubbard's football career was going full-force, he began to focus on a second career in baseball officiating. From 1928 onward he spent his football off-season umpiring in [[minor league baseball]].<ref name=MSHS/> By 1936 Hubbard had been called up to the major leagues, umpiring in the [[American League]] from 1936 to 1951, a contemporary with the likes of [[Yogi Berra]].<ref name=bigumpire/> Soon recognized as one of the game's best officials, he was selected to work in the [[1938 World Series]], followed by Series appearances in [[1942 World Series|1942]], [[1946 World Series|1946]] and [[1949 World Series|1949]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19771017&id=Tw4vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3toFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1282,3478180&hl=en|title=A Legend dies|work=Beaver County Times|date=October 17, 1977}}</ref>  In addition, he umpired in the [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] in [[1939 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1939]], [[1944 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1944]] and [[1949 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1949]], behind the plate for half of the 1939 and 1944 midsummer classics.<ref name=mohof/>

Hubbard found the then-common practice of officials moving to different positions on the field during a game to be confusing and hampered accuracy when making calls. Applying his football experience to baseball, he devised a system where each official had clearly defined duties and also added an additional official to the crew.<ref name="Packers" /> This was the foundation on which MLB established new officiating standards in 1952.<ref name=mohof>{{cite web|url=http://mosportshalloffame.com/inductees/cal-hubbard-3/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617082627/http://mosportshalloffame.com/inductees/cal-hubbard-3/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 17, 2016|title=Cal Hubbard – Missouri Sports Hall of Fame|work=Missouri Sports Hall of Fame}}</ref>

While he was hunting during the 1951 off-season, a ricocheting pellet from a friend's shotgun blast accidentally struck Hubbard in the right eye.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://baseballhall.org/hof/hubbard-cal|title=Hubbard, Cal – Baseball Hall of Fame|work=Baseball Hall of Fame}}</ref> The damage was extensive enough to force his retirement from baseball officiating. However, the American League soon hired him as an assistant supervisor for league officiating crews, and in 1954 he became the top supervisor, a position he would hold until retiring for good in 1969.<ref name=MSHS/>