In 1936, Left-hander Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants finished the winningest season of his career, with a 26-6 mark.   But in an all-time feat,  Hubbell won 24 consecutive games between the 1936 and 1937 seasons (16 in ‘36, 8 in ‘37).  For some 32 years, this feat stood up in the record books unthreatened.

But in 1958 and 1959, a diminutive right-handed forkball throwing reliever named Elroy Face  of the Pittsburgh Pirates approached and threatened Hubbell’s consecutive win string. 

In 1958, reliever Face lost his first 2 decisions of the season but then went on to win his next 5 decisons, having pitched in 57 games  finishing 40 of them including a then unheard of 20 saves.  In 1959, he won his first 17 decisions (22 consecutive wins in all) before finally losing 5-4 to the LA Dodgers on September 11 and then winning 1 more in September to finish with a seasonal mark of 18-1 (the most relief wins ever in a season) having again appeared in 57 games, finishing 47 with 10 saves.

In 1960, Face was to play a crucial role as a reliever and finisher in the Bucs pennant drive as well as saving 3 of Pittburgh’s 4 World Series wins.

Face pitched 17 seasons, 16 of them with the Pirates and finishing his career with the Montreal Expos.  He recorded 96 career relief wins (fifth all-time), as well as 193 saves (sixth). He owns the NL career records for most games finished (574) and most games pitched for one club (802, for Pittsburgh).

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 24th, 2006 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.