"His greatest achievement was his superb head work in handling and directing the pitching." 

Westfield Times & News Letter / July 2, 1884

 

Allen Hubbard was born in Westfield, in 1860, and was the first native of Westfield to play in the major leagues, but there is much more to it than that. Even though Hubbard’s major league career was short lived, his story is truly unique. Hubbard not only belongs to an exclusive major league baseball alumnus who played under an alias or false name, but also a storied collegiate career and a highly successful post baseball career. When Hubbard died in 1930 at the age of 70, in Newton Massachusetts, his obituary would describe him as, “Truly, a great, useful and full life, always generous in thought and action, modest, manly and courageous, he has left a legacy or rare value to his college, to his home community, his church, his friends and his family.”