Although born in Blackfoot Idaho, Luby grew up in Omaha and played legion ball in 1929. In 1931 the 18 year old started playing second base with the Norfolk Elks. He played for Norfolk through the 1933 season. In 1933 he averaged .300 in 105 games for the Elks. He was also the best fielding second baseman in the league.
In 1934 he moved up to class "A" ball with the Sioux City Cowboys of the Western League. He was second in the league that year with 35 stolen bases and was selected to the all star team. In 1935 he was third in the league wth 24 stolen bases. His best year was 1936. Playing second base he was selected to the Western League all star team, led the league with 40 stolen bases, was third in the league in batting average at .310 and was first in hits with 155. This earned him an end of season promotion to the Philadelphia Athletics where he participated in nine games.
For 1937, Hugh was back in the minors at Atlanta where he hit .320. He then moved to the Pacific Coast League, playing with Oakland from 1938-43. He set a PCL record playing in 866 consectutive games.
In 1944 he was back in the majors playing for the New York Giants. He spent 1945 in the navy and returned to the Pacific Coast League in 1946. In 1946 he averaged .293 wiht 60 RBI's for the San Francisco Seals.
He died in Eugene Oregon in 1986. He was inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame in 2003. His 1709 hits and 607 RBI's in the PCL were an indication of his long term success in the league.
Check out Baseball Reference for more information about his major league days.
The Hugh Luby page from his PCL days with Oaks has a great bio of his activities on the left coast and some great pictures of him in action.
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