Tobin was born in Oakland, California, where the hometown
Oakland Oaks of the
Pacific Coast League picked him up. They sent him to their Bisbee-Douglas farm team in the
Arizona–Texas League. The
New York Yankees signed him shortly thereafter. He played for them in Binghamton and Wheeling in 1933 and 1934. The Yankees sent him back to Oakland in 1935, where he compiled an 11–8 record before tearing the cartilage in his left knee. Appendicitis kept him off the Yankee roster the following year, and he went 16–8 for the Oaks. Rather than return to the Oaks in 1937, he arranged a deal with the
Pittsburgh Pirates, with whom he made his major league debut on April 30, 1937. In 1940, Tobin joined the
Boston Braves. On May 13, 1942, he became the first pitcher in modern major-league history to hit three home runs in one game, and the only one to date to do so in a regular-season game (
Guy Hecker hit three homers in a game in the 19th century, and
Shohei Ohtani did so in Game 4 of the
2025 NLCS). He finished the 1942 season with 12 wins and a league leading 21 losses and allowed a league leading 20 home runs to opposing batters. He also hit 6 home runs that year as a pitcher and pinch-hitter. Still with the Braves in 1944, Tobin began throwing a
knuckleball, and that season he threw his two no-hitters. The first was April 27, 1944, when he beat the
Brooklyn Dodgers 2–0. The second was a five-inning game on June 22, 1944, in which the
Philadelphia Phillies fell 7–0 (officially, this game is no longer considered a true no-hitter, as it lasted fewer than nine innings). In another interesting event in 1944, Tobin drew a walk against
Cincinnati Reds pitcher
Clyde Shoun in the third inning of what would otherwise have been a perfect game for Shoun (who settled instead for a no-hitter). Tobin was with the Tigers in 1945, when they won the American League pennant and the
World Series. He pitched in Game 1 of the series, on October 3, which was his final major league game. He was back in the Pacific Coast League the following year, pitching for the
Seattle Rainiers and the
San Francisco Seals. He was released in 1947, but the Oaks re-signed him in August 1948. That year he pitched the last out against the
Sacramento Solons in a game that clinched the pennant for the Oaks. Tobin was the brother of
Boston Red Sox third baseman
Jackie Tobin. ==Career statistics==