Lefty Grove – it.wiki4maps.com

American baseball player

Not to be confused with Lefty Gomez.

Robert Moses “Lefty” Grove (March 6, 1900 – May 22, 1975) was an American professional baseball pitcher. Having succeeded in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a Major League Baseball star with the Philadelphia Athletics and the American League Boston Red Sox. One of the greatest pitchers in history, Grove led the American League in victories in four separate seasons, in strikeouts for seven consecutive years, and recorded nine times the lowest average in the league. Over the three years from 1929 to 1931, he won the pitcher’s Triple Crown twice, leading the championship in wins, strikeouts and ERAs, amassing a record of 79-15 and leading Athletics three AL championships in a row. Overall, Grove has won 300 games in his 17-year MLB career. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947.

Early life

Grove was born in Lonaconing, Maryland, one of eight children of John Robert Grove (1865–1957) and Emma Catherine Beeman (1872–1959). His father and his brothers mined coal.

Grove was a Sandlot star in the Baltimore area during the 1910s. Grove did not play organized baseball until he was 19. In 1920, he made his professional debut with the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the Blue Ridge League D-class, where he appeared in six games. In 59 innings pitched, Grove gave up just 30 strokes, and had an ERA of 1.68. His performance caught the attention of Jack Dunn, Sr. (1872-1928), the manager / owner of the Baltimore Orioles minor league, who also discovered Babe Ruth.

Baltimore Orioles (minor league)

Grove joined the Baltimore Orioles in 1920, while playing for half a century in the minor leagues of the old Eastern League (1903-1914) and then, after 1916, in the reorganized International League of AAA ball. Grove entered the team’s throwing rotation mid-season and set a 12-2 record for the remainder of the course. The Orioles were in the midst of winning six IL titles in a row from 1919 to 1925. Over the next four seasons, Grove scored 25-10, 18-8, 27-10 and 26-6, leading the International League in strikeouts each. season.

Grove remained in the minor leagues until 1924, as owner Jack Dunn turned down several offers from the majors to acquire it. At the time, the Orioles were an independent operation with no major league affiliation and the International League had declared its players not subject to a major league draft. Since the reserve clause in all contracts was adhered to throughout organized baseball, this meant that Grove had no way of reaching the majors until the Orioles were willing to trade or sell his contract. Finally, in early 1925, Dunn agreed to sell the rights of Grove to Connie Mack (1862-1956) and her Philadelphia Athletics in the American League for $ 100,600 (equivalent to $ 1.47 million in 2019), the amount highest ever paid for a player at the time. .

Philadelphia Athletics

Grove battled injuries as a Major League rookie and scored 10–13 (which would prove to be his only losing record in 17 Major League seasons), despite leading the league in strikeouts. Grove then settled in 1926 and won the first of a record nine-earned running media titles (ERAs) with a score of 2.51. In 1927, Grove won 20 games for the first time and a year later led the championship with 24 wins.

Athletics won the AL pennant in three consecutive seasons from 1929 to 1931, as well as consecutive World Series championships in 1929 and 1930. During the track and field championship, Grove led the way as the league’s best pitcher, setting records of 20-6, 28-5 and 31-4. In 1931, Grove led the championship by wins, ERA (2.06), strikeout (175), win rate, full matches and closures. His 2.06 ERA was 2.32 points below the championship average. He was also chosen as the league’s MVP in 1931, making him one of the few pitchers to achieve this honor. His MVP award is the only one not kept in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, but housed at George’s Creek Library in Lonaconing, Maryland.

Athletics struggled for the next two seasons but finished second to the New York Yankees in 1932 and third behind the Washington Senators and Yankees in 1933. In 1933, Grove became the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit five times in a nine-inning game. On December 12, 1933, team owner Connie Mack sold Grove, along with Max Bishop and Rube Walberg, to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Kline, Rabbit Warstler and $ 125,000.

Boston Red Sox

Grove was unable to make a substantial contribution during his freshman year in Boston, an arm injury held him to a record 8–8. In 1935, however, Grove got back in shape with a record of 20-12 and an ERA of 2.70 leading the championship. In the 1936 season, he had a 2.81 ERA (winning his 7th ERA title) while hitting a record 17-12 and 130 strikeouts. Grove won his eighth ERA title a year later despite having a 17-9 record along with 153 strikeouts. He pitched 262 innings for the season; this was his he eleventh and final season in which he pitched over 200 innings. Grove went on to post outstanding records, including 14–4 in 1938 and 15–4 in 1939, as well as leading the AL in ERA four times between 1935 and 1939. He had a record of 7–6 in 1940 while recorded a 3.99 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 153.1 innings. In his final season, he won and lost 7 games, winning his 300th game on July 25 (giving up 6 out of 12 wins, but winning 10-6), before losing his last three major league games, finishing the his career on September 28, throwing just one inning in a doubleheader’s 2nd game.

Private life

Grove married his childhood sweetheart, Ethel Gardner, in 1921. They had two children, Robert and Doris. The couple would later divorce after Grove was having an affair with another woman.

Grove was elected to the city council in his native Lonaconing in the 1950s and has also served as the city’s police chief. During the off-season and after retirement, Grove operated a bowling alley in Lonaconing. Grove often donated equipment to young local baseball players when he was retired.

Legacy

Grove retired in 1941 with a career record of 300-141. Its win rate of 0.680 is the eighth of all time; however, none of the seven men ahead of him have won more than 236 games. His ERA of life of 3.06, when normalized to the general league ERA and adapted to the parks Grove has played in during his career, is the fifth all-time among pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched (behind Mariano Rivera, Clayton Kershaw, Jim Devlin and Pedro Martínez) 48% more than the average.

As a hitter, Grove has a batting average of .148 (202 out of 1,369) with 119 runs, 15 home runs, 121 RBI and 105 bases on balls. From 1929 to 1932, Grove had 56 RBI. In defense, he recorded a deployment rate of 0.954.

Grove was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947. He died in Norwalk, Ohio on May 22, 1975, and was interred in Frostburg Memorial Cemetery in Frostburg, Maryland.

In 1969, Grove was voted left-handed starting pitcher for Major League Baseball’s 100th anniversary team. In 1999, Grove was ranked 23rd Sports news list of the best baseball players. He finished second, behind only Warren Spahn, among the left-handed pitchers. That same year, Grove was elected to the All-Century Major League Baseball team. In the 2001 book Bill James’ new historical baseball excerptBill James ranked Grove as the 19th best baseball player of all time and second best MLB pitcher of all time.

Memorial park

The goal of the Lefty Grove Memorial Committee is to preserve Grove’s memory. The Lefty Grove Memorial Committee is based in Lonaconing, Maryland, Grove’s hometown. The memorial was completed and opened to the public on June 22, 2019.

See also

• 300 win club
• Major League Baseball Career List Wins Leaders
• List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders
• Triple Crown (baseball)
• List of Major League Baseball’s annual victories leaders
• List of Major League Baseball Annual ERA Leaders
• List of Major League Baseball’s annual strikeout leaders
• List of Major League Baseball Annual Shutout Leaders
• Major League Baseball Annual List Save Leaders
• List of all-time leaders of Major League Baseball in pitchers’ home runs
• Major League Baseball Title Leader
• Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame

References

Further reading

External Link