Johnny Grubb
From BR Bullpen
John Maywood Grubb Jr.
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 6' 3", Weight 188 lb.
- School Manatee Community College, Florida State University
- High School Meadowbrook High School
- Debut September 10, 1972
- Final Game September 28, 1987
- Born August 4, 1948 in Richmond, VA USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Johnny Grubb played 16 seasons in the major leagues, posting a respectable .278 career batting average. He appeared in the 1984 World Series and was on one All-Star team.
Johnny was born in Richmond, VA and went to Meadowbrook High School in Richmond. In 1968, he was a member of the Manatee Junior College National Champion team. He attended Florida State University in 1970, and as of 2010 is one of only three major leaguers out of Florida State with at least 4,000 major league at-bsts. The 1970 Florida State team went all the way to the finals of the College World Series before losing to USC.
Although he was naturally a righthanded hitter, Johnny Grubb learned to bat as a lefty by imitating his idol, Mickey Mantle.
Johnny was a first-round pick in the 1971 draft, and that summer hit .308 for Lodi. In 1972 he hit .296 for Alexandria and broke into the majors in September 1972. He hit .333 in 21 at-bats.
Grubb spent four years as a regular with the San Diego Padres. In perhaps his best year, as a rookie he hit .311 and was sixth in the Rookie of the Year voting.
After the 1976 season he was traded to the Cleveland Indians, with whom he spent parts of the 1977 and 1978 seasons. He hit well both seasons, but was traded near the end of the 1978 season to the 1978 Rangers, for whom he hit .394 in 21 games.
Johnny was with the Rangers during all of 1979-82, hitting reasonably well most seasons and getting 300+ at-bats each year except in the 1981 strike season when he had 200+. He then was traded to the Detroit Tigers and played his last five major league seasons for them, appearing in the 1984 World Series.
He had some good years with the bat in Detroit, most notably 1986 when in 81 games he hit .333 with 13 home runs at age 37.
His last major league appearance was in post-season play in 1987, when he went 4-for-7.
In 1989, he played for the Orlando Juice of the Senior Professional Baseball Association. He hit .305 with 4 homers in 42 games with the club.
After his playing days he was a coach for the 1990 Richmond Braves and coached under manager Phil Niekro with the women's Colorado Silver Bullets team. He then became coach at his old high school, and one of his players was Cla Meredith.
During his career he went on the disabled list nine times.
He hit best against pitcher Paul Hartzell, going 10-for-17.
The two most similar players through 2006, according to the similarity scores method, are Orlando Merced and Bob Skinner.
"Mild-mannered behind his glasses, Grubb was square-jawed and handsome like Clark Kent." - from a December 2006 article about Johnny Grubb in Baseball Digest
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 1973 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
- NL All-Star (1974)
- Won a World Series with the Detroit Tigers in 1984
