Lefty Grove
From BR Bullpen
Robert Moses Grove (born Robert Moses Groves)
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 6' 3", Weight 190 lb.
- Debut April 14, 1925
- Final Game September 28, 1941
- Born March 6, 1900 in Lonaconing, MD USA
- Died May 22, 1975 in Norwalk, OH USA
Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1947
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[edit] Biographical Information
"Lefty Grove could throw a lamb chop past a wolf." - attributed to several
Lefty Grove is sometimes considered the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time. He won over two-thirds of his lifetime decisions, and was a perennial league leader in ERA. Grove has the highest ERA+ in history, 148, except for Pedro Martinez who is still active and whose ERA+ may decline before he retires (although it should be noted that Martinez's ERA+ will almost certainly not sink enough to be as low as Grove's). Grove's ERA+ is two points higher than that of Walter Johnson.
[edit] Minor League Star
In spite of his great major league career, Grove did not come to the majors until age 25 in 1925. Prior to that he was a star pitcher for the minor league Baltimore Orioles. In 1920 he went 12-2 for them, leading the International League in winning percentage. He had a 3.81 ERA.
Grove went 25-10 with a 2.56 ERA in 1921 and led the IL in both walks (179) and strikeouts (254), allowing 237 hits in 313 IP and completing 26 games. Sheriff Blake, the strikeout runner-up, was 67 behind Lefty. In 1922, Grove whiffed 205 and walked 152, again leading the IL in both departments. He was 18-8 with a 2.80 ERA and allowed only 146 hits in 209 IP in the heart of a high-offense era. Tommy Thomas was second in strikeouts, 46 behind.
In 1923, Grove went 27-10 with a 3.11 ERA. He led the IL in games pitched (52), shutouts (6), walks (186) and strikeouts (330), allowing 223 hits in 303 IP. He He broke Al Atkinson's IL strikeout record of 307, set back in 1888. No one since then has come within 100 strikeouts of Grove's record, which has stood for 84 years as of 2007. That year, he amazingly struck out more than #2 (Jack Wisner, 167) and #3 Walter Beall (143) combined and possibly more than the entire Newark Bears staff (the 8 primary pitchers there whiffed 308 combined).
Grove's strikeout total fell to 231 in 1924, but he still led the IL for the 4th straight year, only four ahead of Beall. He led in wins (26), winning percentage (.813) and shutouts (5) and for the first time, did not lead in walks (108, 5th-place). He had a 3.01 ERA, .25 behind Beall in his pursuit of a pitching Triple Crown.
Grove played so long for Baltimore because owner Jack Dunn didn't want to sell him to the majors; when Grove was finally sold, it was for $100,600, a record at the time. Grove had finished his IL run with over 1,100 strikeouts, just shy of the career record. After his four straight IL strikeout titles, he would lead the American League seven years in a row for an amazing 11-year run of strikeout crowns, better than even Nolan Ryan in his prime. In 2008 he was elected to the International League Hall of Fame.
[edit] The American League
He was a key part of the Philadelphia Athletics teams that won the pennant each year from 1929 to 1931 and won the World Series in 1929 and 1930. He won the pitching Triple Crown in both 1930 and 1931. In 1930, he was 28-5 and in 1931 he improved to 31-4. After his glory days with the Athletics, he remained a star with the Boston Red Sox.
Lefty was a teammate of Jimmie Foxx on the Athletics, and both of them were eventually traded to the Red Sox. In 1939, both were on the team when Ted Williams was a rookie, with Grove going 15-4 and Foxx slugging .694 and Williams slugging .609.
He had exactly 300 career wins in the majors.
The most similar player, according to the similarity scores method (through 2006), is Jim Palmer, but given that Grove spent five successful years with the Orioles, a more appropriate comparison adding in extra MLB service time might be Warren Spahn.
"Just to see that big guy glaring down at you from the mound was enough to frighten the daylights out of you." - Joe Cronin
- First Baseball Card appearance 1926-29 PC Exhibit
Sources include The International League: Year-by-Year Statistics by Marshall Wright
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 6-time AL All-Star (1933 & 1935-1939)
- AL MVP (1931)
- 2-time AL Pitcher's Triple Crown (1930 & 1931)
- 9-time AL ERA Leader (1926, 1929-1932, 1935, 1936, 1938 & 1939)
- 4-time AL Wins Leader (1928, 1930, 1931 & 1933)
- 4-time AL Winning Percentage Leader (1930, 1931, 1933 & 1938)
- AL Games Pitched Leader (1930)
- AL Saves Leader (1930)
- 7-time AL Strikeouts Leader (1925-1931)
- 3-time AL Complete Games Leader (1931-1933)
- 3-time AL Shutouts Leader (1931, 1932 & 1936)
- 15 Wins Seasons: 11 (1927-1933, 1935-1937 & 1939)
- 20 Wins Seasons: 8 (127-1933 & 1935)
- 25 Wins Seasons: 3 (1930-1932)
- 30 Wins Seasons: 1 (1931)
- 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 11 (1926-1933 & 1935-1937)
- 200 Strikeouts Seasons: 1 (1930)
- Won two World Series with the Philadelphia Athletics (1929 & 1930)
- Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1947
| AL MVP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1931 | 1932 | 1933 |
| No Award | Lefty Grove | Jimmie Foxx |
[edit] Further Reading
- Jim Kaplan: Lefty Grove: American Original, SABR, Cleveland, OH, 2000.
[edit] Related Sites
Categories: Player | Hall of Fame | MVP | 300 Wins | All-Century Team
