Lefty Grove
March 6, 1900 — May 22, 1975 — Lonaconing, Maryland
Lefty Grove was an American left-handed pitcher widely regarded as one of the two or three greatest pitchers in baseball history — a blazing fastball artist who led the Philadelphia Athletics to three consecutive American League pennants and two World Series titles in the early 1930s and finished with exactly 300 career victories.
From the Mines to the Minors
Born Robert Moses Grove on March 6, 1900, in Lonaconing, Maryland, a small coal-mining town in western Maryland, Grove quit school at 16 to work in the mines before his raw pitching talent was discovered. He began his professional career in the minor leagues and spent five years with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League — owned by owner-operator Jack Dunn, who held his contract for financial reasons — before Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics finally purchased him for $100,600 (the highest price ever paid for a player to that point) in 1925. Grove had led the International League in strikeouts for five straight seasons.
Dynasty Years with the Athletics
With Mack's Athletics, Grove was the anchor of one of baseball's great dynasties. From 1927 to 1931, he won 20 or more games every season. In 1931 he went 31–4, posting an ERA of 2.06 and winning the AL MVP Award — the greatest single pitching season of the modern era by several metrics. He led the league in ERA nine times, strikeouts seven times, and wins four times. The Athletics won the World Series in 1929 and 1930, and Grove was their most valuable pitcher in both championships. His famous temper matched his competitive fire: teammates described him throwing bats and tearing up locker rooms when he lost — which was rare.
Did You Know?
Lefty Grove's famous 1931 season ended with a 31–4 record — but the one loss that haunted him most came when a substitute outfielder misplayed a fly ball, denying Grove a shutout and breaking a 16-game winning streak that would have tied an AL record. Grove was so furious that he tore apart the locker room and refused to speak to the outfielder for weeks. He later admitted the outfielder was a fill-in for the injured Al Simmons and that his rage was misdirected.
Boston, 300 Wins, and the Hall of Fame
Connie Mack sold Grove to the Boston Red Sox after the 1933 season as the Depression forced him to dismantle his dynasty. Despite an arm injury that stole his blinding fastball, Grove reinvented himself as a craft pitcher with the Red Sox, winning 20 games in 1935. He pitched until 1941, finishing with precisely 300 career wins and a career ERA of 3.06 — the latter an all-time best when adjusted for era. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947, and in numerous historical rankings of the greatest pitchers of all time, he regularly appears in the top five. He died on May 22, 1975, in Norwalk, Ohio.