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Lefty Grove
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Birthdate: 3/6/1900
Died: 5/22/1975
Height / Weight: 6' 3" / 190 lbs.
Place of Birth: Lonaconing, MD, USA
Bats / Throws: L / L

Baseball Historian Biography

Boston Red Sox 'On the basic of games won and lost and the consequential percentage, Lefty Grove ranked as the leading pitcher of the American League for 1933. In actual number of games won he tied with Alvin Crowder with 24, but lost 7 less which gave him the advantage on percentage. 'The Athletics paid more than $100,000 for Grove to the Baltimore club at the close of the 1924 season. In five years he had won 108 games for the Baltimore team, had lost only 36 and had piled up a score of 1107 strikeouts. 'He was born in Lonaconing, Md., in 1900, and stands 6 feet, 2 1/2 inches high. He weighs around 175 pounds. Bats and throws left-handed.

The above information on this page is from a complete set of 96 cards of the 1934 Goudey Gum Co. Note: the set we have is the hard to find Reprint Set of 1985. The face side of the cards are nicely done in brilliant colors and are very popular with baseball card collectors.

The following from baseballhistorian.com Legends of Baseball

Robert Lefty Grove has the highest win-loss percentage in baseball history.  He was 12-2 as a 20 year old while pitching in the Big Leagues for the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. In the 1920's, major stars were drawn to the International League because of the higher salaries being paid there; the Orioles at this period in history were paying the highest of any team and were able to win seven straight pennants. Lefty Grove won 121 games and only lost 38 in his five years with the Baltimore Orioles.

In 1925, Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics paid the Orioles $100,600 for Lefty Grove; the highest price ever paid for a player up to this time in history. Tall and lanky, 6'3", Lefty Grove's fastball exploded in on the hitters as it roared past home plate. Known for his hot temper, Lefty Grove would intimate the hitters with his inside pitches. "I never threw at a hitter" Grove often stated, "I was just naturally wild."  After losing some ball games "Lefty" would often punch the clubhouse lockers with his right hand and complain that his team mates were lousy fielders. He was so unpopular with his high and tight fastball that many batters complained, "Lefty" Grove was throwing at their heads."  Opposing teams' baseball fans would flock to the ballpark and "boo" and curse "Lefty" Grove; hoping their teams would beat him.  Hence even today, this one-of-a-kind pitcher, with all of his great records remains very unpopular and few historians care to tell about his great pitching efforts.

He won 20 games or more in eleven different seasons; and in 1928; Grove was 24-8, in 1929 he went 20-6.  In 1930, Lefty Grove won 28 games and lost only 5, he also came on in relief and saved 9 games for the Philadelphia A's.  He only allowed 60 walks and struckout 209 batters in 291 innings.  His great pinpoint control vaulted the Philadelphia Athletics into three straight world series from 1929-1931.  Grove's pitching highlighted two world championships; 1929 & 1930.  Not until baseball legends' Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig came on to led the powerful New York Yankees in the 1932 season could any team stop the Philadelphia A's and "Lefty" Grove.

This "Hall of Famer" in 1931, was 31-4, pct. of 886; the fourth highest W & L percentage in history. His ERA was 2.06, Grove started 30 games, had 4 shutouts and had an OBP of .229, and he won the Most Valuable Player Award. "Lefty" Grove led the league in wins in four different years and he holds the American League record of having the best pct.- W & L in five different years. He also holds the record of leading the league in ERA in nine different years.  In his first seven seasons he led the American League in strikeouts.

In the depression year of 1933, Connie Mack sold Grove to the Boston Red Sox where he won over 20 games in two different years.  Some baseball stats researchers rank "Lefty" Grove as the greatest pitcher of all-time.  Lefty Grove's career stats are International League 121-38.  Major Professional League: 300 wins - 141 loses; pct. .680;  Career ERA of 3.06 and opponents batting average .255. Grove's totals are 421-179 which gives him the highest winning pct in baseball history; .702.


Pitching Statistics
Year Team G GS W L SV CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WP HBP BK ERA
1925 PHA (AL) 45 18 10 12 1 5 0 197.0 207 120 104 11 131 0 116 9 5 0 4.75
1926 PHA (AL) 45 33 13 13 6 20 1 258.0 227 97 72 6 101 0 194 5 6 0 2.51
1927 PHA (AL) 51 28 20 13 9 14 1 262.1 251 116 93 6 79 0 174 5 2 1 3.19
1928 PHA (AL) 39 31 24 8 4 24 4 261.2 228 93 75 10 64 0 183 4 1 0 2.58
1929 PHA (AL) 42 37 20 6 4 19 2 275.1 278 104 86 8 81 0 170 8 3 0 2.81
1930 PHA (AL) 50 32 28 5 9 22 2 291.0 273 101 82 8 60 0 209 2 5 0 2.54
1931 PHA (AL) 41 30 31 4 5 27 4 288.2 249 84 66 10 62 0 175 2 1 0 2.06
1932 PHA (AL) 44 30 25 10 7 27 4 291.2 269 101 92 13 79 0 188 0 1 0 2.84
1933 PHA (AL) 45 28 24 8 6 21 2 275.1 280 113 98 12 83 0 114 1 4 0 3.20
1934 BOS (AL) 22 12 8 8 0 5 0 109.1 149 84 79 5 32 0 43 1 1 0 6.50
1935 BOS (AL) 35 30 20 12 1 23 2 273.0 269 105 82 6 65 0 121 2 3 0 2.70
1936 BOS (AL) 35 30 17 12 2 22 6 253.1 237 90 79 14 65 0 130 0 4 0 2.81
1937 BOS (AL) 32 32 17 9 0 21 3 262.0 269 101 88 9 83 0 153 5 1 0 3.02
1938 BOS (AL) 24 21 14 4 1 12 1 163.2 169 65 56 8 52 0 99 3 1 0 3.08
1939 BOS (AL) 23 23 15 4 0 17 2 191.0 180 63 54 8 58 0 81 0 1 0 2.54
1940 BOS (AL) 22 21 7 6 0 9 1 153.1 159 73 68 20 50 0 62 1 1 0 3.99
1941 BOS (AL) 21 21 7 7 0 10 0 134.0 155 84 65 8 42 0 54 3 2 0 4.37
17 years   616 457 300 141 55 298 35 3940.2 3849 1594 1339 162 1187 0 2266 51 42 1 3.06
Batting Statistics
Year Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS IBB HBP SH SF AVG OBP SLG
1925 PHA (AL) 45 65 3 8 0 0 0 3 1 26 0 0 0 0 2 0 .123 .136 SLG
1926 PHA (AL) 45 81 6 8 1 1 0 6 5 42 0 0 0 0 9 0 .99 .151 SLG
1927 PHA (AL) 51 80 8 10 1 0 2 8 8 30 1 0 0 0 9 0 .125 .205 SLG
1928 PHA (AL) 39 88 10 15 2 1 1 6 10 41 0 0 0 1 5 0 .170 .263 SLG
1929 PHA (AL) 42 102 13 22 3 0 1 15 6 33 0 0 0 0 8 0 .216 .259 SLG
1930 PHA (AL) 50 110 11 22 3 2 2 17 7 46 0 0 0 0 4 0 .200 .248 SLG
1931 PHA (AL) 41 115 8 23 3 0 0 12 3 48 0 0 0 0 4 0 .200 .220 SLG
1932 PHA (AL) 44 107 10 18 1 0 4 12 5 51 0 0 0 0 4 0 .168 .205 SLG
1933 PHA (AL) 45 105 9 9 4 0 1 7 4 43 0 0 0 0 4 0 .86 .119 SLG
1934 BOS (AL) 22 37 4 6 1 0 1 4 2 13 0 0 0 0 3 0 .162 .205 SLG
1935 BOS (AL) 35 89 5 7 1 1 1 5 13 49 0 0 0 0 6 0 .79 .196 SLG
1936 BOS (AL) 35 80 5 11 4 0 0 5 6 34 0 0 0 1 12 0 .138 .207 SLG
1937 BOS (AL) 32 91 6 13 1 0 0 6 12 39 0 0 0 0 6 0 .143 .243 SLG
1938 BOS (AL) 24 54 8 8 0 0 0 8 7 25 0 0 0 0 7 0 .148 .246 SLG
1939 BOS (AL) 25 67 3 9 0 0 1 5 9 26 0 0 0 0 9 0 .134 .237 SLG
1940 BOS (AL) 23 53 4 8 0 0 1 2 3 29 0 1 0 0 5 0 .151 .196 SLG
1941 BOS (AL) 21 45 6 5 2 0 0 0 4 18 0 0 0 0 6 0 .111 .184 SLG
17 years   619 1369 119 202 27 5 15 121 105 593 1 1 0 2 103 0 .148 .209 .SLG



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