Lefty Grove

Robert Moses Grove won 300 games over 17 major league seasons, led the American League in ERA nine times, and went 31-4 in 1931, one of the greatest single seasons any pitcher has ever produced. He threw harder than anyone in baseball during the late 1920s and early 1930s, and he had a temper that matched his velocity. Teammates learned to stay clear of the clubhouse after he lost a game.

Lonaconing

Grove was born on March 6, 1900, in Lonaconing, Maryland, a small mining town in the Allegheny Mountains. His father was a coal miner. Grove left school after the eighth grade and worked in a glass factory and a silk mill before turning to baseball. He pitched for the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the Blue Ridge League in 1920, where Jack Dunn, owner of the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, purchased his contract.

Grove spent five seasons with the Orioles, dominating the International League but stuck in the minors because Dunn refused to sell him cheaply. Connie Mack finally purchased his contract before the 1925 season for $100,600, reportedly $600 more than the price the Yankees had paid for Babe Ruth.

The Fastest Arm

Grove went 10-12 in his first season, struggling with control, and led the league in walks. By 1926, he had harnessed the wildness enough to go 13-13, and from 1927 onward he was the most dominant pitcher in the American League. He led the league in strikeouts seven consecutive years, from 1925 to 1931, and in ERA four times during that span.

In 1930, he went 28-5 with a 2.54 ERA in a year when the league average ERA was 4.65. In 1931, he went 31-4 with a 2.06 ERA, won the American League MVP award, and carried Connie Mack's Athletics to their third consecutive pennant. The Athletics won the World Series in 1929 and 1930 before losing to the Cardinals in 1931. Grove won two games in the 1930 World Series.

His 16-game winning streak in 1931 ended on August 23 when the Athletics lost 1-0 to the St. Louis Browns. Dick Coffman outpitched him. Grove blamed left fielder Jimmy Moore, a substitute for Al Simmons, who was in Milwaukee being treated for an infected ankle, for misplaying a ball that should have been caught. After the game, Grove destroyed the clubhouse, ripping his locker apart and tearing up uniforms. The fury was genuine. He despised losing more than he enjoyed winning.

Boston

After Mack broke up his team for the second time, he traded Grove, Max Bishop, and Rube Walberg to the Boston Red Sox before the 1934 season. Grove was 33 and his fastball was diminishing. He reinvented himself as a pitcher who relied on a curveball, forkball, and pinpoint control, and he led the American League in ERA four more times between 1935 and 1939.

He won his 300th game on July 25, 1941, beating the Cleveland Indians 10-6 at Fenway Park. He retired after the season at age 41 with a career record of 300-141, a .680 winning percentage that ranks among the highest in major league history. He led the American League in ERA nine times total, more than any pitcher in major league history.

After the Mound

Grove returned to Lonaconing after his retirement and lived quietly. He was not a sociable man in retirement, and he rarely attended baseball events. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947 with 76.4 percent of the vote.

He died on May 22, 1975, in Norwalk, Ohio, at age 75.