Lefty Grove, baseball player, 1925-1941

Lefty Grove

⭐ Hall of Fame 1947

Born: 3/6/1900 in Lonaconing, MD, USA

Died: 5/22/1975 in Norwalk, OH, USA

MLB Debut: 1925-04-14 | Final Game: 1941-09-28

Bats: L | Throws: L | Height: 6'3" | Weight: 190 lbs

Full name: Robert Moses Grove

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Biography

Lefty Grove, born in 1900, was a dominant pitcher whose career spanned from 1925 to 1941. Recognized for his exceptional skill on the mound, Grove finished his career with a remarkable record of 300 wins and 141 losses, alongside an earned run average (ERA) of 3.06. Over his 17-season tenure in Major League Baseball, he struck out 2,266 batters and recorded 55 saves, showcasing his ability to excel in high-pressure situations. His prowess earned him six All-Star selections, further solidifying his reputation as one of the era's premier pitchers. Grove's playing style was characterized by his powerful fastball and devastating curveball, which made him a formidable opponent throughout the 1930s. Competing during a time when baseball was beginning to transition into a new era, Grove's contributions to the game were significant, helping to elevate the standards of pitching. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947, a testament to his enduring legacy in the sport. His achievements not only reflect his individual talent but also highlight his impact on the evolution of pitching in baseball history.

Negro Leagues Career Statistics

Batting

PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG OPS
12.0 10.0 1.0 1.0 0 0 0 0 2.0 3.0 0 0.100 0.250 0.100 0.350

Pitching

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA
16.0 0 0 4.0 4.0 0 0 0.0 43.0 25.0 0 4.0 0 0 0.00

Negro Leagues Season-by-Season Batting

Season PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG OPS
1926 5.0 5.0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.400
1927 4.0 2.0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 0 0 .000 0.500 .000 0.500
1928 3.0 3.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000
1930 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000

Negro Leagues Season-by-Season Pitching

Season W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA
1926 4.0 0 0 2.0 2.0 0 0 0.0 17.0 9.0 0 1.0 0 0 0.00
1927 5.0 0 0 1.0 1.0 0 0 0.0 15.0 7.0 0 2.0 0 0 0.00
1928 7.0 0 0 1.0 1.0 0 0 0.0 11.0 9.0 0 1.0 0 0 0.00
1930 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
300 141 616 457 298 35 55 3940.7 3849 1339 162 1187 2266 3.06 0

Career ERA 3.06 vs. league average 4.28 across their career seasons — 28.5% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1925 PHA AL 10 12 45 18 5 0 1 197.0 207 104 131 116 4.75 4.55 (-4%) -3438.2
1926 PHA AL 13 13 45 33 20 1 6 258.0 227 72 101 194 2.51 4.11 (+39%) 6776.2
1927 PHA AL 20 13 51 28 14 1 9 262.3 251 93 79 174 3.19 4.08 (+22%) 7591.1
1928 PHA AL 24 8 39 31 24 4 4 261.7 228 75 64 183 2.58 4.13 (+38%) 8270.0
1929 PHA AL 20 6 42 37 19 2 4 275.3 278 86 81 170 2.81 4.60 (+39%) 8737.6
1930 PHA AL 28 5 50 32 22 2 9 291.0 273 82 60 209 2.54 4.80 (+47%) 12385.5
1931 PHA AL 31 4 41 30 27 4 5 288.7 249 66 62 175 2.06 4.10 (+50%) 8190.8
1932 PHA AL 25 10 44 30 27 4 7 291.7 269 92 79 188 2.84 4.13 (+31%) 6872.0
1933 PHA AL 24 8 45 28 21 2 6 275.3 280 98 83 114 3.20 3.86 (+17%) 1885.4
1934 BOS AL 8 8 22 12 5 0 0 109.3 149 79 32 43 6.50 4.29 (-52%) 1000.2
1935 BOS AL 20 12 35 30 23 2 1 273.0 269 82 65 121 2.70 4.35 (+38%) 7302.7
1936 BOS AL 17 12 35 30 22 6 2 253.3 237 79 65 130 2.81 4.59 (+39%) 4809.4
1937 BOS AL 17 9 32 32 21 3 0 262.0 269 88 83 153 3.02 4.34 (+30%) 6197.7
1938 BOS AL 14 4 24 21 12 1 1 163.7 169 56 52 99 3.08 4.35 (+29%) 3632.9
1939 BOS AL 15 4 23 23 17 2 0 191.0 180 54 58 81 2.54 4.28 (+41%) 2946.4
1940 BOS AL 7 6 22 21 9 1 0 153.3 159 68 50 62 3.99 4.21 (+5%) -2672.9
1941 BOS AL 7 7 21 21 10 0 0 134.0 155 65 42 54 4.37 3.94 (-11%) 607.5

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
619 1369 119 202 27 5 15 121 1 105 593 0.148 0.209 0.207 0.417 -9960.1

Career AVG .148 vs. league average .279 across their career seasons — 47.0% below league average.

Career OBP .209 vs. league average .343 across their career seasons — 38.9% below league average.

Career SLG .207 vs. league average .396 across their career seasons — 47.6% below league average.

Career OPS 0.417 vs. league average 0.739 across their career seasons — 43.6% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1925 PHA AL 45 65 3 8 0 0 0 3 0 1 26 0.123 .288 (-57%) .349 (-61%) .407 (-70%) .756 (-66%) -769.7
1926 PHA AL 45 81 6 8 1 1 0 6 0 5 42 0.099 .279 (-65%) .345 (-56%) .390 (-65%) .735 (-61%) -887.7
1927 PHA AL 51 80 8 10 1 0 2 8 1 8 30 0.125 .282 (-56%) .344 (-41%) .392 (-46%) .736 (-43%) -627.8
1928 PHA AL 39 88 10 15 2 1 1 6 0 10 41 0.170 .280 (-39%) .342 (-23%) .395 (-37%) .737 (-31%) -465.1
1929 PHA AL 42 102 13 22 3 0 1 15 0 6 33 0.216 .289 (-25%) .353 (-27%) .415 (-34%) .769 (-31%) -572.2
1930 PHA AL 50 110 11 22 3 2 2 17 0 7 46 0.200 .293 (-32%) .354 (-30%) .429 (-26%) .784 (-28%) -601.2
1931 PHA AL 41 115 8 23 3 0 0 12 0 3 48 0.200 .276 (-28%) .338 (-35%) .388 (-42%) .726 (-39%) -771.1
1932 PHA AL 44 107 10 18 1 0 4 12 0 5 51 0.168 .275 (-39%) .335 (-39%) .391 (-26%) .726 (-32%) -611.6
1933 PHA AL 45 105 9 9 4 0 1 7 0 4 43 0.086 .270 (-68%) .329 (-64%) .377 (-60%) .707 (-62%) -1120.4
1934 BOS AL 22 37 4 6 1 0 1 4 0 2 13 0.162 — — — — 0.0
1935 BOS AL 35 89 5 7 1 1 1 5 0 13 49 0.079 .279 (-72%) .342 (-43%) .399 (-63%) .742 (-54%) -846.8
1936 BOS AL 35 80 5 11 4 0 0 5 0 6 34 0.138 .283 (-52%) .349 (-41%) .404 (-54%) .753 (-48%) -684.6
1937 BOS AL 32 91 6 13 1 0 0 6 0 12 39 0.143 .276 (-48%) .342 (-29%) .398 (-61%) .740 (-46%) -712.9
1938 BOS AL 24 54 8 8 0 0 0 8 0 7 25 0.148 .272 (-46%) .341 (-28%) .392 (-62%) .734 (-46%) -410.8
1939 BOS AL 25 67 3 9 0 0 1 5 0 9 26 0.134 .274 (-51%) .342 (-31%) .393 (-54%) .735 (-43%) -485.4
1940 BOS AL 23 53 4 8 0 0 1 2 0 3 29 0.151 .267 (-44%) .335 (-41%) .387 (-46%) .722 (-44%) -392.7
1941 BOS AL 21 45 6 5 2 0 0 0 0 4 18 0.111 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
8 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1931 WS PHA 3 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0.000
1930 WS PHA 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000
1929 WS PHA 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
4 2 8 5 2 51.3 46 10 6 36 1.75

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1931 WS PHA 2 1 3 3 0 26.0 28 7 2 16 2.42
1930 WS PHA 2 1 3 2 0 19.0 15 3 3 10 1.42
1929 WS PHA 0 0 2 0 2 6.3 3 0 1 10 0.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 616 0 65 722 38 26

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1925 PHA P 45 0 6 55 2 3
1926 PHA P 45 0 6 53 3 3
1927 PHA P 51 0 8 55 9 2
1928 PHA P 39 0 6 40 1 0
1929 PHA P 42 0 3 41 2 0
1930 PHA P 50 0 6 53 2 1
1931 PHA P 41 0 2 47 0 1
1932 PHA P 44 0 3 46 1 1
1933 PHA P 45 0 9 58 2 5
1934 BOS P 22 0 3 18 2 1
1935 BOS P 35 0 1 63 2 6
1936 BOS P 35 0 3 49 2 0
1937 BOS P 32 0 6 43 1 1
1938 BOS P 24 0 0 29 0 0
1939 BOS P 23 0 0 21 3 2
1940 BOS P 22 0 1 34 3 0
1941 BOS P 21 0 2 17 3 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 616

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1938 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3
1937 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3
1935 Baseball Magazine All-Star P4
1933 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1933 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1932 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1932 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1932 TSN All-Star P
1931 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1931 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1931 Most Valuable Player
1931 Pitching Triple Crown
1931 TSN All-Star P
1930 Baseball Magazine All-Star P4
1930 Baseball Magazine All-Star P4
1930 Pitching Triple Crown
1930 TSN All-Star P
1929 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1929 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1929 TSN All-Star P
1928 Baseball Magazine All-Star P4
1928 Baseball Magazine All-Star P4
1928 TSN All-Star P
1927 Baseball Magazine All-Star P4
1927 Baseball Magazine All-Star P4
1926 Baseball Magazine All-Star P4

Featured In Rankings

#6
Top 25 Starting Pitchers in History of MLB Baseball
Ranked 6 of 25
→

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1939 Most Valuable Player AL 15th 17.0 336 0
1938 Most Valuable Player AL 21th 7.0 336 0
1936 Most Valuable Player AL 15th 5.0 80 0
1935 Most Valuable Player AL 14th 8.0 80 0
1933 Most Valuable Player AL 5th 35.0 80 0
1932 Most Valuable Player AL 14th 8.0 80 0
1931 Most Valuable Player AL 1st 78.0 80 0
1926 Most Valuable Player AL 8th 12.0 64 0