On July 25, 1941, Red Sox Lefty
Grove becomes just the twelfth pitcher to win 300-games, it was also his last
victory.
At the time Grove joined
Cy Young, 511; Walter Johnson, 417; Christy Matthewson, 373; Grover Cleveland
Alexander, 373; Pud Galvin, 364; Kid Nichols, 361; Tim Keeke, 342; John
Clarkson, 328; Eddie Plank, 326; Charles Radbourn, 309 and Mickey Welch, 307 as
members of the 300 win club.
After Grover joined the
300-win club 12 pitchers have since joined the club. In chronological order
they are Warren Spahn, 363; Early Wynn, 300; Gaylord Perry, 314; Steve Carlton,
329; Tom Seaver, 311; Phil Niekro, 318; Don Sutton, 324; Nolan Ryan, 324; Roger
Clemens, 354; Greg Maddux, 355; Tom Glavine, 305 and Randy Johnson, 303.
Grove pitched for the
Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox during his 17 year career. He was a
two-time World Series Champion, both with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1929
and 1930. In 1931 he was named the American League MVP. He was also a six-time
All-Star including five straight appearances from 1935-1939.
Grove finished his
career with 300 wins and 141 losses and 55 saves, in 616 games with 457 starts
over 3,940.2 innings pitched. He accumulated a 3.06 ERA, with 2,266 strikeouts,
1,187 walks and allowing just 162 home runs over his career.
Grove was a 30 game
winner once, and a 20 game winner eight times, with seven consecutive seasons
with 20 or more wins from 1927-1933. Nine times Gove led the league in ERA,
with his lowest single season ERA of 2.06 in 1931. In seven consecutive years
Grove led the MLB in strikeouts with his highest single season total coming in
1930 with 209 strikeouts.
Grove pitched 298
complete games and had 35 shutouts. Three times he led the league in complete
games and three times he led the league in shutouts. His highest total for
complete games in a single season was 27, which he did in back-to-back seasons,
1931-1932. His highest single season total for shutouts was in 1936 when he had six shutouts.
In 1947 Grove was
elected to the Cooperstown Major League Baseball Hall of Fame with 76.4 percent
of the vote on the third ballot in which he appeared.
In 1998 Grove ranked as
no. 23 on the The Sporting News list
of Baseball's Greatest Players. He was just the second left-handed pitcher
listed behind Warren Spahn, third when Babe Ruth was counted as a pitcher.
In 1999 Grove was named
as a member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
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