Lefty Grove Statue

Robert Moses “Lefty” Grove was born to humble beginnings in the small coal mining town of Lonaconing, Maryland on March 6, 1900. After his formal education came to an end after completing the eighth grade, he worked several odd jobs to make ends meet. At the age of nineteen, Grove began playing organized baseball for the first time, a decision that would positively change the trajectory of his life tremendously. In 1920, after garnering the attention of scouts, he signed a contract to play for the Baltimore Orioles, then a minor league baseball team of the International League. 

After five successful seasons with the Orioles, Grove commenced a seventeen-season major league career. In 1924, his contract was bought by the Philadelphia Athletics. The following year, on April 14, 1925, he made his major league debut. Grove experienced quick success, leading the American League in strikeouts in his rookie season. Ultimately, he played nine seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics, from 1925 to 1933, and played an indispensable role in helping the organization win consecutive World Series Championships in 1929 and 1930. After the 1933 season, Grove was traded to the Boston Red Sox. In the end, he played eight seasons with the club from 1943 to 1941. Following the 1941 season, Grove retired from professional baseball. 

Today, Grove is considered one of the greatest left-handed pitchers in history. Over the course of his major league career, he amassed a record of 300 wins and 141 losses. Grove’s win percentage (0.680) is the highest among pitchers who won 300 games. His nine ERA titles are the most of any pitcher in major league history. In his first seven seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics, Grove led the American League in strikeouts. In eight of his seventeen seasons, he won twenty or more games. In 1931, Grove won thirty-one. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947. Grove died on May 22, 1975 in Norwalk, Ohio at the age of seventy-five. 

Despite his accomplishments, Grove is occasionally overlooked. Unlike some of the other major league stars of the interwar period, such as Babe Ruth or “Dizzy” Dean, he did not possess a big personality. Grove also played before the television age. Another reason why he is occasionally overlooked is because he played his best years with a team that no longer exists, the Philadelphia Athletics. After the 1954 season, the organization relocated to Kansas City. Thirteen years later, after the 1967 season, the club moved to Oakland, California. 

On the sunny and humid afternoon of Saturday, June 22, 2019, a bronze statue of Grove was dedicated in his hometown of Lonaconing, Maryland. Designed by sculptor Susan Luery and donated to the town by the Lefty Grove Memorial Association, the statue depicts the southpaw delivering a pitch from the mound. It sits in Lefty Grove Memorial Park—also dedicated on that particular day—at the corner of Main and Union Streets in downtown Lonaconing. Nearly one hundred people attended the dedication ceremony, including Lynn Horning, a granddaughter of Grove, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch. 

Glass, Brandon. "Lefty Grove Park, statue unveiled in Lonaconing." Cumberland Times-News, June 23, 2019.

"Lefty Grove." National Baseball Hall of Fame. Web. 24 November 2020 <https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/grove-lefty>.

Verdi, Robert. "Lefty Grove." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 24 November 2020 <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lefty-Grove>.