The 91st round of voting for the Circle of Greats inducts Hall of Famer Lefty Grove, one of a select few to win election in their first round on the COG ballot. Grove, who was already 25 when he debuted in the majors, was the anchor of the Philadelphia Athletics rotation in their championship seasons of 1929-31. During his time with the A’s, Grove compiled 7 consecutive 20-win seasons, a streak that included three consecutive 25-win campaigns, both records in the live ball era. When Connie Mack traded away his stars after the A’s dynasty had run its course, Grove landed in Boston only to encounter a dead arm that signaled the end of his days as a fireballer. No problem – Grove reinvented himself as a finesse pitcher and recorded over 100 wins with the Red Sox, the last number 300 of his career.
More on Lefty Grove after the jump.
Grove was THE dominant pitcher of his time, as evidenced by these superlatives.
| Statistic | Times Leading League | Times Leading Majors |
| Wins | 4 | 3 |
| W-L% | 5 | 5 |
| ERA | 9 | 4 |
| ERA+ | 9 | 6 |
| FIP | 8 | 5 |
| CG | 3 | 1 |
| SHO | 3 | 2 |
| SO | 9 | 4 |
| WHIP | 5 | 2 |
| SO/BB | 8 | 2 |
For his career, Grove surpassed 100 WAR and 70 WAA, plateaus that only Roger Clemens also reached among live ball era pitchers. For age 30+, Grove surpassed 80 WAR and 50 WAA, matched only by Randy Johnson. Included were six 9 WAR seasons, twice as many as Clemens, Johnson, Pedro Martinez or Bob Feller. Grove is the only live ball era pitcher with 3 consecutive 9 WAR seasons, and he did it twice for a dual peak at ages 30-32 and 35-37.
In addition to 457 starts, Grove also relieved 159 times to become the only pitcher with 300 wins and 150 relief appearances. Grove is the last AL pitcher with 6 seasons of 25 starts and 10 relief appearances (contemporary Larry French is last such NL pitcher). The most such seasons in the expansion era is only two, with David Wells the last to do so in 1990-91.
Grove was the first pitcher since 1893 to win even 150 games with a .667 W-L% (i.e. twice as many wins as losses). Only Whitey Ford and Pedro Martinez have since matched that feat. The last six of Grove’s seven consecutive 20 win seasons all featured a .667 W-L%. Only Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton also have even two such consecutive seasons in the live ball era.
Grove reached win no. 300 on July 25, 1941, defeating Cleveland 7-4 (he seemed to lose his focus after that, with an 0-3 record and 7.13 ERA over his final 6 starts). Grove won 268 starts and 32 relief appearances. His 58.6% of starts won has been topped (barely) only by Pete Alexander since 1914, with only four others above 55%. Five times (1928, 1930-32, 1938) Grove won two-thirds of his starts, with 7 more seasons winning at least half of 20+ starts.
Grove pitched in three World Series for the A’s. In 1929 against the Cubs, he was used only in relief (Mack surprised everyone by twice starting and winning with Howard Ehmke, who had but 8 starts all season) but turned in 6.1 scoreless innings allowing only 3 hits. The next two years, he was the game 1 starter, turning in complete game wins both times, tied with Whitey Ford as the only southpaws to do so in consecutive WS openers.
Quiz time: Who are the only two pitchers since Grove to match his 1927 season performance of 20 relief appearances and 20 wins?
