Show Es V ok L LOS OS r read ad recently that old mose grove had signed his contract with the red sox old moses sixteenth major league contract lie he signed his first one with tho the athletics away back in 1025 ho he was 25 years old then and had come com up to the big show alter after alve years in baltimore tho the late jack dunn had kept him in baltimore tor for five keais because in those days tho the orioles ruled grantland the tha international itice league as the yankees rule the abc alcan league now it was good business tor for jack to hold onto his ball players for a few years they pulled in the crowds at the turnstiles turn stiles they won pennants and little world series and tho the longer they remained in baltimore the more eager tho the major league club owners were to buy them and the bigger the price they brought jack bentley joe holey max bishop Gro brought box car figures when dunn one of baseballs shrewdest traders adera tr sent bent them to market grove brought 1 I dont know what the was for amusement tax possibly offered to mcgrain at the time the story was and so far as I 1 know it may have been true that john mcgraw had turned dunn down when he offered tho ther bi big left hander to the giants that happened in 1225 1925 the palco was with perhaps S a little off for the giant but mcgraw paying for a pitcher Q K NI 1 fv M q x 3 W MOSE GROVE in 1925 tie ile had just won four pennants la in a row thereby cracking an all time record for the major leagues and it looked as though he might go on from there so lie he interested te at any rate the fiory the yankees cousin meanwhile dunn had somo some sort of agreement with connie mack that called for him in the natural course of events to send his better players over the short line from baltimore to philadelphia and in the spring of 1025 1925 grove arrived at the training C camp amp of the athletics he was young eager and tireless he had a strong back and a rubber arm but he a pitcher lie he was a thrower ve he won 10 games in 1925 1023 13 iri in 1928 1926 and 20 in 1927 those were the years in which he was a first cousin to the yankees inthe ball players argot a cousin Is a pitcher that the hitters like to face and there a pitcher in the american learue league the yankees liked any better than grove all they had to do was to wait him out or hurry him and then slue slug him As he acquired poise he became more mor e effective not only against t the other clubs but against the yankees as well Ms his figures in the victory column mounted moun tad hewon he won 24 games in 1928 slipped to 20 in 1929 rose to 28 in 1930 and to 31 in 1931 he won 25 in 1932 and although he dropped to 24 in 1933 he led the league again as he had tn i 1928 1930 and 1931 in the winter of 1933 he was sold to the red sox for in 1934 he had trouble with his arm and won only eight games while losing as many and it was right after that that he became a real pitcher he was forced to outthink out think thank the batters and in doing that he became becam one of the gr greatest ertest pitchers in th the history of baseball learning tv to pitch the time it bad ad come when he had to do more than just fust re rear ar back stretch out and whip that fireball at th the hitters the old blaze had bad died out in his fast ball bait lie ile too fool the h liters hitters with it any more he had to do 0 something he done before ile he had bad to stop and think to a tudy study the he battem and develop a curve bat bac a change of pi pace tee ball and a ilow biu ball and nd brush up on L ft control A and nd biben he had done all that he be was 1 A pit chera i a real pitcher |