Show speaking of sports groves record stands as top southpaw mark by ROBERT mcshane released by western newspaper union picking the five greatest left ji 1 handed pitchers of all time is a fascinating indoor sport our own list would be headed by the one and only robert moses grove we fight about the numerical order of the next four herb pennock rube waddell carl hubbell and eddie plank they were all great ball players grove rates as the outstanding winner of all time in his 15 years up to the 1940 season he won games and lost for a grand average of no one else has approached pro ached that figure christy mathewson finished his long career with an average of grover cleveland alexander compiled both of these gentlemen are sure of undying fame having been chosen for baseballs hall of fame eddie planks mark was cy youngs and big ed As brilliant a pitcher as waddell was his lifetime average was connie mack who never did throw his money around paid the baltimore orioles for lefty the most expensive player he had ever bought grove proved to be a bargain though after us using ing him his best nine years connie passed him on to tom Yaw keys red sox with max bishop and george walberg for and two players grove was thought to be all through then he was in poor physical condition though not from lack of training every pitch pained him that first year in boston and he won and lost eight games the critics told yawkey that he had wound up on the short end of the deal but in the last five years with boston prior to 1940 grove pitched 83 winning games working at a clip in the last two years he won 29 games and dropped only 8 american league champ enough current history lets go back to leftus prime in 1929 grove won 20 and lost 6 for an average 6 of in 1930 he won 28 and dr dropped copped 5 for an average of in 1931 he balanced 31 wins ii against 4 losses for the terrific average of for those three consecutive years he was champion of the american league pitchers then in 1933 after giving givin way to johnny ROBERT MOSES GROVE allen alien the previous year he recaptured the league hurling championship with an average of 24 wins and 8 losses grove started his career strictly as a fireball pitcher he had speed to burn probably the fastest ball of all left handers he was nothing more than a thrower pouring on the speed every time a batter faced him he kept that up as long as he was able but the cracking point finally came his arm went bad it became sore for the first time no longer could he rely solely upon speed it was the then that he became a finished pitcher he developed a curve ball and a change of pace instead of smoking in every pitch grove studied his batter outsmarting him in thoy those 15 years grove worked in more than games he was 25 years old four years older than bob feller is today when he showed up for work with connie macks 1925 athletics he played his first professional fess ional ball with the martins burg team of the blue ridge league back in 1920 and through all those years is woven that thread of victories reason enough for robert moses grove to top any list of all time great so southpaws uth paws |