The 100 Greatest in 100 Days #21 Lefty Grove

Next up at #21 is Philadelphia A’s and Boston Red Sox ace Lefty Grove. There is no question that Grove is on the shortlist of greatest pitchers of all time. Depending on what we emphasize, he might be the greatest. No pitcher led the league more in major statistical pitching categories. He led the league in ERA and adjusted ERA+ nine times, WAR for pitchers eight times, and winning percentage five times—all the most in history.  Grove won the 1931 AL MVP during this stretch with one of the great seasons ever recorded by a pitcher, going 31-4 and leading the league with a 217 ERA+. Grove’s 1931 season is the only one in history with at least 31 wins and fewer than 5 losses. Although the Cy Young Award didn’t exist during Grove’s career, there’s every reason to believe that he would’ve won six consecutive Cy Youngs from 1928-1933 which would be two more than the current record for consecutive Cy Youngs. During this stretch, he became the only pitcher in history with six consecutive seasons of at least 20 wins and no more than 10 losses. Grove compiled four seasons with at least 24 wins and fewer than nine losses which is the most all-time. No other player has more than two. There have only been four seasons with at least 28 wins and fewer than six losses in history, Grove has two of them. He’s the only pitcher in history with four consecutive seasons of at least 24 wins and no more than 10 losses. He’s the only pitcher in history with 300 wins and fewer than 150 losses, and he has the highest winning percentage in MLB history among pitchers with at least 240 career wins. He owns the highest ERA+ of all-time among pitchers with at least 3,000 career innings. Grove led the Athletics to three consecutive World Series appearances including back-to-back titles in 1929 and 1930. In 51 1/3 and World Series innings, he posted a 1.75 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *