Lefty Grove
Posted: December 17, 2018 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Baltimore Orioles, Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Connie Mack, George Earnshaw, Great Depression, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Major League Baseball, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Philadelphia Athletics, sports, St. Louis Cardinals Leave a comment
Library of Congress
Some consider Lefty Grove to be baseball’s greatest pitcher of all time — or, at the very least, the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time.
Robert Moses Grove was born to John and Emma Grove on Tuesday, March 6, 1900 in Lonaconing, Maryland. Following in the footsteps of his father and older brothers, Grove initially began a career working in the mines. He quit after two weeks, however, declaring, “Dad, I didn’t put that coal in here, and I hope I don’t have to take no more of her out.” From there, he drifted between other forms of work, including a “bobbin boy” working spinning spools to make silk thread, as an apprentice glass blower and needle etcher in a glass factory, and as a railroad worker laying rails and driving spikes.
When he was not working, Grove played a version of baseball using cork stoppers in wool socks wrapped in black tape as a ball, and fence pickets when bats were not available. He did not play an actual game of baseball until the age of seventeen, nor did he play organized baseball until nineteen when Dick Stakem, the proprietor of a general store in a neighboring town, recruited him to play in town games on a field located between a forest and train tracks.
Grove put on such a good performance as a pitcher, the manager of the B&O railroad wanted the teenager on his team, and hired him to clean cylinder heads of steam engines in Cumberland, Maryland. Grover never got the opportunity to play baseball with B&O, however. A local garage manager named Bill Louden also happened to manage the Martinsburg, West Virginia team of the Class D Blue Ridge League and offered Grove an astonishing $125 a month, a sum $50 more than his father and brothers were making.
Grove took a 30-day leave from his job, going 3-3 with 60 strikeouts in 59 innings for the Martinsburg team. Word of Grove’s performance reached Jack Dunn, owner of the International League (Double-A) Baltimore Orioles, and Dunn proceeded to buy Grove for a price somewhere between $3,000 and $3,500 from Louden.
Grove won his debut, 9-3, over Jersey City, prompting Dunn to say he wouldn’t sell Lefty to anyone for $10,000. From 1920-24, Grove was 108-36 and struck out 1,108 batters for a minor-league record. Grove was often wild as well, however, and went 3-8 in the postseason. His final season in Baltimore, however, he went 26-6, struck out 231 batters in 236 innings, and reduced his walks from 186 to 108. Following the 1924 season, Dunn sold Grove to Philadelphia owner and manager Connie Mack, for $100,600. The extra $600 supposedly made it a higher price than the Yankees had paid the Red Sox for Babe Ruth after the 1919 season.
Grove was twenty-five years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 14, 1925 with the Philadelphia Athletics. He had a rough rookie season, going 10-12 and leading the American League in both walks (131) and strikeouts (116). “Catching him was like catching bullets from a rifleman with bad aim,” Athletics catcher Mickey Cochrane commented years later.
In 1926, Grove’s ERA dropped from it’s previous 4.75 to a league-leading 2.51, his walks dropped from 131 to 101, and his strikeouts increased from 116 to 194. However, Grove also didn’t receive much support, and he was shut out four times in the season’s first two months. He would finish the season with a 13-13 record.
His bad fortune would not last forever, though. Grove led the league in strikeouts the next five years and won twenty or more games for the next seven. In 1929, the A’s won the pennant. Connie Mack declined to start either Grove or Rube Walberg, another left-handed pitcher, in the World Series, but Grove made his mark in relief. Coming into Game Two in the fifth inning, he recorded six strikeouts, three hits, one walk and no runs allowed over 4 1/3 innings. Grove then pitched the last two innings of Game Four in relief as well. The A’s took the Series, four games to one over the Cubs, and Grove struck out ten batters in 6 1/3 innings.
In 1930, A’s went 102-52 to finish in first place, and Grove won the Triple Crown of pitching by leading the league in wins (28), strikeouts (209), and ERA (2.54). In the World Series, the A’s faced the St. Louis Cardinals, who had batted .314 as a team for the season. Grove won the opener, 5-2, throwing seventy strikes and a mere thirty-nine balls, striking out five and allowing nine hits. Grove then relieved George Earnshaw in the eighth inning of a scoreless Game Five and won it, 2-0, with the help of Jimmie Foxx’s two-run homer.
Grove finished the 1931 season 31-4 with an ERA of 2.06. He won his second straight Triple Crown with 175 strikeouts and was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player. The Athletics won the pennant again, finishing 13 1/2 games ahead of second-place New York. With a blister on one of his throwing fingers, Grove gave up twelve hits in the World Series opener, but he received good fielding support and won, 6-2. However, Grove allowed eleven hits and four earned runs in eight innings during Game Three, losing 5-2. Grove then won Game Five, 8-1, on five hits and one walk. However, the A’s lost the Series in seven games to the Cardinals.
Grove had a 24-8 record in 1932 and led the league with a .750 percentage and 21 complete games. In 1933, he finished 24-8 with a 3.20 ERA — the first time since 1927 that he finished the season with an ERA above 3.0. Following the 1933 season, facing the financial realities that came with the Great Depression, Connie Mack traded Grove to the Boston Red Sox.
Unfortunately, Grove was unable to contribute much during his first year in Boston, as an arm injury held him to an 8-8 record. He bounced back in 1935, however, finishing 20-12 with a league-leading 2.70 ERA. In the 1936 season, he pitched a 2.81 ERA to win his seventh ERA title while posting a 17-12 record and 130 strike-outs. He then won his eighth ERA title a year later, finishing with a 17-9 record and 153 strike-outs. Grove then finished with records of 14-4 in 1938 and 15-4 in 1939, but in 1940, he had a 7-6 record while recording a 3.99 ERA with 62 strike-outs. The 1941 season would be his final season, and he finished 7-7, winning his 300th game on July 25th.
Grove finished with a career record of 300-141, and his .680 lifetime winning percentage is eighth all-time. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947, his first year of eligibility.
Lefty Grove died in Norwalk, Ohio, on May 22, 1975 at the age of seventy-five and was buried in the Frostburg Memorial Cemetery in Frostburg, Maryland.
History of Wrigley Field
Posted: December 10, 2018 Filed under: 20th Century, 21st Century | Tags: Babe Ruth, Baseball, Charles Weeghman, Chi-Feds, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Whales, Cincinnati Reds, Cubs Park, Federal League, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, National Football League, National League, sports, Weeghman Field, William Wrigley, World Series, Wrigley Field, Zachary Davis Leave a commentKnown as the “Friendly Confines,” Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois is Major League Baseball’s second oldest ballpark, behind only Boston’s Fenway Park. The ballpark has been the host to many historic moments, from Babe Ruth’s called shot in 1932 to the 2016 World Series, in which the Cubs finally broke the 108-year-old championship curse.
Prior to moving into the ballpark now known as Wrigley, the Cubs played in West Side Park. West Side was a double-decker park built with heavy timber, echoing the typical construction of baseball fields in the early twentieth century. It was actually another baseball team altogether that played at the Friendly Confines in its inaugural season.
Construction of Weeghman Park, March 1914
When it was first erected, Wrigley Field was originally dubbed Weeghman Field, named after Charles Weeghman. The stadium was built for the Chi-Feds of the Federal League, also known as the Chicago Whales, who were owned by Mr. Weeghman. The stadium was designed by architects Zachary T. and Charles G. Davis, who also designed the original Comiskey Park in 1910, and construction took place on Weeghman Field from March 5 (I’ve also seen as early as February and as late as March 14) through April 23, 1914, finishing up just in time for the Whales’ Opening Day. The new ballpark only cost $250,000 to build.
When Weeghman Field was first built, it was just a one-level stadium — there was no upper deck — and it had a seating capacity of merely 14,000. The original scoreboard was built in 1915, lasting until its replacement was erected in 1938.
Weeghman Park, 1915
William Wrigley, Jr., the chewing gum industrialist, was a partner with Weeghman with the Whales. As the Federal League folded, and the Whales along with it, Wrigley and Weeghman were given the option to buy the Cubs in 1915, an opportunity they took. They moved the Cubs from West Side Park to Weeghman Field, renaming the stadium “Cubs Park.” The Cubs played their first game in their new home on April 20, 1916, beating the Cincinnati Reds in eleven innings. By 1919, William Wrigley bought out Weeghman’s shares in the team, and in 1926, the park became known as “Wrigley Field.”
In 1921, the newly-formed Bears of the National Football League moved to Chicago. The Bears managed to work out a deal with William Wrigley, through which they were able to play their games at Cubs Park/Wrigley Field as well. This agreement served as one of the motivating factors for increasing the size and the capacity of the stadium. Zachary Davis, one of the original architects in 1914, also designed the 1922 version of Wrigley Field. Davis expanded the size of the field by moving the grandstands towards the street so that it could also accommodate American football games. This meant that the Cubs’ playing field was moved about sixty feet southwest, and the seating capacity of the stadium grew to approximately 20,000. The Bears played at Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970.
In 1927 to 1928, the upper deck was added to the stadium’s grandstands. The architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White designed this expansion, which increased the capacity of Wrigley Field to about 38,400.
Wrigley Field during the 1935 World Series
The outfield had some bleachers, though they proved insufficient whenever the Cubs made the World Series, which happened more often in those days. Bleachers would be added using temporary scaffolding in these situations when additional seating proved necessary. In 1937, however, the decision was made that it was time for permanent bleachers to be added to the outfield, a project taken on by the firm Holabird and Root. This change boosted the stadium’s capacity to approximately 40,000. Along with this, the Cubs’ famous hand-operated scoreboard was built, and the clock was added in 1941. Also in 1937, the famous ivy was planted along the stadium’s outfield wall.
Minor changes were made to the stadium over the years. Some features were added, other features were removed, but for the most part, Wrigley Field has remained largely the same since 1938. The biggest change since that time took place in 1988.
A holdout from a bygone era, Wrigley Field was the last stadium in Major League Baseball to install a lighting system. When the lights were installed, this was done so in a way that ensured the lights fit into the feel of the rest of the stadium, rather than trying to install a modern-style system on a century-old ballpark. The Cubs’ first night game was played August 8, 1988, though it was cut short (ending after four innings) due to rain, getting postponed until the next day.
In 2006, the bleachers were expanded yet again. This increased the capacity of the stadium to approximately 41,000 seats. Then, after the 2007 season, the entire field was removed and replaced with a new drainage system and a bluegrass playing field.
Following the 2014 season, a $575 million project, named the 1060 project, began at the ballpark, which essentially entails a complete overhaul of the facility. The project is expected to be completed in 2019 and includes a widening of the concourse to add more concessions, the addition of a 95-foot x 42-foot HD videoboard in left field, moving the bullpens to under the bleachers in left (Cubs) and right (visiting team) fields, and the west side entrance between Clark Street and Wrigley Field now features a new plaza known as the Park at Wrigley, which allows fans to gather before games and provides a new entry into the ballpark.
Wrigley Field today
In 2004, Wrigley Field was named an official city landmark in Chicago, and a number of its features are now legally protected. These features include all exterior elevations and roofs, the marquee sign at Clark and Addison Streets, the centerfield scoreboard, and the ballfield itself, including the brick wall and the famous ivy. In the face of ballparks being demolished, including Comiskey Park, and new ones being built, the people of Chicago saw this as a way to protect their beloved Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field remains the only Federal League ballpark still in existence.
This day in baseball: Sole victory
Posted: September 28, 2018 Filed under: 19th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Chicago Colts, Chicago Cubs, Dave Wright, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, sports Leave a commentChicago Colts (Cubs) pitcher Dave Wright won the only game of his major league career on September 28, 1897 (out of two total pitching appearances). The twenty-one-year-old gave up 14 runs on 17 hits, yet he still managed to eek out a 15-14 victory over the Pirates.
Dave Wright (Wikipedia)
Christy Mathewson
Posted: June 15, 2018 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Baseball, Boston Braves, Boston Red Sox, Bucknell University, Chicago Cubs, Christy Mathewson, Cincinnati Reds, Emil Fuchs, Frank Baker, Fred Snodgrass, Grantland Rice, history, National Baseball Hall of Fame, National League, New York Giants, Philadelphia Athletics, Rube Marquard, sports, Ty Cobb, World Series, World War I 2 Comments
Considered the first great pitcher of the modern era, Christopher “Christy” Mathewson was born in Factoryville, Pennsylvania on August 12, 1880, the oldest of six children of Minerva (née Capwell) and Gilbert Mathewson. He attended high school at Keystone Academy, and then college at Bucknell University. At Bucknell, Mathewson served as class president, played on the school’s football and baseball teams, and he was also a member of the fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta.
In 1895, when Mathewson was fourteen years old, the manager of the Factoryville ball club asked him to pitch in a game against a rival team in Mill City, Pennsylvania. Mathewson helped the Factoryville team to a 19-17 victory. He continued to play with semipro teams until he left for Bucknell.
At Bucknell, though Mathewson pitched for the baseball team, he was better known for his accomplishments as a football player, where he spent three years as the varsity team’s first-string fullback, punter, and drop kicker. It was also at Bucknell that Mathewson met his future wife, Jane Stoughton. After playing ball throughout his time at Bucknell, Mathewson signed his first professional baseball contract in 1899 with Taunton of the New England League. In 1900, he went on to play with Norfolk of the Virginia-North Carolina League, finishing the season with a 20-2 record.
In July of 1900, the New York Giants purchased Mathewson’s contract from Norfolk for $1,500. He appeared in six games for the Giants, compiling an 0-3 record before the Giants sent him back to Norfolk, demanding their money back in frustration. In September of that year, the Cincinnati Reds obtained Mathewson off the Norfolk roster, then traded him back to the Giants that December.
Christy Mathewson won 20 games in his first full major league season in 1901. He then posted at least 30 wins a season from 1903-05 and led the National League in strikeouts five times between 1903 and 1908. In 1908, he set a modern era record for single-season wins by an NL pitcher with 37. From 1903 to 1914, Mathewson won at least 22 games each season and led the NL in ERA five times.
Wikipedia
In postseason play, during the 1905 World Series, Mathewson pitched three complete-game shutouts in three starts against the Athletics, giving up only 14 hits total in those three games. In 1911, the Giants won their first pennant since 1905, however they ultimately lost the 1911 World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics. Mathewson and Rube Marquard allowed two game-winning home runs to Hall of Famer Frank Baker en route to the Series loss.
The Giants captured the pennant again in 1912, facing the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Though Mathewson threw three complete games in the Series and maintained an ERA below 1.00, the Giants as a team committed a number of errors, including the infamous lazy popup dropped by Fred Snodgrass in game 7, costing them the championship. Though the Giants would win 101 games in 1913, they lost the World Series that year four games to one, again to the Athletics.
Mathewson played with the Giants for seventeen years. After the 1913 season, however, both Mathewson and the Giants as a team began to decline. In 1916, Mathewson was traded back to the Reds and was named player-manager. He appeared in only one game as a pitcher for the Reds, on September 4, 1916 against the Cubs. Mathewson and the Reds won that contest, 10-8.
In his career, Mathewson posted a 373-188 record (.665 winning percentage). His career ERA was 2.13 (8th all time) and he posted 79 shutouts (3rd all time) over the course of said career. Mathewson also recorded 2,507 career strikeouts against only 848 walks.
Nicknamed the “Christian Gentleman,” Mathewson was held in high regard in his time. Mathewson was handsome, college-educated, and temperate, making him an anomaly in the rowdy world of baseball during this time period. It made him, easily, one of the most popular ballplayers of the age. “He gripped the imagination of a country that held a hundred million people and held this grip with a firmer hold than any man of his day or time,” wrote sportswriter Grantland Rice.
baseballinwartime.com
Late in the 1918 season, Mathewson enlisted in the United States Army for World War I. He served as a captain in the newly formed Chemical Service along with Ty Cobb. While he was in France, he was accidentally exposed to mustard gas during a chemical training exercise and subsequently developed tuberculosis. Mathewson served with the American Expeditionary Force until February 1919 and was discharged later that month. He returned to serve as an assistant coach for the Giants until 1921, but continued to battle tuberculosis the entire time.
After some time away, Mathewson attempted to return to professional baseball in 1923 when he and Giants attorney Emil Fuchs put together a syndicate that bought the Boston Braves. Initially, Mathewson was to be principal owner and team president, but his health had deteriorated so much that he turned over the presidency to Fuchs after the season. Christy Mathewson died in Saranac Lake, New York of tuberculosis on October 7, 1925. He is buried at Lewisburg Cemetery in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, near Bucknell University.
In 1936, Mathewson became one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
This day in baseball: The almost-no-hitter
Posted: June 11, 2018 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Bob Wicker, Chicago Cubs, history, New York Giants, Sam Mertes, sports Leave a commentOn June 11, 1904, Bob Wicker of the Cubs pitched 9 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball before Giants’ outfielder Sam Mertes managed New York’s only hit in the 10th. Wicker had to settle for a 1-0, twelve-inning one-hit victory.
Wikipedia
This day in baseball
Posted: May 7, 2018 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Chicago Cubs, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, sports, Walter Mueller 2 CommentsOn May 7, 1922, Walter Mueller became the first player to record five RBIs in his major league debut. Mueller’s offensive statistics included a double and a home run, leading the Pirates to an 11-5 victory over the Cubs in Chicago.
Mueller (Wikipedia)
This day in baseball: White Stockings’ NL debut
Posted: April 25, 2018 Filed under: 19th Century | Tags: Baseball, Chicago Colts, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Orphans, Chicago White Stockings, history, Louisville Baseball Park, Louisville Grays, Major League Baseball, MLB, National League, sports Leave a commentThe Chicago White Stockings, in their fifth season as a franchise, made their National League debut on April 25, 1876, winning 4-0 over the Grays at the Louisville Baseball Park in Kentucky. The White Stockings won the NL’s first championship during this season with a record of 52–14. The franchise would be also known as the Colts and the Orphans before becoming the Cubs in 1903.
Wikimedia Commons
