MLB / Players

Lefty Grove

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 190 lb

BornMarch 6, 1900 · Lonaconing, MD, USA

MLB debutApril 14, 1925

Final gameSeptember 28, 1941

Seasons17 (1925–1941)

Philadelphia Athletics 1925–1933; Boston Red Sox 1934–1941

Percentile snapshot

1939 season — qualified pitchers

33.3

58.1

80.6

74.2

89.2

SHO

65.6

180

50.5

63.4

48.4

75.3

191.0

63.4

ERA

2.54

96.8

WHIP

1.246

78.5

K/9

3.82

53.8

FIP

3.76

73.1

FIP-

79.5

88.2

ERA+

185.9

97.8

sWAR

6.1

94.6

of 94 qualified 1939 pitchers (min 152 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

147.2

99.4

sWAR

94.4

99.9

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1925	45	68	65	3	8	0	0	0	3	1	26	0	0	.123	.136	.123	.259	-48.0	-35.0	.125	0.9
1926	45	95	81	6	8	1	1	0	6	5	42	0	0	.099	.151	.136	.287	-37.2	-25.5	.145	6.6
1927	51	97	80	8	10	1	0	2	8	8	30	1	0	.125	.205	.213	.417	4.1	7.4	.206	5.2
1928	39	104	88	10	15	2	1	1	6	10	41	0	0	.170	.263	.250	.513	36.1	35.2	.251	6.9
1929	42	116	102	13	22	3	0	1	15	6	33	0	0	.216	.259	.275	.534	33.7	37.3	.250	7.0
1930	50	121	110	11	22	3	2	2	17	7	46	0	0	.200	.248	.318	.566	39.9	41.9	.257	9.2
1931	41	122	115	8	23	3	0	0	12	3	48	0	0	.200	.220	.226	.446	10.3	16.0	.209	9.9
1932	44	116	107	10	18	1	0	4	12	5	51	0	0	.168	.205	.290	.495	19.9	26.0	.225	7.9
1933	45	113	105	9	9	4	0	1	7	4	43	0	0	.086	.119	.152	.272	-37.2	-28.8	.129	5.3
1934	22	42	37	4	6	1	0	1	4	2	13	0	0	.162	.205	.270	.475	11.4	19.6	.221	-1.0
1935	35	108	89	5	7	1	1	1	5	13	49	0	0	.079	.196	.146	.342	-14.0	-12.3	.183	7.7
1936	35	99	80	5	11	4	0	0	5	6	34	0	0	.138	.207	.188	.394	-5.8	-3.6	.195	8.2
1937	32	109	91	6	13	1	0	0	6	12	39	0	0	.143	.243	.154	.397	2.5	1.2	.208	6.9
1938	24	68	54	8	8	0	0	0	8	7	25	0	0	.148	.246	.148	.394	2.0	-0.6	.208	4.6
1939	25	85	67	3	9	0	0	1	5	9	26	0	0	.134	.237	.179	.416	9.0	6.6	.213	6.1
1940	23	61	53	4	8	0	0	1	2	3	29	0	1	.151	.196	.208	.404	-4.9	3.4	.190	2.3
1941	21	55	45	6	5	2	0	0	0	4	18	0	0	.111	.184	.156	.339	-15.5	-9.5	.172	0.9

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1925	45	18	10	12	1	5	0	207	104	131	116	11	197.0	4.75	1.716	5.30	4.73	104.1	95.6	0.9
1926	45	33	13	13	6	20	1	227	72	101	194	6	258.0	2.51	1.271	6.77	2.96	72.2	163.4	6.6
1927	51	28	20	13	9	14	1	251	93	79	174	6	262.3	3.19	1.258	5.97	2.96	70.3	131.8	5.2
1928	39	31	24	8	4	24	4	228	75	64	183	10	261.7	2.58	1.116	6.29	2.87	71.2	156.5	6.9
1929	42	37	20	6	4	19	2	278	86	81	170	8	275.3	2.81	1.304	5.56	3.07	72.2	151.3	7.0
1930	50	32	28	5	9	22	2	273	82	60	209	8	291.0	2.54	1.144	6.46	3.04	65.0	184.5	9.2
1931	41	30	31	4	5	27	4	249	66	62	175	10	288.7	2.06	1.077	5.46	3.15	69.9	218.7	9.9
1932	44	30	25	10	7	27	4	269	92	79	188	13	291.7	2.84	1.193	5.80	3.24	71.4	159.8	7.9
1933	45	28	24	8	6	21	2	280	98	83	114	12	275.3	3.20	1.318	3.73	3.72	86.1	134.7	5.3
1934	22	12	8	8	0	5	0	149	79	32	43	5	109.3	6.50	1.655	3.54	3.87	83.0	71.7	-1.0
1935	35	30	20	12	1	23	2	269	82	65	121	6	273.0	2.70	1.223	3.99	3.24	69.6	172.0	7.7
1936	35	30	17	12	2	22	6	237	79	65	130	14	253.3	2.81	1.192	4.62	4.00	76.8	185.6	8.2
1937	32	32	17	9	0	21	3	269	88	83	153	9	262.0	3.02	1.344	5.26	3.37	71.6	155.6	6.9
1938	24	21	14	4	1	12	1	169	56	52	99	8	163.7	3.08	1.350	5.44	3.51	71.1	160.5	4.6
1939	23	23	15	4	0	17	2	180	54	58	81	8	191.0	2.54	1.246	3.82	3.76	79.5	185.9	6.1
1940	22	21	7	6	0	9	1	159	68	50	62	20	153.3	3.99	1.363	3.64	4.81	106.8	112.7	2.3
1941	21	21	7	7	0	10	0	155	65	42	54	8	134.0	4.37	1.470	3.63	3.72	89.7	94.9	0.9

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

619

1,579

1,369

119

202

RBI

121

105

593

.1476

OBP

.2093

SLG

.2075

OPS

.4168

Pitching

G (P)

616

222nd-most career G (P)

457

84th-most career GS

300

23rd-most career W

141

210th-most career L

338th-most career SV

298

42nd-most career CG

SHO

71st-most career SHO

3,941

44th-most career IP

SO (P)

2,266

60th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,187

56th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.058

190th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2780

463rd-lowest career WHIP

K/9

5.18

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1929-07-25	CLE @ ATH Gameday	4	2	3	1	0	1	5	0	7
1928-07-02	BOS @ ATH Gameday	4	1	3	0	1	0	0	1	5
1932-08-22	CWS @ ATH Gameday	4	2	2	0	0	1	3	0	5
1927-09-08	DET @ ATH Gameday	3	2	2	0	0	1	2	0	5
1930-06-27	BAL @ ATH Gameday	2	1	2	0	0	1	1	0	5

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1926-07-05	NYY @ ATH Gameday	9.0	4	1	1	1	12
1928-05-14	CLE @ ATH Gameday	10.0	8	3	2	0	11
1926-05-11	CWS @ ATH Gameday	9.0	8	2	1	5	11
1927-05-30	NYY @ ATH Gameday	9.0	15	8	8	4	11
1928-05-19	CWS @ ATH Gameday	9.0	2	0	0	1	11

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1947 (BBWAA)

2× Pitching Triple Crown1× Most Valuable Player6× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.