Lefty Grove was an established star and had won at least 20 games seven straight seasons when the Red Sox acquired him with Max Bishop and Rube Walberg from the Philadelphia Athletics in December 1933 in exchange for Bob Kline, Rabbit Warstler and $125,000.
His Boston debut was a rocky one. Hit wih a sore arm in spring training, Grove struggled all season long, going 8-8 with a 6.50 ERA in 22 appearances while being limited to 12 starts.
He bounced back strong, earning the first of five straight All-Star trips in 1935 while leading the American League in ERA and WHIP. He repeated the double in 1936 and won two more ERA titles in 1938 and 1939. Grove also had an AL-best .778 winning percentage in 1938.
He pitched two more seasons and on July 25, 1941, the 41-year-old became baseball’s first 300-game winner since Pete Alexander in 1926 and would be the last until Warren Spahn in 1961.
But he lost his last three decisions and retired in December.
In eight seasons with the Red Sox, Grove was 105-62 with a 3.34 ERA and 1.321 WHIP, an ERA+ of 143, and struck out 743 in 1,539.2 innings, starting 190 of 214 games.
He was selected for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the writers in his first year of eligibility in1947, and coached youth teams around his hometown of Lonaconing, Maryland for many years.
He died May 22, 1975 at the age of 75.