Top 10 Red Sox players enshrined in Baseball Hall of Fame

Lefty Grove
Year Inducted: 1947

As you might have guessed from the name, Lefty Grove was a left-handed pitcher and arguably the greatest southpaw this franchise has ever seen.

He made his debut in 1925 with the Philadelphia Athletics where he spent the first nine years of his career. The A’s are listed as the primary club on his plaque but he still credits the Red Sox where he spent the final eight years of his career.

Grove was a six-time All-Star who won nine ERA titles, four of which were with Boston. He owned a 3.06 ERA for his career and a 3.34 ERA with the Red Sox, which ranks 11th among starting pitchers with 1000+ career innings with the franchise.

The 300 game-winner won 105 games with the Red Sox, 10th most in franchise history. Grove won 20+ games eight times in his career, leading the league in that category on four occasions, including a staggering 31 wins in 1931 when he captured the MVP award with Philadelphia.

That was obviously a different era. Grove routinely made 30+ starts in every season during his prime and often worked in relief between starts. He appeared in a whopping 50 games in 1930, tossing a career-high 291 innings. When it was his turn in the rotation, Grove liked to finish what he started. He led the league in complete games and shutouts three times.

Grove also picked up 54 career saves back in the days before the closer role existed.

Pitchers these days would never be allowed to handle the type of workload Grove did yet his arm somehow held up for 17 seasons when he retired at the age of 41.