Lefty Grove - Allegany County pitcher and first MVP winner

Collection location: George's Creek Library, Allegany County Library System.

MDCH contributor: Contributed to the MDCH Program by WHILBR – Western Maryland's Historical Library.

Inclusive Dates: 1922-2000.

Collection Overview: Robert Moses Grove, known in baseball circles as Lefty Grove, was born in Lonaconing, Allegany County, Maryland in 1900. He pitched for the Baltimore Orioles, the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Sox. Grove won the first Most Valuable Player trophy awarded to an American League player by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1931 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947. Since the MVP trophy was the first awarded, the Hall of Fame requested it be included in their museum, but it is reported that Lefty said: "The people of 'Coney can't see it if it is in Cooperstown. Beside I promised John Meyers that I'd give it to the school." John Meyers was the coach at Valley High School, and that is where the trophy remained for a number of years, until there was concern for its safety. With the building of the George's Creek Regional Library in Lonaconing in 2000, the George's Creek Promotion Council had found a secure location where the trophy could be preserved, protected and displayed. In the history room in the library, along with other items from the town's rich past, the Most Valuable Player trophy and other items from Grove's baseball history are on display.

Collection overview provided by Jill Craig, Digitization Librarian, Western Maryland Regional Library.