Description
Bob Groom
Born: September 12, 1884 in Belleville, Illinois
Died: February 19, 1948 (aged 63) in Belleville, Illinois
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 175 lbs.
Position: Pitcher
Played For:
Washington Senators (1909–1913)
St. Louis Terriers (1914–1915)
St. Louis Browns (1916–1917)
Cleveland Indians (1918)
Biography:
A tall, slender 6″2″, 175 pounds, Bob Groom possessed an athleticism, cunning, and tenacity that bespoke his roots in the southern Illinois coal fields, where his grandfather and father had found success as mine owner-operators. Born on September 12, 1884 in Belleville, Illinois, to John and Mary Catherine Dickinson Groom, he was named Robert for his paternal grandfather; he was the third-born of six and would be the oldest of three sons.
Called “Bobby” by his family, he went to public school in Belleville and as a teenage St. Louis-area semi-professional pitcher with at least one no-hitter to his credit, he caught the attention of Jake Bene, a well-known St. Louis baseball man. In early 1904, Bene bought the Fort Scott, Kansas Giants, in the Missouri Valley League, and he signed the 19-year-old Groom to his roster for a monthly salary of $60. The Giants were an early-season disaster; their losing 25 of their first 26 games inspired wholesale roster changes. Young Bobby Groom was not among the casualties, however, and he provided a highlight of the season in July, starting and winning both ends of a double-header. Newspapers described a tiny Fort Scott going “base-ball wild” after those games, even though its team eventually finished in last place with a record of 35-89 (.282); Groom’s record was a gloomy 8-26.
On May 6, 1917, while with the Browns, Groom no-hit the eventual World Champion Chicago White Sox 3–0. The no-hitter came in the second game of Sunday double-header, after Groom preserved the win in the first game, pitching the last two innings without allowing a hit. It also came the day after teammate Ernie Koob’s 1–0 no-hitter against the White Sox; to date, Koob and Groom are the only teammates to pitch no-hitters on consecutive days. His best major league season was with the 1912 Senators, when he won 24 games and Washington finished second in the American League. During his debut season, Groom became the first pitcher to achieve 19 consecutive losses in a season, a record which was equalled in 1916 by Jack Nabors.
More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Groom
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/cbf60399
