Lefty

Lefty Grove

The thing that jumps out at me about this photo is Lefty's left ear, which appears to be much larger than his right. Is that why they called him "Lefty"?

I don't think so. In other photos of him, his ears appear to be of equal size, so I don't know what's going on here. Perhaps he was suffering temporarily from the dreaded "swollen ear syndrome"?

His fastball was legendary. In 1928, he struck out the side on just nine pitches -- two different times. Only two other pitchers in major league history have done that: Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan. Pretty good company. But Grove is still the only one to do it in the same season. Sportswriter Arthur Baer once said, "Lefty Grove could throw a lamb chop past a wolf."

His temper was also legendary. After his historic 16-game winning streak during the 1931 season came to an end, when the Athletics' left fielder muffed a fly ball, Lefty tore apart the visitors' clubhouse in St. Louis.