Welcome to "Lefty" Grove Memorial Park

Welcome to "Lefty" Grove Memorial Park. . This collaboration project, in memory of one of baseball's greatest pitchers, began in October 2014 with the formation of "The Lefty Grove Memorial Committee." A labor of hometown love, the park honors Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove , recognizing both his professional and civic accomplishments., Susan Luery, a Maryland native, was commissioned to create Grove's statue , portraying him during the zenith of his career with the American League Philadelphia Athletics. Luery also designed "Babe's Dream" for Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, honoring another Maryland-born baseball great, George Herman "Babe" Ruth., With generous support of the Maryland legislature, as well as support from current and former local residents, the park's dedication occurred on June 22, 2019., A fiery competitor with disdain for mediocrity and amid an obsessive commitment to winning, Grove intimidated batters with a fearsome scowl and a sizzling fastball., When the Philadelphia Athletics assigned uniform numbers in 1929, pitchers wore double numerals. Grove, a recognized pitching ace, was given first choice. Therefore, the statue depicts him wearing Number 10, the same number he retained throughout his major league career with both the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Sox. Grove also wears his Draper and Maynard Rube Lutzke baseball glove. Luery used Grove's actual glove, owned by a local resident, as a model in creating the statue., The height of the pitcher's mound, lowered from 15 to 10 inches in 1968, appears exactly as it would have been during Grove's career., The park was designed by architect Zach Klipstein, an Allegany County native. Inspiration for the park's façade came from the Eutaw Street entrance to Oriole Park at Camden Yards and is intended to emphasize Grove's history with the International League Baltimore Orioles., Interpretive signage, leading visitors in a counter-clockwise path around the statue, represents a chronological progression of Grove's baseball career , from his first professional game with the Martinsburg Mountaineers to his final game with the Boston Red Sox to his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947. "From the coal miners to Cooperstown" is the theme of the experience., [Caption from photo above sign:] , Lefty's Place operated at 10 Union Street, a distance of approximately 30 yards from this location. The building was destroyed by raging flood water in 1996.