Editing Lefty Grove (section)

==Early life==
Grove was born in [[Lonaconing, Maryland]], one of eight children of John Robert Grove (1865–1957) and Emma Catherine Beeman (1872–1959). His father and brothers [[coal mining|mined coal]].<ref name= "greene">{{cite news |last1=Greene |first1=David L. |title=Grove's trophy back in spotlight |url= https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2001-01-21-0101210092-story.html |access-date=2 August 2019 |work=[[Baltimore Sun]] |date=January 21, 2001}}</ref>

Grove was a [[sandlot ball|sandlot]] star in the [[Baltimore]] area during the 1910s. He did not play organized baseball until he was 19 years old. Grove purportedly gained the ability to throw hard by hurling rocks.<ref>Russo, pp. 145-46</ref> In 1920, he made his professional debut with the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the class-D [[Blue Ridge League]], where he appeared in six games. In 59 [[innings pitched]], Grove gave up just 30 [[Hit (baseball)|hit]]s, and he had an [[earned run average]] (ERA) of 1.68.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=grove-002rob | title= Lefty Grove Minor League Statistics & History| website = baseball-reference.com | publisher= | accessdate =}}</ref> His performance attracted the attention of [[Jack Dunn (baseball)|Jack Dunn, Sr.]] (1872–1928), the manager/owner of the minor league [[Baltimore Orioles (minor league)|Baltimore Orioles]], who also discovered [[Babe Ruth]]. Dunn acquired Grove's services by giving Martinsburg enough cash to replace their center field wall.<ref name= "Russo 146"/>