Pitcher, New
York Yankees
Age: 24
Bats – Right,
Throws – Right
Height: 6’1” Weight: 175
Prior to 1954:
A native of New
York City, Grim grew up playing Catholic Youth Organization baseball and had a
meer 6-3 varsity pitching record at Franklin K. Lane High School in Queens. He
still received contract offers and signed with the Yankees for $3500 in 1948. First
assigned to Butler of the Class C Middle Atlantic League in ’48 he compiled an
8-4 record with a 3.30 ERA. With teams at the Class C and B levels in 1949 he
was a combined 6-14 with a 5.25 ERA. Lacking an impressive fastball or curve,
he went 10-14 with Norfolk of the Class B Piedmont League in 1950. Advancing to
Binghamton of the Class A Eastern League in 1951, Grim developed a slider that
allowed him to produce a 16-5 tally with a 2.39 ERA. He joined the Marines for
a two-year stint that kept him out of organized baseball in 1952 and ’53 but he
played service baseball and further honed his pitching. Invited to spring
training by the Yankees in 1954, the quiet and serious Grim made the pitching
staff and split his time between starting and relieving.
1954 Season Summary
Appeared in 37
games
[Bracketed
numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]
Pitching
Games – 37 [19,
tied with Mike Blyzka, Harry Dorish & Marion Fricano]
Games Started –
20
Complete Games
– 8
Wins – 20 [3]
Losses – 6
PCT - .769 [2]
Saves – 1
Shutouts – 1
Innings Pitched
– 199 [17]
Hits – 175
Runs – 78
Earned Runs – 72
Home Runs – 9
Bases on Balls
– 85 [15]
Strikeouts – 108
[12]
ERA – 3.26 [15]
Hit Batters – 3
Balks – 0
Wild Pitches – 4
[11, tied with seven others]
Midseason Snapshot: 10-3, ERA - 3.50, SO – 52 in 92.2 IP
---
Most
strikeouts, game – 7 (in 9 IP) vs. Phila. A’s 5/24, (in 9 IP) vs. Phila. A’s
8/10, (in 7.2 IP) at Chi. WS 9/10, (in 9 IP) vs. Washington 9/21
10+ strikeout
games – 0
Fewest hits
allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 7 IP) at Cleveland 5/10
Batting
PA – 80, AB – 70,
R – 3, H – 10, 2B – 0, 3B – 0, HR – 1, RBI – 9, BB – 2, SO – 26, SB – 0, CS – 0,
AVG - .143, GDP – 1, HBP – 0, SH – 7, SF – 0
Fielding
Chances – 38
Put Outs – 11
Assists – 26
Errors – 1
DP – 4
Pct. - .974
Awards & Honors:
AL Rookie of
the Year: BBWAA
11th
in AL MVP voting (25 points, 7% share)
AL ROY Voting:
Bob Grim, NYY.:
15 of 24 votes, 63% share
Jim Finigan,
PhilaA.: 8 votes, 33% share
Al Kaline, Det.:
1 vote, 4% share
---
Yankees went 103-51
to finish second in the AL, 8 games behind the pennant-winning Cleveland
Indians. Just 1.5 games behind the Indians at the end of July, the Yankees were
unable to keep up the pace as their string of World Series titles ended at five
despite posting their best record of Casey Stengel’s managerial reign.
Aftermath of ‘54:
Throwing the
slider caused Grim to have arm trouble in 1955. He appeared in just 26 games
(11 of them starts) and posted a 7-5 record with a 4.19 ERA. He was almost
exclusively a reliever in 1956 and went 6-1 with 4 saves and a 2.77 ERA. Utilized
fully as a short reliever in 1957, Grim led the AL with 19 saves to go along
with a 12-8 record and 2.63 ERA. He was an All-Star for the only time in his
career. During the 1958 season, and expendable due to the emergence of
hard-throwing bullpen ace Ryne Duren, Grim was dealt to the Kansas City Athletics
for two veteran pitchers. 0-1 with a 5.51 ERA in 11 relief appearances at the
time of the June trade, he was used as both a starter and reliever by the A’s
and went 7-6 with a 3.56 ERA. Once again primarily a reliever in 1959, Grim appeared
in 40 games (9 of them starts) and posted a 6-10 mark and a 4.09 ERA. Dealt to
the Cleveland Indians in 1960, Grim didn’t last long until being sold to
Cincinnati in May, and he finished out the season with St. Louis. Strictly a
reliever, his record for the year was 3-3 with two saves and a 4.22 ERA. The
Cardinals farmed Grim out in 1961, and with two Class AAA teams he produced a
combined 2-2 record with a 3.38 tally in 7 appearances, 5 of them starts.
Released by St. Louis prior to the 1962 season, he returned to the A’s, who put
him back in the bullpen until releasing him at the end of May, thus ending his
career. For his major league career, Grim compiled a 61-41 record with a 3.61
ERA, 38 saves, and 443 strikeouts over 759.2 innings. With the Yankees he was
45-21 with 10 complete games, 28 saves, a 3.35 ERA, and 282 strikeouts over 454.1
innings. He appeared in five World Series games and was 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA.
Plagued by a sore arm following his 20-win rookie year, Grim achieved some
success as a reliever but failed to fulfill his early promise. He died in 1996
at age 66.
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Rookie of the Year Profiles feature players who were recipients of
the Rookie of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America
(1947 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from
its inception through 1948 and from 1949 on to one recipient from each major
league.
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