Major League Baseball Player. He played Major League baseball as a pitcher for seventeen seasons with the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers. A right-hander, he relied on a fastball, change, and knuckle-curve to win 123 games. Used mostly as a reliever in 1948, going 9-3 with a 2.84 ERA, he started the pivotal fourth game of the 1948 World Series against the Boston Braves and threw a 2-1 complete-game victory. The Indians went on to win their 2nd Worlds Series Championship. A picture him hugging teammate Larry Doby, the American League's first black ballplayer, who had homered in that game, was, according to "The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia" a landmark in the annals of baseball's battle to integrate successfully. Doby said he would "always cherish that photograph and the memory of Gromek hugging me and me hugging him, because it proved that emotions can be put into a form not based on skin color." Steve Gromek started his baseball career as a shortstop, but an injury to his left shoulder led to his switch to the mound. He joined the Indians in 1941 after going 14-2 in the Michigan State League. His career high in wins came in 1945, when he was 19-9. A native of Hamtramck, Michigan, he went 45-41 over five seasons with the hometown Tigers, including 18-16 in 1954. He retired in 1957. In a career that spanned 17 seasons and 447 games, he accrued a 123-108 won-loss record with 23 saves, 904 strikeouts, a 3.41 ERA with 2064.2 innings pitched.
Major League Baseball Player. He played Major League baseball as a pitcher for seventeen seasons with the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers. A right-hander, he relied on a fastball, change, and knuckle-curve to win 123 games. Used mostly as a reliever in 1948, going 9-3 with a 2.84 ERA, he started the pivotal fourth game of the 1948 World Series against the Boston Braves and threw a 2-1 complete-game victory. The Indians went on to win their 2nd Worlds Series Championship. A picture him hugging teammate Larry Doby, the American League's first black ballplayer, who had homered in that game, was, according to "The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia" a landmark in the annals of baseball's battle to integrate successfully. Doby said he would "always cherish that photograph and the memory of Gromek hugging me and me hugging him, because it proved that emotions can be put into a form not based on skin color." Steve Gromek started his baseball career as a shortstop, but an injury to his left shoulder led to his switch to the mound. He joined the Indians in 1941 after going 14-2 in the Michigan State League. His career high in wins came in 1945, when he was 19-9. A native of Hamtramck, Michigan, he went 45-41 over five seasons with the hometown Tigers, including 18-16 in 1954. He retired in 1957. In a career that spanned 17 seasons and 447 games, he accrued a 123-108 won-loss record with 23 saves, 904 strikeouts, a 3.41 ERA with 2064.2 innings pitched.
Bio by: Frank Russo
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