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Former Nationwide League MVP and eight-time All-Star Dick Groat has handed away on the age of 92, the Pirates introduced this morning.
“We’re deeply saddened by the lack of such a beloved member of the Pirates household and Pittsburgh group,” Pirates proprietor Bob Nutting stated in an announcement asserting the information. “The Nationwide League MVP and World Sequence Champion in 1960, Dick remained a really lively and cherished member of our Alumni Affiliation. We had been honored to have only recently knowledgeable Dick and his household that he had been chosen to the Pirates Corridor of Fame. He was an ideal participant and a good higher particular person. Our ideas exit to his three daughters, eleven grandchildren and your complete Groat household. His was a life nicely lived. He will probably be missed.”
A Pittsburgh-area native and probably the greatest two-sport athletes ever, Groat not solely performed in MLB but additionally had a quick stint within the NBA on the heels of a historic basketball profession at Duke College, the place his quantity is retired. Groat was the third total decide within the 1952 NBA draft however wound up taking part in in only one season after enlisting within the Military and specializing in his baseball profession following his discharge.
Groat jumped proper from his profession at Duke into Main League Baseball, bypassing the minor leagues fully. He batted .284/.319/.313 and completed third in 1952 NL Rookie of the 12 months voting earlier than the beforehand talked about two years of navy service. Upon returning in 1955, he posted comparable numbers for his subsequent two seasons and took a step ahead in 1957, the primary of 4 seasons wherein Groat would obtain MVP votes.
From 1957-64, Groat batted a mixed .299/.340/.393, recurrently making the All-Star group alongside the way in which and 4 instances garnering some stage of MVP consideration. That features a 1960 season wherein he received a batting title and batted .325/.371/.394 on his solution to being named the Nationwide League MVP. He additionally completed because the MVP runner-up to Sandy Koufax in 1963 — Groat’s first season with the Cardinals after being despatched to St. Louis in a commerce that introduced pitcher Don Cardwell and infielder Julio Gotay again to Pittsburgh.
In all, Groat performed in elements of 14 Main League seasons: 9 with the Pirates, three with the Cardinals, two with the Phillies and one partial season with the Giants. He retired as a lifetime .286/.330/.366 batter with 2138 hits, 39 residence runs, 352 doubles, 67 triples, 829 runs scored and 707 runs batted in. He received World Sequence rings with the Pirates in 1960 and with the Cardinals in 1964, serving to each golf equipment topple the Yankees within the Fall Basic.
Following his taking part in days, Groat spent 40 years as a broadcaster for the College of Pittsburgh’s males’s basketball group, additional endearing himself to hometown followers and additional establishing his legacy in his native metropolis’s sporting lore.
Groat will probably be remembered as one of many best two-sport skills we’ve ever seen, a World Sequence champion in each Pittsburgh and St. Louis, and a beloved broadcaster in his hometown. We at MLBTR lengthen our condolences to his household, associates, family members and the numerous followers he collected over the course of a exceptional profession.
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