Tom Grieve                      Elected 1991

Left Fielder
Denver 14ers (ATL, MAN, LA, CHI)
1971-1985 

At the height of his career from 1974 to 1980, slugging left fielder Tom Grieve was the most formidable hitter in the league. Starting with back-to-back MVP seasons, Grieve hit at least 40 HR and 100 RBIS for seven years in a row. For context, Orlando Cepeda only had streaks of three 40-HR seasons and five 100-RBI seasons; Mickey Mantle only hit 40 homers once, and Frank Robinson only had five 100-RBI seasons for his entire career—and those three guys make up the entire membership of the 600-homer club.

Grieve was born on March 4, 1948 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, whose 1791 ordinance banning the playing of baseball near the town hall makes it the earliest known written reference to baseball. In high school, he was a three-sport athlete, quarterbacking the football team and leading the baseball team to a state championship. Drafted by the Washington Senators, he refused to sign unless they agreed that he could finish his degree at the University of Michigan.

Grieve was undrafted in the 1970 United League draft and was passed over in the fifth round for players like Balor Moore, Carl Morton, and Larry Gura. He is not only the first undrafted player to make the Hall of Fame ballot, but the first player not drafted in the first two rounds (not counting the Inaugural Draft). The previous lowest pick to make it to the Hall of Fame ballot was Don Wilson, the 18th overall pick in 1967.

Grieve was picked up on a minimum contract by the Atlanta Hilltoppers shortly after the draft, and was ranked the #95 prospect at the beginning of the season. After two average seasons in Triple-A, he played about a third of the 1972 season with the Toppers, where he struggled mightily, batting just .188 with a .553 OPS and -0.8 WAR. Then in 1973, he found his power swing, knocking 14 homers and 68 RBIs, despite a still below-average OPS. When the 1974 expansion draft came along, the Toppers left him unprotected, and he was snatched up by the Denver 14ers as their fifth pick. What happened next was one of the fastest and steepest rises of any player in baseball history.

After barely breaking into a major league lineup in 1973, Grieve exploded onto the scene, with just the fourth 50-homer season in league history, the first of three straight RBI titles, and the 1974 Most Valuable Player Award. Assuming the MVP season was a flash in the pan, the Denver top brass wisely chose to deal their star man at his peak value, sending him to Manhattan for Ken Griffey, Lou Brock, and top pitching prospect Kevin Kobel, who was expected to be the 14ers ace for a decade. Kobel went on to an illustrious career (37-43, 5.07), while Grieve won a second MVP in 1975, and helped lead the Gray Sox to the first two of four straight titles in 1976 and 1977. In 1978, having seen the error of their ways, Denver reached out to reacquire their first big star, sending back Griffey along with an underperforming young hurler named David Clyde, who at age 22, immediately became the star of the Gotham staff, going 17-9, winning Semi Series MVP, and helping the Sox to their third UL title in a row. Back in Denver, Grieve had a career year, batting .310 with a 1.042 OPS, and 52 home runs. He followed with 40-103 and 43-104 seasons in 1979 and 1980, then slumped a bit in 1981, when he hit just .261-37-93 with his lowest OPS and WAR since his first MVP year. Traded to L.A. in 1982, he produced his eighth 100-RBI season, but his average plumetted the following year. He still hit 25 and 27 home runs, however, in his last two seasons as a regular.

Though he lacked the longevity and sustained excellence of other UL greats, his peak years rivaled and even surpassed those of such luminaries as Cepeda and Mantle. He is one of just four players to win back-to-back MVPs (Granny Hamner, Joe Torre, Craig Robinson) and was named left fielder on the 1970s All-Decade Team. As of his retirement, he ranked 7th in home runs, 16th in RBIs, and 25th in total bases. despite playing in just 1830 games (53rd all-time). (TJS)