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| Steve Gromek (left) and Larry Doby celebrate Cleveland's crucial victory in Game 4 of the 1948 World Series. (Photo: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive) |
By Tom Derry
Today marks 100 years since the birth of Steve Gromek in Hamtramck, Michigan.
Gromek, a graduate of St. Ladislaus High School, was one of the greatest players to ever come out of Hamtramck. He even played a role in the integration of Major League Baseball.
Gromek, who started out as an infielder in the Cleveland Indians organization, eventually became a pitcher in 1941. The dependable right-hander pitched in the majors for 17 years, winning 123 games, tossing 17 shutouts, and completing 92 games.
In 1945, Gromek won 19 games for Cleveland despite missing two weeks after injuring his knee while scoring the winning run in a game against Detroit. Gromek was named to the American League All-Star team that year, but the game was canceled due to travel restrictions during World War II.
Gromek would later be traded to his hometown Detroit Tigers, where he would win 18 games in 1954.
But Gromek’s shining moment would come during the 1948 World Series. Player-manager Lou Boudreau made a surprising decision to start Gromek in Game 4 of the fall classic against the Boston Braves at Cleveland Stadium. The Hamtramck native would not disappoint the Indians' skipper.
Gromek pitched a complete game, beating the Braves by a score of 2-1.
The other hero of the game was Larry Doby, whose third-inning homer would prove to be the game-winning run.
Doby’s blast was the first home run hit by a black player in World Series history. The Plain Dealer, the major newspaper in Cleveland, snapped a photo of Gromek and Doby celebrating in the locker room after the game.
The photo of them hugging each other became a signature moment in the integration of baseball. It was only a year earlier that Doby had become the first black player in the American League, just three months after Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier with the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers.
When Doby first joined the Indians, four of his teammates refused to shake his hand, and two turned their backs to him.
But the embrace Doby received from Hamtramck’s own Steve Gromek was something the left-handed slugger would never forget. In his Hall of Fame acceptance speech in 1998, Doby reflected on the photo with Gromek.
“That was a feeling from within, the human side of two people, one black and one white,” Doby said. “That made up for everything I went through. I would always relate back to that whenever I was insulted or rejected from hotels. I’d always think about that picture. It would take away all the negatives.”
