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Stephen Joseph Gromek
Detroit Tigers
Pitcher
Born: January 15, 1920, Hamtramck, MI
Signed: Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1939 season
Major League Teams: Cleveland Indians 1941-53; Detroit Tigers 1953-57
Died: March 12, 2002, Clinton Twp; Macomb County, MI (age 82)
Steve Gromek pitched in 17 big league seasons with the Indians and Tigers. A converted infielder, Gromek was used sparingly by the Indians over his first three seasons between 1941 and 1943. He earned a regular spot in Cleveland's rotation in 1944, turning in his first of five seasons with at least 10 wins. Gromek's career year came in 1945 when he was 19-9 with a 2.55 ERA, with 12 complete games and a pair of shutouts. He was named to the American League All-Star team that season, but the game was not played due to World War II. Used as a swingman over the next several seasons, Gromek helped lead the Indians to an American League pennant in 1948, and was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the World Series against the Boston Braves. His post-game photo, embracing teammate Larry Doby (#250), would become an important symbol of integration in baseball. The Indians would defeat the Braves in six games.
July 16, 1988 from Millville, NJ - Card #59
We bought this card for $4.50 from a local card shop called Brokell's in Millville, NJ back in 1988. My Dad and I frequented this store, and this was one of four cards for our 1956 set we purchased from Brokell's that year. July 16th was a Saturday so if I had to guess, we most likely acquired this card before or after enjoying a few burgs from Jim's Lunch.
As an eighth grader in 1988, I realized the need to start tracking these cards as my Dad and I added them to our set. I wanted a record of where and when and how much we had paid for each card, and so I created a tracking schedule using our very sophisticated Commodore 64. This was a complicated process, which involved typing out the checklist, printing the checklist, taking those pages to the library and using the photocopier to shrink the size of the pages, and then rubber cementing the pages to another piece of paper. I have two pages similar to the one below for this tracking exercise, which I seemingly quickly abandoned at some point in 1988. Eventually, my tracking got even more sophisticated as I graduated to a word processing document on our new Commodore 128.
The Card / Tigers Team Set
Gromek returned to Topps with this card, after appearing exclusively in the Bowman sets in 1954 and 1955. The cartoons on the back of the card highlight his veteran status, his 18 wins in 1954, and his early career conversion from an infielder.
1956 Season
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First Mainstream Card: 1949 Bowman #198
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3): 1952, 1956-57
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1985 TCMA 1948 Play Ball #39
33 - Gromek non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/5/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
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