Grover Powell

Grover Powell pitched for the New York Mets in 1963.

Grover David Powell was born October 10, 1940, in Sayre, Pennsylvania, on the border with New York. His father, 30-year-old Thomas Leigh Powell, was listed as a truck driver in that year’s census; his mother, Eva Mae Lenox Powell, 26, kept house. He had two older sisters, Anna Mae and Marie.

In the 1950 census the family lives in a farm near Wyalusing, to the southeast of Sayre, toward Scranton. In addition to the farming Leigh worked 15 hours the previous week as a sawmill operator. Anna Mae is 11, Marie 10, Grover 9, and little brother Leon is 7.

Grover, inevitably, became a star baseball player; he also played football and basketball and ran track at Wyalusing Valley High School. In the summer of 1957 he was voted to the Junior League All-East game as an outfielder by major league scouts. He graduated in 1958 and enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, where he played baseball and football. From the Harrisburg Evening News, May 22, 1959:

Penn Freshman baseball Coach Tim Temerario has three good pitchers on his roster in Grover Powell, Ralph Heyman and Martin Padersky. So he pitched each one three innings each game. The result—seven straight wins.

In September Grover was listed as a 6-1, 170 -pound, sophomore back on the football roster. In May 1960 he struck out 17 batters in a game vs. Columbia; he finished the season with a 4-0 Ivy League record. He pitched for Penn as a junior in 1961, until getting kicked off the team after missing a bus. That summer he played in the Essex County [New Jersey] semi-pro league.

In the spring of 1962 Grover signed a contract with the New York Mets, just starting their inaugural season. He was sent to the Syracuse Chiefs of the AAA International League, a team shared by the Mets and the Washington Senators. On April 2 he filled out a questionnaire, in which he gave his nickname as “Cuddly Grovie,” his nationality or descent as American, his off-season occupation as student, and his hobby as drawing cartoons. A June 17 Newark Star-Ledger article on Mets scout Pete Gebrian said:

Of those he has helped sign Gebrian is most proud of Bobby Richardson and Johnny Kucks. He’s also high on the first man he signed for the Mets, Grover Powell, a Pennsylvania left-hander who is with Syracuse in his first pro season.

However Grover was not doing very well with Syracuse; he had a 5.79 ERA in 56 innings, mostly in relief, striking out 43 and walking 41, when in late July he was demoted to the Auburn Mets of the Class D New York-Pennsylvania League. The Sporting News reported in their August 11 issue:

POWELL DEBUTS WITH VICTORY

Grover Powell, sent to Auburn (NYP) by Syracuse (International), made his debut with his new club, July 27, by gaining a 4 to 3 victory. The southpaw, who had been used only [mostly] as a relief hurler by the Chiefs, allowed six hits and struck out 15. Helping Powell was Rick Bazinet, who belted his twenty-first homer and his third in as many nights. Auburn baserunners ran wild with six stolen bases, three of them by Bernie Smith, the Mets’ center fielder.

With Auburn Grover had a 5.12 ERA in 58 innings, striking out 78 and walking 29, but allowing ten home runs. The strikeouts impressed the Mets enough that they moved him to the major league roster for the off-season to protect him from the minor league draft. He then pitched for their team in the Florida Instructional League.

Grover was invited to the Mets’ 1963 major league spring training camp. On February 24, Wirt Gammon wrote, in his “Just Between Us Fans” column in the Chattanooga Times:

Maybe they won’t all make sweet music on the ball field, but seven National League rookies certainly could swing up a storm off it.

Musically inclined are the Dodgers’ Steve Anderson, who plays the organ; the Pirates’ Ron Brand and Tim Butters, ukulele; Houston’s Alan Goldfield, clarinet; the Giants’ Matt Gayeski, guitar; the Mets’ Grover Powell, piano; and the Cardinals’ Harry Watts, trumpet.

All but one, incidentally, are pitchers. Watts is an outfielder. [Brand was not a pitcher.]

On March 9 the Jersey Journal printed Met rookie scouting reports, taken from Baseball Digest, including:

Grover Powell—“Below average curve and fielder. Fair-plus fastball. Control poor. Poise fair. Class A tops.”

In early April Grover was demoted to AAA Buffalo, but he actually began the season with the Raleigh Mets of the Carolina League—yes, Class A. From the May 31 Norfolk Virginian-Pilot:

Powell: Big Leaguer in the Minors

By Abe Goldblatt

PORTSMOUTH—Grover Powell is in a unique position. He’s in the major leagues and he isn’t.

Grover pitches for the Raleigh club in the Carolina League. But he’s still on the roster of the New York Mets in the National League.

The 22-year-old southpaw is the parent Mets’ designated player, an indication that Casey Stengel holds the former University of Pennsylvania star in high regard as a major league prospect.

Under the rules, a major league club is permitted to send out one bonus player and still protect him. But he must remain on the big league roster.

Such is Powell’s case.

However, Raleigh Manager Clyde McCullough doesn’t think it’ll be long before Powell is pitching for Casey’s team.

“In my opinion, Powell has the best arm in the Mets’ organization,” Clyde commented. “I definitely think he has a chance to make the big show. At times he has been inclined to be a little wild, but he is cutting down on his walks.”

“My best pitch is a fast ball,” Powell says. “And I hope it gets me a chance with the New York club.”

Going into Thursday’s opener of a doubleheader against the Tides, Powell held a 2-2 record with the last place R-Mets…

On July 7 the Mets sent 18-year-old Ed Kranepool down to the minors, and since he was also a bonus player, that meant they had to call up Grover. From the next day’s Jersey Journal:

Lost in the excitement over Kranepool’s demotion was the announcement that his place on the parent roster would be filled by Grover Powell, a 22-year-old southpaw. Powell is 5 and 5 [actually 5-6] with the Mets’ Raleigh (A) club, but has earned a reputation as a strikeout artist. He’s whiffed 87 in 85 innings [99 in 91—their stats seem to have been a little outdated].

“Powell’s pretty good with the strikeout,” Stengel said. “And as you know we need some pitchin’ here. He’s got a good fastball and curve and all I can say about his curve is it’s big.”

Grover had a 3.07 ERA in his 91 innings for Raleigh, in 16 games; he played in 27 games total, the difference being some combination of pinch-hitting (he hit .316/.395/.421 in 38 at-bats) and pinch-running appearances.

Grover made his major league debut at home on July 13, in a Saturday afternoon home game against the Dodgers. He pitched the ninth inning of an 11-2 loss; he retired his first batter, Willie Davis, then walked the opposing pitcher, Bob Miller, retired Dick Tracewski, walked Nate Oliver, and retired Lee Walls.

Grover’s next four appearances were similar, in that he was finishing up a loss each time. Along the way, on July 19, he appeared in Maury Allen’s “Working Press” column in the New York Post:

A Look At the Mets

Grover Demetrius Powell, 22 years old, a handsome, dark-haired lefthanded pitcher, sat in a corner of the Mets clubhouse and poured over the latest adventures of Archie, Betty and Veronica in his latest comic book.

Powell is a young Met. He has two innings of major league pitching to his credit. He thinks baseball is fun. He answers to the nickname of Cuddly.

“I got that name in high school,” says the young Pennsylvanian. “I ran Cuddly Grover’s question and answer bureau. I answered letters to the lovelorn for a fee. I never made much money but I had a lot of fun.”

Edwin Snider, 36 years old, handsome, grey-haired outfielder, sat across the Mets’ clubhouse reading the sports pages with a special attention to the doings of the Dodgers.

Snider is an old Met. He has 15 years of stardom behind him. He thinks baseball isn’t as much fun with a loser. Nobody on this side of the Atlantic thinks of Windsor when they hear the name Duke…

“Sometimes,” said Snider, “it’s a real pleasure coming to the park.”

It is always a pleasure for Cuddly Powell to come to the park. He is in the major leagues. Last year he was signed off the campus of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

He is the Mets designated player. They do not wish to lose him. They’ll wait until he learns to pitch.

“It’s fun being up here,” said Powell. “I started the season in Raleigh, N.C. There isn’t much to do there.”

Powell went to spring training with the Mets and was sent down to learn control.

“Sometimes it’s easier to pitch up here. You have to concentrate on every hitter. In Raleigh you can make a mistake and nobody hits it.”

Powell isn’t ashamed of his fondness for comic books. He also reads novels and mythology.

“I read the comic books to rest my mind. The players kidded me in spring training about the comic books. Then they came to my room and borrowed them.”

Grover Demetrius Powell, the young Met with all future and no post, went back to his comic books and dreamed at exciting days yet to come.

Edwin (Duke) Snider, the old Met with a great past and a vital present, went back to the sports pages and dreamed of today’s game and today’s base hit.

Sporting News, August 3:

Wine Wins Speed Contest, Uncorks Toss at 87.6 MPH

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—Bobby Wine, Phillies’ shortstop, walked off with the distinction of possessing the strongest arm at Connie Mack Stadium, July 21.

Competing with four others between games of the Mets-Phils double-header, Wine rifled a toss that was clocked at 87.6 miles per hour by the Philadelphia Blue Cross pitchometer.

Runner-up honors went to Frank Thomas, Mets’ first baseman, who fired an 82.1 toss into the speed-measuring device after failing to hit the target with three straight pitches.

Grover Powell, Mets’ pitcher, was third with 82.0, followed by Earl Averill, Jr., Phil catcher, with 78.9 and Frank Torre, Phil first baseman, with 76.0.

The August 24 Sporting News had a story about the Mets’ August 11 game:

Ol’ Case Mum on Reliever, Gets First Thumb as Met

NEW YORK, N.Y.—For the first time since becoming manager of the Mets, Casey Stengel was heaved out of a game by an umpire on Sunday, August 11—and for the oddest of reasons. Casey refused to give the name of the new pitcher he was bringing in from the bull pen.

“Wait till he comes on the mound and then I’ll tell you,” Stengel insisted.

Plate Umpire Stan Landes wouldn’t wait and up went his thumb, motioning that the 73-year-old manager was gone.

It happened in the sixth inning of the opener of a double-header with the Cubs. The Mets were getting massacred and Stengel wasn’t in too happy a frame of mind. He had come out of the dugout to remove Pitcher Jay Hook.

“When the umpire asks me the name of the new pitcher, I remember an incident when I was with the Yankees,” Casey related. “We wanted Kucks, but the umpire thought we said Trucks and he made Trucks pitch to one batter even though he wasn’t warmed up.

“I didn’t want that to happen again. What if you’re a Southern fella and the umpire is not a Southern fella? He might misunderstand you.”

The Mets’ reliever involved was Grover Powell, the southpaw bonus rookie. Casey never did get to introduce him to Umpire Landes. By the time Powell arrived, the manager was already in the clubhouse.

Through mid-August Grover had pitched 14 1/3 innings in nine relief appearances, with 16 strikeouts, nine walks, and a 1.88 ERA. This earned him his first start, on August 20. From that day’s New York Post:

Powell’s Serious—No Comic Books

By a Staff Correspondent

Philadelphia, August 20.—Grover Demetrius Powell, a young man with a live left arm and an alert mind, will pitch one of the games in the twilight doubleheader tonight. Roger Craig pitches in the other.

Powell, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Pennsylvania, will be getting his first major league start.

Is he nervous?

“I’m always nervous before my first major league start,” he said.

The Met pitching staff has the shorts and Powell was tapped Sunday for the assignment.

“Ernie (White, the pitching coach) asked me if I wanted to start. There was only one thing to tell him, so I did. I said absolutely not.”

Powell laughed and truly admitted he had no choice in the matter.

How does a 22-year-old devotee of comic books get ready for such a chore?

“It’s a serious thing,” said Powell, “so no comic books. I’ll stay up all night and finish my book. It’s called ‘Greek Heroes’ by Kerenyi.”

Grover pitched a four-hitter as the Mets won 4-0. He struck out six and walked four; he loaded the bases with one out in the first and again with two out in the sixth, but sailed through otherwise. From the next day’s Post, by Maury Allen:

Ecstasy leaped from the young body of Grover Demetrius Powell, a 22-year-old raconteur with a strong left arm, in the glee of his shutout win, 4-0, in his first major league start. The win, 40^th for Mets, equaled last year’s total. 

“Was you born in Poland?” asked one of the questioners, an interloper named C. Stengel.

“I’m going to take the game ball,” said Powell, “and have all the guys sign it. Then I’ll put it in my window and shout ‘Grover Powell lives here.’”

It was early evening, and the Phillies had dreamed of double wins and miracles and pennant chases. Enter young Mr. Powell.

“He’s good for a 14-year-old,” said Stengel. “Wait till he’s 16.”

Powell had given the Phillies four hits and sat immersed in middle aged reporters, the sweat of his effort, and the reward of the night, a long, cool beer.

“I started drinking when I was three,” said the prodigy with the sweet talk of an erudite Belinsky.

The first inning was the hardest with the bases loaded and two tough hitters coming up.

“I was unconscious,” said Powell. “I tried to keep the ball down. It went up and Demeter popped it up. I always have trouble getting started.”

Powell then mowed over the Phils with poised skill. It was as if the former Penn pitcher was giving Princeton its comeuppance.

“I’m from Wyalusing, Pa.,” he was saying. “That’s the place Marie Antoinette was supped to come to before she had that accident in the kitchen.”

From Wyalusing to Penn was an easy jump. The scholarship said academic and Powell reads Greek philosophy, mythology, and books like “Voodoo in New Orleans.” But it was baseball they really wanted him for at the school by the Schuylkill…

The shutout and his sense of humor earned Grover a fair amount of media attention. The September 7 Sporting News included an article on him and his shutout, which covered much the same ground as the Post article, with some differences:

Powell Gives Mets New Power—on Laff Meter, Not at Plate

By Barney Kremenko

NEW YORK, N.Y.

Grover Powell proved a refreshing newcomer after shutting out the Phillies on four hits in a sensational debut as a starter on the night of August 20 at Connie Mack Stadium.

The 22-year-old southpaw, only one year out of the University of Pennsylvania, made almost as much of a hit with his ready wit as with his pitching…

Later a discussion came up about an incident in the game. In the sixth inning, after the Phillies had loaded the bases with two out, the Mets’ bat boy came running out of the dugout toward the mound waving a handkerchief.

“At first I thought they wanted me to surrender,” Powell offered. “Then I thought maybe it was a relief pitcher.”

It turned out that Stengel had sent the hanky in so that Powell could wipe his brow, which appeared to be perspiring.

When one reporter inquired what, after this brilliant mound performance, the ex-collegian expected for an encore, Powell, grinning, said:

“I’ll probably get bombed.”

…The Mets’ lefty has some unfinished business at college, needing a little more than a semester’s credits for his degree in Penn’s Wharton School of Finance.

On this, he explained:

“As a student, I would have made a good pair of book ends.”

However, he plans to return to classes during off seasons to complete his course.

Powell also had an incomplete varsity baseball career. Towards the close of his junior year, Grover was booted off the team by Penn Coach Jack McCloskey.

“This wasn’t fair,” the newest of the Polo Grounds prodigies insisted. “I had been up all night studying for an exam. About an hour and a half before we were to board a bus for a game at West Point, I tried to get some sleep. When I awoke, it was too late to make the bus, so I never showed up. For that, I was kicked off the team.”

Then he added:

“That really wasn’t the whole story. The next day another pitcher, Marty Pedersky, and I were throwing chunks of dirt at each other during a workout when the coach walked in. That, coming on top of my missing the bus, I guess, was too much for him.”

…As a sophomore, Powell was offered $8,000 by the Mets, but decided to continue in college. However, after he had been sacked by his coach, interest in him evaporated on all fronts and there were no offers from anyone, not even from the Mets.

“I decided to contact Gil McDougald,” Grover related. “He had made the original offer as a Met scout. But by this time he no longer was connected with them. Nevertheless he got in touch with someone in the Met office and I was given $2,500 to sign.”

Actually, it was $1,000 as a down payment and $1,500 more if Powell lasted in the organization at least 90 days.

With the quick $1,000, the Pennsylvanian said he bought a glove and three ink pens.

Ink pens? Are there any other kind?

“You don’t expect me to make sense and talk, too,” Powell laughed…

Powell admits to one superstition—the number five.

“It’s lucky for me,” he explained. “That’s why I wear 41 on my uniform.”

When he noted that his listener was puzzled, Grover quickly informed:

“Four and one make five. Get it?”

Powell maintains that on the mound he is deadly serious.

“Otherwise, comedy is my life,” he said. “I like to laugh. I’ll try anything that will bring that goal.”

The rookie flinger is a devotee of folk music “because there’s humor in it.”..

Grover then got six days of rest, before starting again on the 27^th, in Pittsburgh. From that day’s Post:

Powell Makes His Pitch

By Maury Allen

Pittsburgh, Aug. 27—There is a twinkle in the eyes of Grover Powell and a wispy smile on his lips when he talks. He laughs easily, especially when he tells you his middle name is Demetrius.

“It says David on my birth certificate,” he confesses, “but my mother always liked the name so they really made it my middle name.”

Powell, a 22-year-old lefthander who gets his second major-league start tonight against Bob Friend, is cut from an old cloth. Something like a dainty Dizzy Dean. And was his name Jay Hanna or Jerome Herman.

“I’ve never been at a loss for words,” says Powell, “but only if I win. If I lose I boil.”

Losses do not shut Powell up completely. “I mouth doggerel,” he says, “and my curse words go up 90 per cent.”

Powell, who never quite made it through the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, uses words with alacrity.

“I pitch with aplomb,” he says, “and sometimes with gum.” Before he turned to words and challenged Larry Bearnarth for the club crossword leadership, Powell considered himself a budding cartoonist.

“I specialized in nebbishes for characters,” he says, “and I was doing pretty well. Then I sent in some of my work to be judged and asked if there was any channel for this talent. They told me yes, the English Channel. I didn’t care because I had run out of ideas anyway.”

Since he couldn’t be a cartoonist, Powell accepted Penn’s offer of a scholarship and entered the school of business.

“I took management training,” he says, “that’s the course for prospective executives. You go right from there into your father’s business and he starts you at $7,500. It lifts up the class average for starting income of Penn graduates.”

Grover was pitching another shutout when Donn Clendenon led off the bottom of the fifth by hitting a line drive off his cheek. He finished the inning before being removed; he was taken to the hospital, then released. The Mets lost the game, 2-1, when reliever Galen Cisco allowed two unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Grover got another start on September 1, giving up three runs, one earned, in 4 1/3 innings, then pitched 2/3 of an inning in relief on the 3^rd. He started again on the 5^th, again giving up three runs, one earned, this time in 2 2/3 innings. He was then returned to the bullpen full time; the September 28 Sporting News reporting that he

…was recently taken off the starting rotation and returned to the bull pen for, as Stengel explained, “the boy’s own good.”

“If he works on relief, he’ll face more teams and more of the league’s top hitters,” the Mets’ manager added. “That experience will be far more helpful to him than working only every fourth day.”

Grover relieved in five games the rest of the way, and not real well; his ERA with the team ended up at 2.72, but it had been 0.95 after the game in which he got hit in the face. He pitched 49 2/3 innings for the Mets, allowing 37 hits and 32 walks while striking out 39.

In November Grover was sent to Caracas to pitch in the Venezuelan Winter League. He had a 2.67 ERA there in 64 innings, but went home early after developing a sore shoulder. He reported to spring training with the Mets and was said to look good early on, but then his shoulder troubles returned. From the March 11 Post:

Grover Powell, figured as a sure pitcher on the staff, is being bothered by tendonitis in the upper left arm.

“The doctor told me to keep pitching until it gets better or worse,” said Powell. “I first hurt it pitching in Venezuela but they wouldn’t let me go home until they got another pitcher.”

Post, March 22:

“When I was going bad,” he [Larry Bearnarth] said, “I didn’t feel like doing anything. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to read the papers. I just wanted to stay in my room and play Spill ‘n Spell.”

Spill ‘n Spell is the Mets answer for young, intellectual pitchers when they’re having trouble.

Sore-armed Grover Powell and inexperienced Bruce Wilson are the other players. It’s a word game played with dice. You roll the dice and make a word with letters printed on them.

“Grover thinks he’s the best,” said Bearnarth, “and I think I’m the best. Grover is hard to beat. He makes up words. Did you ever see ‘becapped’ in the dictionary? Grover used it on me.”

Jersey Journal, March 26:

Grover Powell, who closed the season with the Mets, was hurt…until yesterday.

Powell, suffering from a bad shoulder, hadn’t pitched in a game for a full month. Yesterday he worked the final inning of a 10-0 loss to the Phillies. He gave up one hit and one unearned run and pitching coach Mel Harder wore a great big smile.

“He looked good, real good. John Stephenson, his catcher, said Grover’s fast ball was really moving,” Harder beamed.

At the start of training camp, Powell had been virtually assured of a spot with the Mets. However, [Ron] Locke came on strong while Grover was injured and suddenly nothing seemed quite so certain. Yesterday’s effort may have come just in time for Powell, as manager Casey Stengel and Harder are faced with getting their top dozen pitchers in shape for the opener.

On March 31 Grover was sent to the Mets’ minor league camp to get his shoulder back in shape, while remaining on the major league roster. On April 2 he pitched three innings in a Buffalo Bisons (AAA) exhibition game, allowing just one hit and striking out five, but on the 8^th Bison manager Whitey Kurowski said that “Powell can’t pitch more than once in ten days because of arm trouble.” On the 21^st (by which point he had been optioned to Buffalo), just before the International League season began, he was put on the disabled list.

On May 1 Grover was activated. He pitched two effective three-inning stints, then on the 17^th pitched 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit and no walks. The newspapers speculated that he could be rejoining the Mets soon, but on the 24^th he lasted just 1 2/3 innings in a start, allowing five earned runs. On the 28^th the Buffalo Evening News reported that he was being replaced on the Buffalo roster and that he was “in New York for medical examinations of his ailing left arm.”

Jersey Journal, June 2:

Leave it to the Mets to have a fellow like Grover Powell in town for several days and keep it a secret…The lefthander who shut out the Phils in his first major league start last year, has been working out early with the Mets a couple of days and then dressing and leaving before reporters get a chance to see him…The front office explains that Grover’s arm is being tested and if he is sound, he will be recalled from Buffalo.

The next day the Post reported that Grover “is working out with the Mets but is still suffering from a sore arm and is not likely to be recalled.” At the end of June he was sent down one level to the Williamsport Mets of the AA Eastern League. The Sporting News reported on July 18:

Grover Powell, sent from Buffalo (International) to Williamsport to work his way out of arm trouble, made a successful debut with the Mets, July 1, receiving credit for a 5-2 victory over York in the opener of a double-header. The lefthander departed for a pinch-hitter in the home half of the fifth inning when the Mets broke a 2-2 tie.

Five days later Grover got another start, but allowed a three-run inside-the-park homer in the first and was removed without getting an out. He was then returned to the disabled list, where he remained for the rest of the season. He had had a 3.86 ERA in 24 innings for Buffalo, and 10.80 in five innings for Williamsport. He appeared on Buffalo’s roster during the off-season.

In the spring of 1965 there were reports that Grover had quit, or that he may quit, baseball. On August 12 the Trenton Evening Times reported that he had pitched for Jules Tire against Ewing in the semipro Mercer County Major League. On December 18, in Dallas, he married Delta Airlines stewardess Mary Ann Cramer, of Dallas. The couple’s address was given as 607 S 42^nd Street in Philadelphia.

In their February 19, 1966, issue, the Sporting News reported:

Southpaw Grover Powell, who was forced out of baseball two years ago with a bad arm, has returned to his studies at the University of Pennsylvania and is working out with the Penn team. If his form warrants it, Powell, now 25, will attempt a comeback in the Mets’ farm system this summer.

From the Mets report in the Newark Star-Ledger, May 12:

Grover Powell, who threw a shutout in his first Met start in 1963, has recovered from a sore arm and is throwing batting practice. He’ll join Williamsport later this month.

Sporting News, June 11:

Grover Powell, attempting a comeback after sitting out the 1965 season because of arm trouble, pitched three scoreless innings in relief to mark his first appearance with Williamsport, May 25. A recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, the left-hander worked out with the Penn team and also pitched batting practice at Shea Stadium to prepare for his return.

Sporting News, July 9:

SOUR LUCK FOR LEFTY

Southpaw Grover Powell, who is trying to nurse an ailing arm back into working condition, was tagged with two defeats, one as a starter and the other as a reliever, when Williamsport lost to Elmira in a double-header, 5-1 and 4-3, June 22. Powell did not allow a hit in two innings on the mound to start the first game, but gave up five walks and three runs. The lefthander was the tough-luck loser of the nightcap on a “third-out” passed ball on a strikeout and a “fourth-out” error on a grounder.

On July 4 Grover was demoted to the Auburn Mets of the Class A New York-Pennsylvania League, after walking 20 batters in 20 innings in 11 games with Williamsport, with a 6.00 ERA. He made just two appearances for Auburn, pitching two innings; he allowed one run on one hit, striking out two, walking five, and throwing a wild pitch. Then he vanished, until an article in the March 25, 1967, Knoxville News-Sentinel:

Lame-Armed Powell Trying Bounce-Back As a Smoky

By Del Ossino

News-Sentinel Correspondent

TAMPA. Fla., March 25—Grover Powell shut out the Phillies in his first major league start. Now he’s trying to shut out arm trouble which has plagued him over the last three years…

He had developed tendonitis in his arm and that blocked his way from staying in the major leagues. “I would know how much it was bothering me by keeping my arms over my head for a certain length of time. When I couldn’t lower my arms with ease, I knew it was still hurting,” said Powell at Knoxville’s camp yesterday.

“But so far I feel good,” said Powell who moments before showed no ill effects by taking some lusty cuts at baseballs being served up by the pitching machine…

“I’m in camp because I want to play baseball and because I feel good,” Powell said. “I’ll work just as hard in Knoxville as I did in New York.”

No one can question his ability when he is sound. If the arm comes around, Knoxville may be sitting pretty when it’s Powell’s turn to pitch.

Knoxville was a Cincinnati affiliate in the Class AA Southern League.

Grover got off to a slow start. On May 27, the News-Sentinel reported: “Lefthand pitcher Grover Powell has three bone chips in his pitching elbow and probably will miss his next turn after having fluid drained from it yesterday.” Through June 6 he was 1-4 with a 4.54 ERA in 35 innings; he finished the season with a 2-9 record, but got his ERA down to 3.65 in 101 innings, both walking and striking out 65.

In 1968 the Asheville Tourists became the Reds’ Southern League affiliate, and that’s where Grover went. He had the best season of his professional career. He pitched a one-hitter on May 9. As of July 6 he led the league in innings pitched with 111. And from the August 31 Sporting News:

Asheville southpaw Grover Powell is going to make a run at the league record for victories, which is the 20 established by Manly (Shot) Johnson of Lynchburg in 1964. Powell notched No. 15 in 21 decisions August 17 when he defeated Savannah, 2-1. With 19 games remaining on the Tourists’ slate, Powell has an outside chance for 20 if Manager Sparky Anderson works him with only three days of rest and also uses him in spot relief. At any rate, Powell matched the 1967 high for a Southern pitcher, Montgomery’s Dick Drago and a 15-10 standard last year.

Grover ended up with 16 wins, leading the league, and six losses; he also led in ERA with 2.54 and innings with 188. He had become more of a control pitcher, with just 66 walks and 115 strikeouts. He also continued to be used as a pinch-runner. After the Southern League season ended he was promoted to AAA Indianapolis, where he got one start, losing while allowing five runs on eight hits and four walks in seven innings, while striking out eight.

On December 3 Grover’s father was found dead. From the next day’s Sayre Evening Times:

Wyalusing Area Man Killed by Accidental Shot

A Merryall (Wyalusing RD 1) man was found dead late yesterday afternoon near a farm pond at his home, the victim of an accidental gunshot wound which was thought to be self-inflicted.

Thomas Leigh Powell, 58, was found near the pond by his wife, Eve, when she returned from work about 5 o’clock. An investigation by Corp. Albin Puza and Trooper Francis Douglas of Bradford County State Police, and Gordon Farr of Ulster, deputy Bradford County Coroner, resulted in the coroner issuing a certificate of accidental death.

It was reported that Mr. Powell had complained of muskrats doing considerable damage to his pond. Investigating authorities believe that he went to the area yesterday to shoot some of them. While climbing a bank, it is thought that in some manner his rifle discharged, the bullet striking him in the head.

The body was removed to the Tiffany Funeral Home in Wyalusing where funeral arrangements are incomplete.

In 1969 Grover returned to Indianapolis. On March 9 he filled out a questionnaire, in which he gave his nationality as Welsh, his interesting experience in school or college sports as striking out five in one inning, and his address as 218 ½ Park Avenue in Raleigh.

He began the season in the rotation, but got just two starts before being moved to the bullpen. On May 23 he was traded to Richmond, the Braves’ AAA team, for infielder Mike de la Hoz. With Indianapolis he had had a 5.50 ERA in 18 innings; with Richmond things took a turn for the worse. He allowed four earned runs in his first 2 1/3 innings of relief, then pulled a leg muscle running wind sprints before his first starting assignment and had to come out in the second inning. On July 19 the Sporting News reported that he had refused to accept a demotion to AA Shreveport. Continuing with Richmond, he wound up with a 9.33 ERA in 27 innings in 16 games, losing his newfound control and walking 31.

Despite those numbers, Grover got invited to spring training with Richmond in 1970. But he got sent to Shreveport, and this time he accepted it. He made 11 relief appearances and had a 5.00 ERA in 18 innings, with 13 walks, as of late May; at that point he was demoted further, to the Greenwood Braves of the Class A Western Carolinas League. There he started twice and relieved twice, and had a 7.62 ERA in 13 innings, with 12 walks, when he was released on June 14. This concluded his professional career.

On September 4, 1975, the North Orwell news section of the Sayre Evening Times reported on Grover getting together with his mother, one sister, and one brother:

Grover Powell and son Grey of Raleigh, N.C. visited last week at the home of Leon Powell. Mrs. Anna Mae Bateman from Mexico, N.Y. spent several days with the Powells. Mrs. Eva Powell of Wyalusing was also a visitor with her son and family.

In 1976 Grover, still just 35, was pitching semi-pro ball. From the Wilmington Star News, June 20, 1976:

Barons split with Durham

Former New York Met Grover Powell outpitched ex-Wilmington Hoggard star Ron Musselman Saturday night to give the Durham Bees a 2-1 victory over the SENCland Barons Saturday night and a split of an exhibition baseball doubleheader.

From the Winston-Salem Journal, May 22, 1985:

Ex-Mets Pitcher Dies in Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)—Grover Powell, a former New York Mets pitcher who pitched a shutout in his first major-league game [start] against the Philadelphia Phillies, died Tuesday of acute leukemia. He was 44.

A native of Pennsylvania, Powell pitched for the Raleigh Caps of the Carolina League before being called up by the Mets in 1963.

Powell’s big league career was cut short after he suffered an arm injury while playing winter ball in Venezuela.

The funeral will be at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Brown Funeral Home. Burial will be Friday in Camptown Cemetery in Wyalusing, Pa.

Sporting News, June 10:

Grover D. Powell, whose only major-league victory was a shutout he threw at the Philadelphia Phillies in his first starting assignment for the New York Mets late in the 1963 season, died of leukemia May 21 in Raleigh, N.C. He was 44.

Powell pitched 50 innings mostly in relief, for the second-year Mets in 1963. He had a 1-1 record and a 2.72 earned-run average. He suffered a serious arm injury the following winter while pitching in the Venezuelan League and never returned to the majors.

A lefthander, Powell toiled for Mets farm clubs at Buffalo and Jacksonville [he never played for Jacksonville] in the mid-1960s, and he also made stops at Knoxville and Richmond.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/P/Ppoweg101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/powelgr01.shtml