Former Pirates great Dick Groat, a 2-sport star, dies at 92
Dick Groat, a two-sport star who rose from basketball All-American guard to All-Star shortstop and 1960 National League MVP via a brief stint in the NBA while playing baseball for his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates died. He was 92.
Groat’s family said in a statement that he died Thursday at UMPC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh from complications from a stroke.
A native of the Swissvale neighborhood east of downtown Pittsburgh, Groat played basketball and baseball for Duke in the early 1950s, earning All-American honors in both. His No. 10 jersey hangs at Cameron Indoor Stadium after the program retired his number after his senior season ended in 1952.
Groat tried playing both baseball and basketball professionally, signed with the Pirates and was drafted within weeks of 1952 by the Fort Wayne Pistons of the then fledgling NBA.
While Groat said basketball was his first love, a stint in the military in the mid-1950s turned the tide of his athletic career.
After leaving the service, Pirates general manager Branch Rickey persuaded Groat to focus on baseball, a decision that led to a long 14-year career spanning Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Groat made the All-Star team in five seasons and led the majors in batting in 1960 when he batted .325.
That season ended with Groat earning NL MVP honors for a Pirates team that upset the New York Yankees to win the World Series.
Groat finished his major league career from 1952 to 1967 with 2,138 career wins. The Pirates announced last week that Groat would be inducted into the team’s recently formed Hall of Fame later this summer.
A member of the College Basketball and College Baseball Halls of Fame, Groat was a two-time All-American guard at Duke in the 1950s and remains the second-leading scorer in school history, averaging 23.0 points for the Blue Devils. He was third overall by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the 1952 NBA draft.
Groat played in 26 games for the Pistons, averaging 11.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists. However, his basketball career ended after he enlisted in the Army in 1953. He spent almost two years in the service and when he was fired, Rickey essentially threatened to take away the signing bonus from Groat if he didn’t turn to baseball.
Groat relented and became one of the most enduring shortstops of his time. He played in eight All-Star games (there were two games per season briefly in the 1950s and 1960s) and during Pittsburgh’s unlikely run to a World Series in 1960 it was Groat and not future Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski, who spearheaded the Pirates’ unlikely rise from the long-running hit, also made the Championship Club debut.
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