Rube DeGroff

Arthur Sleight "Rube" DeGroff (September 2, 1879 – December 17, 1955) was an American professional baseball outfielder from 1903 to 1916. He played two seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals. DeGroff was 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighed 190 pounds.

Career DeGroff was born in Hyde Park, New York, in 1879. He started his professional baseball career in 1903 with the Hudson River League's Kingston Colonials where he proved to be very popular. The Democrat and Chronicle reported that "the younger element of the Hudson iver ball fields ... love him and worship him as a sort of baseball demi-god." He spent the 1903–04 offseason playing winter ball in Cuba. In 1905, he joined the New York State League's Troy Trojans and had a batting average of .315. DeGroff made his major league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in September of that year, and in 15 games, he batted .250. He also appeared in one game for the Cardinals in 1906 before going back to the Trojans. That was the last time he played in the majors. DeGroff then went to the Eastern League for one year, batted .255, and returned to the New York State League in 1909 where he led all players with 10 home runs.

DeGroff hit under .250 in 1910 and 1911. In 1913, his batting average went down to .299, but he paced the circuit in home runs again.

DeGroff played one more season for Lowell and then two in the New York State League before his professional baseball career ended.

On December 16, 1955, DeGroff was driving on U.S. Route 9 to his job as a night watchman at a manufacturing plant when he was hit head-on by a driver who had been drinking. He died at the hospital early next morning, aged 76.