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GROVER SEITZ - INDUCTEE #18

hall of fame fast fact:

If you go online to http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/West_Texas-New_Mexico_League you'll find Grover Seitz mentioned 16 times in the history of the West Texas-New Mexico league. The league ran from 1937 to 1955, and he is listed every year but the first two. In 1951, Seitz started the season managing the Pampa Oilers and finished leading the Clovis Pioneers. 

Grover Seitz

Grover Seitz, a White Deer native and longtime manager in the West Texas-New Mexico League, knew baseball. During the 1940s and 50s, Seitz won four pennants in 14 seasons with stops at Pampa and Clovis. Only once did a team managed by Seitz fail to make the playoffs.

Winning was important to Seitz, but so was entertaining the crowd. Seitz, who got as far as AAA ball in the International League as a player, managed with a dramatic flair. Seitz was famous for orchestrating fights, arguments, and eruptions with opposing players, managers, and umpires. As legend has it, during his days as a player/manager, Seitz once dropped his bat and caught a fastball barehanded to prove that the opposing pitcher was not that overpowering.

According to WT-NM statistics, Seitz’s teams drew from 50,000 to 70,000 a season despite playing in two of the league’s smaller venues.

Seitz drew attention and large crowds until his death in 1957.