John Grabow
MLB (retired)
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Full Name John William Grabow Nicknames Grabes Date of Birth 11/04/1978 Age 46 Birthplace Arcadia, CA Religion Jewish Height 6'2 Weight 205 Bats/Throws L/L
Drafted Pirates
(06/03/1997)Draft Round 3 Overall Pick 92 MLB Debut 09/14/2003
Career highlights (as of 2009)
- Selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 3rd round of the 1997 draft (92nd overall)
- 8th in leads held, NL (2009)
- 11th in games pitched, NL (2009)
- Ranks 8th in Pittsburgh Pirates history for most games pitched, with 390 (Emerald Guide to Baseball 2010)
2009 highlights
- Playing both for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs, Grabow went 3-and-0 with a 3.36 ERA
- Held opposition to a .233 batting average
- Successfully held lead 24 times
- Pitched in a career-high 75 games
MLB career bests, by statistic
- ERA: 2.84 (2008)
- Wins: 6 (2008)
- Saves: 4 (2008)
- Holds: 23 (2009)
- Strikeouts: 66 (2006)
- K/9 innings: 9.34 (2004)
- K/BB ratio: 2.29 (2004)
- Opponent AVG: .218 (2008)
- Opponent OBP: .307 (2008)
On being Jewish
- “His mother’s side is Jewish, his dad’s is not. Which makes Grabow himself wonder how people know he’s Jewish. Even if some people thought Grabow sounded Jewish, it’s not.” (Jewishsports.com; September 2004)
- “Grabow’s grandmother’s maiden name is Mizrachi and they used to call Beirut, Lebanon home. ‘I still have some family in Lebanon and some in Israel. I’ve also got some Jewish family in Panama.'”(Jewishsports.com; September 2004)
- Grabow welcomed being put on a Jewish Major Leaguers baseball card. “That would be something that would be cool. My grandmother would really like that.” (Jewishsports.com; September 2004)
- Grabow was one of Team USA’s three Jews in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, along with Ryan Braun and Kevin Youkilis. (MLB.com)
For more information
- Baseball-Reference page
- Jewish Baseball Museum bio
- Baseball cards
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