Call to the pen
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The original Los Angeles Angels pitcher passes at 84

By Benjamin Chase

Portrait of four baseball players from the Los Angeles Angels team as they pose before a pre-season game, Los Angeles, California, March 1961. Pictured are, from left, Ken Hunt, Bob Cerv, Duke Maas (1929 - 1976), and Eli Grba. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
Portrait of four baseball players from the Los Angeles Angels team as they pose before a pre-season game, Los Angeles, California, March 1961. Pictured are, from left, Ken Hunt, Bob Cerv, Duke Maas (1929 - 1976), and Eli Grba. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images) /
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The first pitcher to throw a pitch in the history of the Los Angeles Angels passed away on Monday.

In December 1960, the Los Angeles Angels made their first pick as a franchise in an expansion draft. They chose Eli Grba. The next spring, Grba would throw the first pitch in Angels franchise history. On Monday night, after a battle with pancreatic cancer, Grba passed away at the age of 84.

Grba was known for his glasses and his quality raw stuff, but he struggled to control that stuff. The Chicago native worked his way up the minor league system of the Boston Red Sox after he was a 3-sport star in high school.

Just as Grba was establishing himself in the minors that he was ready for the major leagues, he was traded to the New York Yankees and then drafted into the Army. He ended up missing all of the 1957 and 1958 seasons in military service.

In 1959, he returned to play with the Yankees, and he pitched primarily as a reliever for the Yankees AAA club in Richmond with plenty of success before getting a call to the majors. Grba struggled in 1959 in his call to the majors, but he’d pitch well in 1960 in a return to the majors, making 24 appearances, 9 of them starts, tossing 80 2/3 innings, allowing a 3.68 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP, but his control issues were present, with a 46/32 BB/K ratio.

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In that first game against the Baltimore Orioles, Grba started the Los Angeles Angels franchise off well, going the distance in a 7-2 victory. Grba tossed 9 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits and 4 walks, striking out 5. He was able to get the Orioles to pound the ball into the ground, drawing 10 ground ball outs.

Overall in 1961, he would go 11-13 for the Angels over 40 games, starting 30 of those games, tossing 211 2/3 innings with a 4.25 ERA and 1.47 WHIP, putting together a ghastly 114/105 BB/K ratio.

That was Grba’s best year in the major leagues. He would make his last pitches in the major leagues in 1963. Grba pitched four more seasons in the minor leagues, hoping to catch on with a major league club.

After struggling with drinking for nearly 15 years, an accident finally got Grba to give up drinking, and he ended up back in the game as a coach and scout through the 1990s.

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While he may not have had a long, expansive major league career, Eli Grba made a big impact on the Los Angeles Angels organization. Rest in peace, Eli.

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