The Democrat and Chronicle reported that "the younger element of the Hudson [R]iver ball fields ... love him and worship him as a sort of baseball demi-god."

[3] DeGroff made his major league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in September of that year, and in 15 games, he batted .250.

He batted .348, setting his career-high in that category, and led the league in hits, doubles, triples, home runs, slugging percentage, and total bases.

In 1936, US president Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was also born in Hyde Park) attended a Robin Hoods game and told the crowd that he and DeGroff used to play on the same baseball team.

[9] 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.