Bill Knight column for 6-28, 29 or 30, 2021
Six-foot, 2-inch left-handed first baseman Mark Grace led Major League Baseball with hits in the 1990s (1,754), but he’s been overlooked in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Grace, born 57 years ago this week in North Carolina, not only wasn’t accepted in his first year of eligibility (2009), sportswriters didn’t even give him enough votes to remain on future ballots.
It was a slap in the face and against a stellar career of a true character in the National Pastime, a fan favorite who players respected, and the game adored as much as he loved it.
In the ’90s, Grace said, “I play the game because I love it and I will continue to love it when I’m done playing.”
Grace’s love took a circuitous but steady route. His dad Gene worked at the Union Pacific Railroad, requiring the family to move 13 times in Grace’s youth. Finally settling in Southern California, Gracie played for Tustin (Calif.) High School, attended Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, and transferred to San Diego State, where his teammates included future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.
Grace was drafted by the Twins in 1984 but decided to stay in college. The Cubs drafted him a year later, and in 1985 the 21-year-old Grace arrived in Peoria, where he hit .342 for the Class-A Chiefs. The next year, he was promoted to AA Pittsfield (Mass.) and led the Eastern League in RBIs and was an All-Star and Most Valuable Player.
In 1988, he moved to AAA Des Moines for 21 games before getting called up to Chicago, finishing his first year hitting .296 and earning the Sporting News’ Rookie of the Year and a place on Baseball Digest’s rookie all-star team.
Gracie led the Cubs in RBIs in 1989, when the Cubs won the National League Eastern Division. In five playoff games against the Giants, Grace batted a stunning .647.
The 1990s saw Grace finishing each season in the top 10 in hits, singles, double and other stats, but in 2000, the Cubs front office declined to even make him an offer, so Grace signed with Arizona, helping the Diamondbacks win the 2001 World Series.
He retired at the end of 2003 with impressive career statistics: a .303 batting average, 173 home runs, more than 2,400 hits, and 1,146 RBIs, and he became a baseball commentator and hitting coach.
Off the field, Grace was named to participate in the Cubs’ new Marquee Sport Network’s roster of former Cubbies who provide color to broadcasts, along with former Cubs Rick Sutcliffe, Doug Glanville and Ryan Dempster, but last year he referred to one of his ex-wives as “dingbat” on the air (three times), and apologized for the stupid comment.
Also, he was arrested for Driving Under the Influence twice, in 2011 and 2012, and served a few months in jail for the offense in 2013.
That shouldn’t affect his place in baseball history.
Everyone makes serious mistakes, even in professional baseball: DUI defendants Tony LaRussa, (Twins coach) Neil Allen and Miguel Cabrera; domestic-violence culprits Jose Reyes, Addison Russell and Aroldis Chapman (the latter two from the Cubs 2016 championship team); other one-time Cubs who ran afoul of the law, including Mel Hall and Benito Santiago; terrific players such as Dwight Gooden, Denny McClain, Gary Sheffield and Darryl Strawberry. And don’t forget Fergie Jenkins, the Cubs great busted for drugs in 1980 and still inducted into the Hall in 1991, and Orlando Cepeda, arrested for drugs in 2007 and voted into Cooperstown in 1999.
The Hall of Fame should recognize talent on the diamond more than misbehavior in life.
Other ballplayers who, like Grace, recorded the most hits in a decade include Honus Wagner in the 1900s, Ty Cobb in the 1910s, Rogers Hornsby in the 1920s, Paul Waner in the 1930s, Lou Boudreau in the 1940s, and Richie Ashburn in the 1950s – each one in the Hall of Fame. (In fact, Grace and Pete Rose are the ONLY Major Leaguers to lead a decade in hits not elected to Cooperstown.)
Ballplayers need 75% of votes for induction and 5% to stay on future ballots, and in Grace’s only time of consideration, he got only 4.1%, so he was dropped for further eligibility.
Grace was a four-time Gold Glove winner (1992, ’93, ’95 and ’96), but at this point it seems baseball got the gold and Grace got the shaft.
The baseball writers who vote for the Hall of Fame should somehow correct this glaring oversight.
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