View source for Eddie Grant

{{Cleanup}}
{{Wikipedia}}

<!--{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Eddie Grant
|image="Harvard" Eddie Grant, Cincinnati Reds third baseman, by Paul Thompson, 1911.jpg
|position=[[Third baseman]]
|bats=Left
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{birth date|1883|5|21}}
|birth_place=[[Franklin, Massachusetts]], US
|death_date={{death date and age|1918|10|5|1883|5|21}}
|death_place=[[Forest of Argonne|Argonne Forest]], France
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=August 4
|debutyear={{baseball year|1905}}
|debutteam=[[Cleveland Naps]]
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=October 6
|finalyear={{baseball year|1915}}
|finalteam=[[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]]
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.249
|stat2label=[[Hit (baseball)|Hits]]
|stat2value=844
|stat3label=[[Run batted in|RBI]]
|stat3value=277
|stat4label=[[Stolen base]]s
|stat4value=153
|teams=
* [[Cleveland Naps]] ({{baseball year|1905}})
* [[Philadelphia Phillies]] ({{baseball year|1907}}–{{baseball year|1910}})
* [[Cincinnati Reds]] ({{baseball year|1911}}–{{baseball year|1913}})
* [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] ({{baseball year|1913}}–{{baseball year|1915}})
|highlights=
}}}}-->
'''Edward Leslie "Eddie" Grant''' (May 21, 1883 – October 5, 1918),<ref name="baseball-reference">{{cite web| title = Eddie Grant Career statistics | work = baseball-reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/granted01.shtml | accessdate = November 20, 2007}}</ref> was an American professional [[baseball]] player. He played in [[Major League Baseball]] as a [[third baseman]] between 1905 and 1915. Grant became one of the few major league players who were killed in World War I.<ref name="veteran">{{cite web| title = The Great War Society: This Months Great Veteran | work = worldwar1.com | url=http://www.worldwar1.com/tgws/thismonthgrant.htm | accessdate = November 20, 2007}}</ref>

==Biography==
[[File:Captain Eddie Grant.jpg|thumb|left|130px|Eddie Grant as Captain during World War I]]
Grant was born on May 21, 1883, in Franklin, Massachusetts. After completing high school in 1901, Grant attended Dean Academy (now Dean College) in Franklin for a year before enrolling at Harvard University (earning him the nickname "Harvard Eddie").<ref name="deadball">{{Cite book | editor1-first=Tom | editor1-last=Simon | title=Deadball Stars of the National League | publisher=Brasseys | others=Deadball Era Committee of the Society of American Baseball Research | edition=1st | year=2004 | location=Dulles, Virginia, United States of America | pages=367 | isbn=1-57488-860-9}}</ref> While at Harvard, Grant was a member of the freshman basketball and baseball teams. He played varsity basketball for the Crimson during his sophomore year in 1903, and was set to play varsity baseball the following spring until he was declared ineligible for playing in a professional independent baseball league the previous summer.<ref name="deadball"/> He graduated from Harvard University with an undergraduate degree in 1905 and a law degree in 1909.

Grant entered the majors with the [[Cleveland Naps]] at the very end of the [[1905]] season as an emergency replacement for an ailing [[Nap Lajoie]].<ref name="deadball"/> He played in the minor leagues in 1906, but returned to the majors with the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] in [[1907]], and was the Phillies' starting third baseman from [[1908]]–1910. Grant batted leadoff for the Phillies, but was known more for his [[Baseball positions|fielding]] and [[stolen base|base stealing]] than his bat. His best year was [[1910]], when he [[batting average (baseball)|batted]] .268, [[run batted in|drove in]] 67 runs, and stole 25 bases.<ref name="baseball-reference"/>

Traded to the [[Cincinnati Reds]] in [[1911]], he batted just .223, his last year as a starter. Grant was traded again to the [[New York Giants]] in the middle of the [[1913]] season, where he finished his career as a utility [[infielder]]. Grant appeared in two games of the [[1913 World Series]], once as a pinch runner and once as a pinch hitter.<ref name="deadball"/> He retired after the [[1915]] season. His lifetime batting average was .249.<ref name="baseball-reference"/>

Perhaps because of his Harvard background, Grant refused to call for a fly ball by yelling, "I got it!" Instead, he would only say what he regarded as the more grammatically correct, "I have it!"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.baseballreliquary.org/EddieGrantPlaque.htm |title=Archived copy |accessdate=July 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906153811/http://www.baseballreliquary.org/EddieGrantPlaque.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2014 }}</ref>

==Post-career==
[[File:1913 Eddie Grant.jpeg|thumb|150px|Grant in 1913 as a member of the New York Giants.]]
Upon his retirement from baseball, Grant opened a law practice in Boston.<ref name="deadball"/>

Grant was one of the first men to enlist when the United States entered World War I in April 1917, and he served as a captain in the 77th Infantry Division. During the fierce battle of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, all of Grant's superior officers were killed or wounded, and he took command of his troops on a four-day search for the "Lost Battalion."  During the search, an exploding shell killed Grant on October 5, 1918.<ref name="veteran"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Captain 'Eddie' Grant Killed In France. Ex-Third Baseman of the Giants Slain in Attempt to Rescue 'Lost Battalion'. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/10/22/archives/captain-eddie-grant-killed-in-france-exthird-baseman-of-the-giants.html |quote=Captain Edward Grant, former third baseman of the New York National League Club, and attached...  |agency=Associated Press in ''The New York Times'' |date=October 22, 1918 |accessdate=July 24, 2009 }}</ref> He was the first Major League Baseball player killed in action in World War I.<ref>Crazy ’08: How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p. 111, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-06-088937-1}}</ref> He was buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Lorraine, France.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/10/05/major-league-baseball-player-died-battle-years-ago-today/ ''The Washington Post'']</ref>

Grant was one of eight [[Major League Baseball]] players known either to have been killed or died from illness while serving in the armed forces during World War I.  The others were [[Alex Burr]]‚ [[Harry Chapman]], [[Larry Chappell]]‚ [[Harry Glenn]]‚ [[Newt Halliday]], [[Ralph Sharman]] and [[Bun Troy]].<ref>{{cite web|title=World War I Deaths|publisher=Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice|accessdate=June 8, 2014|url=http://www.baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com/world_war_i.html}}</ref>

==Legacy==
On Memorial Day, May 30, 1921, representatives from the armed forces, baseball, and the sisters of Grant unveiled a monument in [[Baseball field#outfield|center field]] of the [[Polo Grounds]] to his memory.<ref>Associated Press. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tYNRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KGgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6108%2C4641065 "Landis Helps Dedicate Memorial to Eddie Grant"]. ''The Gazette Times''. May 31, 1921. Retrieved July 3, 2018.</ref> During the celebration at the end of the last Giants' game at the Polo Grounds in [[1957]], someone pried the plaque from its monument.<ref name="veteran"/> It was missing for over 40 years until it was claimed to be re-discovered in a Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey home that had been owned by a New York City police officer.<ref name="baseballogy">{{cite web|title=Baseballogy 101 |work=baseballreliquary.com |url=http://www.baseballreliquary.org/baseballogy.htm |accessdate=November 20, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928032327/http://www.baseballreliquary.org/baseballogy.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref>  However, the photo shown of the supposed plaque on the Internet does not look like the missing plaque from the Polo Grounds, which has now been replicated at [[Oracle Park]], the current ballpark of the  [[San Francisco Giants]], as of 2006.

Grant is also memorialized with the Edward L. Grant Highway in The Bronx, New York and by Grant Field at Dean College.<ref name="deadball"/>

==See also==
* [[List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders]]
{{Clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
 {{Baseballstats|br=g/granted01|brm=grant-001edw}}, or [https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Eddie_Grant BR Bullpen], or [https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3121127558 Flickr], or [https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/G/Pgrane101.htm Retrosheet], or [https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/0d10da81 SABR Biography Project], or [https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=granted01 The Baseball Almanac], or [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp? The Baseball Cube], or [http://thedeadballera.com/Obits/Obits_G/Grant.Eddie.Obit.html The DeadBall Era]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Eddie}}

[[Category:Baseball players from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Cincinnati Reds players]]
[[Category:Cleveland Naps players]]
[[Category:Jersey City Skeeters players]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball third basemen]]
[[Category:Montpelier-Barre players]]
[[Category:New York Giants (NL) players]]
[[Category:Philadelphia Phillies players]]
[[Category:Players]]