With troops in Afghanistan, the threatened problems in Syria, recent troubles in Iraq, Bosnia and Desert Storm, we look to our troops with thanks and honor them no matter our feelings about the wars. It is with this in mind that I offer this profile of former Redleg player from long ago "Harvard Eddie" Grant. Grant attended college at Harvard from 1902 to 1909 undergraduating in 1905 and getting a law degree in 1909. He turned to professional baseball in 1905, a sport he played for the Crimson. He became the third baseman for Cleveland and then the Phils before being traded to the Reds after the 1910 season probably his best season. Grant was a glove wizard, but a pedestrian hitter. With the Reds he hit a paltry .223 but was a fielding wizard but his bat just couldn't keep him in the lineup regularly. He became the backup at third and SS in 1912 and 1913 before getting traded to the Giants in mid 1913 in time to appear as a pinch runner in the WS that year. Grant's fielding was exceptional and for a long, long time he was the player the left side infielders were compared to - "is he as good with the glove as Grant was?" He retired to law and when WWI came Eddie enlisted as a Captain. He led a patrol on a rescue mission after the famed "Lost Battalion" in the Argonne Forest and was killed by an exploding artillery shell in that bloody campaign, the first ballplayer to serve who was killed. He is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France. A salute to Captain Eddie Grant, patriot, gold glove before the gold glove existed, and Cincinnati Red.
As a final note - a plaque was erected in his honor in the Polo Grounds but it was stolen and remained lost for 40 years. It was found in New Jersey in a home being razed. The plaque has been replicated in the San Francisco Giants ballpark. I wonder if the Reds have something honoring him in their Hall of Fame?
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Originally Posted by RedlegJake
