Mark Grace

Mark Eugene Grace (born June 28, 1964) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who spent 13 seasons with the Chicago Cubs and three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks of the National League (NL).

After graduating from high school in 1982, he attended Saddleback College before transferring to San Diego State University to play for the San Diego State Aztecs.

The Chicago Cubs selected Grace in the 1985 Major League Baseball draft.

Grace batted and threw left-handed; he wore jersey number 28 and 17 during his rookie season of 1988, and he kept number 17 for the remainder of his career.

Grace played high school baseball and basketball at Tustin High School in Tustin, California.

He spent three years playing in the Cubs farm system before making his major league debut May 2, 1988.

Grace starred on Cubs teams that included Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Shawon Dunston and Sammy Sosa and was a consistent, steady hitter, compiling 2,445 hits and more than 500 doubles during his 16-year career and for a few years batted clean-up for the Cubs.

Grace helped lead the Cubs to the NL East division title in 1989 and the NL wild card in 1998.

In the 1989 NLCS, Grace batted .647 in the five-game contest with a home run and three doubles, while driving in 8 of the total 16 runs scored by the Cubs in the series.

Grace collected the most hits (1,754) and doubles (364) of any player in the 1990s.

Grace and Pete Rose are the only Major League Baseball players to lead a decade in hits and not be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Grace also had the most sacrifice flies in the 1990s with 73.

He had a career on-base percentage of .383 and collected four Gold Glove Awards and was a three-time All-Star (1993, 1995, 1997).

Grace led the team in average (.325), OBP (.393), hits (193), walks (71), doubles (39), and RBI (98 – a career high) in 1993 and was selected as an alternate to the NL All-Star team for the first time in his career.

In 1995, Grace hit .326/.395/.516 and hit 51 doubles (which led the NL).

He was once again named to the NL All-Star team.

The song that played most frequently on the Wrigley Field organ prior to a Grace at bat was "Taking Care of Business", which Grace explained was due to his bit part in a Jim Belushi film of the same name.

Grace signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks on December 8, 2000, with a $6 million, two-year contract after the Cubs declined to offer salary arbitration.

He was a member of the 2001 World Series champion Diamondbacks that beat the New York Yankees.

Grace wore his familiar number 17 in Arizona where he played for three more seasons, including helping the Diamondbacks win the 2001 World Series.

Having never even visited Yankee Stadium, he belted a home run there in Game 4 of the series.

In Game 7, Grace led off the bottom of the 9th inning with a single — his third of the game — off Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera, which rallied the Arizona Diamondbacks to a come-from-behind victory for the franchise's first championship.

His .515 career batting average in League Championship Series play is a record for players in at least ten games.

During a 19–1 defeat by the Los Angeles Dodgers in September 2002, Grace pitched one inning of relief.

He surrendered one run on catcher David Ross's first career home run.

Grace also impersonated teammate Mike Fetters, who from the stretch would take a deep breath and then quickly turned his head towards the catcher.

The deal included a mutual $3 million option year in 2003.

He received $5.3 million in his last season with the Cubs but accepted less money for the opportunity to live year-round at his home in suburban Scottsdale, Arizona with his family.

"For me to remain a Cub, the Cubs would have wanted to want me back and the Cubs would have had to win," Grace said at the time.

"Neither of those happened and I'm one proud Diamondback now."

On September 26, 2003, Grace announced his retirement from baseball.

Grace has stated a desire to manage a major league team at some point.

He was considered for the Diamondbacks' managerial position following the 2004 season, but the Diamondbacks hired Bob Melvin instead.

Grace spent 2014 as hitting coach for the Diamondbacks' Class A Short Season affiliate Hillsboro Hops of the Northwest League.

In 2015, he was promoted to the Diamondbacks to be their hitting coach.

He was fired after the 2016 season.

After his retirement as a player, Grace continued his involvement in the game as a television color commentator for the Diamondbacks and for Fox Saturday Baseball.

Grace used off-the-wall terms—such as "slumpbuster", "never-say-die-mondbacks", and "Gas!"—during broadcasts.

He also hit for the cycle on May 9 that year, and (as of the end of the 2018 season) is the most recent Cub to have done so.

At the age of 19, he was drafted in the 15th round by the Minnesota Twins but did not sign.