Some Hall of Fame snubs are egregious, like Eli Manning, Phil Simms and the Deftones.
Mark Grace doesn’t have that kind of case.
But he belongs. Because a Hall of Fame is a museum that should be built on more than statistics. It should have a soul. It should reward and honor the colorful personalities and clutch performers that sweetened the game and changed the arc of history.
Grace checks all the boxes.
He led Major League Baseball for most hits in a decade (1,754 in the 1990s). He was a Gold Glove first baseman. He was the star of Wrigleyville before the fraudulent Sammy Sosa showed up, blasting homers and blowing kisses.
Grace also led the 90s in doubles (364) and sacrifice flies (73), the latter illuminating how reliable Grace could be in the clutch. When the Cubs made the playoffs in 1989, Grace and the Giants’ Will Clark squared off in one of the greatest individual postseason showdowns ever witnessed.
Clark hit .650 during the series (13-for-20) while Grace batted .647 (11-for-17). Those are beer league softball numbers, the kind of epic performances that inspire and grow the game.
There was a time when Cubs’ fans loved Gracie, a blonde-haired All-American kid from Southern California. The Cubs sold a lot of tickets because of Mark Grace. And then they showed him the door after 13 seasons because they were cheap, disloyal and had their new toy in Sosa. At the time, the Cubs claimed they needed to honor the up-and-coming talents of Julio Zuleta and Hee-Seop Choi.
Grace was deeply wounded. But he found respite and redemption in Arizona. He met Jerry Colangelo at Chris Bianco’s legendary pizza place in downtown Phoenix, and they hammered out a handshake deal over a glass of wine. And that clutch gene?
Grace paved the road for the Diamondbacks’ ninth-inning rally to win the World Series, lining a single off Mariano Rivera to start the inning.
Grace wore eye black. He didn’t wear batting gloves. He was a gap hitter in the steroid era, untainted by suspicion that followed many of his peers. He was an old-school type who told great stories and entertained the media for 15 years.
He gave me the greatest anecdote I’ve ever written, published in The Arizona Republic on the day he retired from baseball. To wit:
When they played together on the Cubs, Grace once noticed Greg Maddux walking around the pitching mound in a very strained, uncomfortable manner. Fearing his teammate was hurt, Grace approached the mound, only to find Maddux in a state of physical excitement, the kind normally reserved for passionate endeavors.
“Man, you really do love to pitch,” Grace said.
A petition to induct Grace into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has begun in Arizona.
You can vote here. It’s very difficult to get on a ballot of eight names to be considered by the Modern Baseball Era Committee, let alone get 12 of the 16 members to agree. It’s rarer still for players who earn less than 5% on the first balloting (Grace had 4.1%).
But there are exceptions, like former Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons, who received just 3.7%. And if Scott Rolen is good enough to be in the Hall of Fame, there’s plenty of room for Mark Grace.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.
