Posted May 13, 2008

I wanted to give a nod of recognition to artist John Hanley and encourage all Cubs fans to purchase a copy of his excellent new book "Classic Cubs: A Tribute to the Men and Magic of Wrigley Field." John is practically my neighbor (he lives one town north of me in Crystal Lake, Illinois). His paintings capture the soul and esscence of Wrigley Field and the generations of players that worn the Cubs uniform. "Classic Cubs" features over 200 of his paintings and drawings documenting Cubs history, everything from the team's different ballparks to its Hall-of-Fame players. There is an outstanding portrait of Mark Grace making an underhand toss (presumably to a pitcher covering first base) on page 81. Any Cub fan will be enthralled by this collection of artwork. It's available at Borders Bookstores or online at Amazon.com.

Posted May 6, 2008

Many of you will remember Mark Grace's infamous 2003 interview with Jim Rome on ESPN's "Rome is Burning" program in which he defined the term "slumpbuster" for a national audience (see the Quotes page for a full transcript). Well, with the term firmly entrenched in pop culture, a new sports energy drink is looking to cash in on its wink-wink connotations.

The company behind Slumpbuster Energy, MBSB Holdings, sees the product as the perfect energy drink for fans of baseball and softball. And though reaction to their branding strategy drew mixed reaction from Internet message boards and media for its purported "sexist" overtones, the company is winning over fans. Slumpbuster has been named the official energy drink of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim affiliate, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Kevin Youkilis has become a corporate spokesperson and has worked with the company to develop Youk’s Signature SlumpBuster with portions of profits going to charity.

According to a company spokesperson, Mark Grace was approached through his agent to become involved with the brand, but was rebuked. There is a funny moment in the Dan Patrick interview with Kevin Youkilis (linked below) in which Patrick states that he got an email from Grace saying he was mad at Youk for using the term, but that was probably said in jest.

Slumpbuster Company Info Sheet (.pdf)
Dan Patrick Radio Interview with Kevin Youkilis concerning Slumpbuster Energy Drink (.mp3)

And in case you've just got to get your hands on some, here's a link where you can purchase it.

Posted May 2, 2008

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Mark Grace's first game in the majors. Grace, called up from Triple A Iowa to replace a struggling Leon Durham, joined the team in San Diego on May 5, 1988 for a night game against the Padres. He collected two hits in his first game, and the Cubs won 5-3. It was the first of 2,245 games Grace would play during his career. He would continue to dominate against San Diego throughout his career, and called it his favorite park to play in besides Wrigley.

Posted April 12, 2008

No surprise here. When the Diamondbacks announced their 10th Anniversary Team, the fans voted Grace their representative at first base. More than 15,000 fans voted in the poll conducted on MLB.com. The other team members were: Damian Miller (catcher), Craig Counsell (second base), Tony Womack (shortstop), Matt Williams (third base), Luis Gonzalez, Steve Finley and Eric Byrnes (outfield), Randy Johnson (left-handed starter), Brandon Webb (right-handed starter), Jose Valverde (closer), and Bob Brenly (manager).

Posted March 13, 2008

There is a new feature on the website: game logs for every MLB game in which Grace played. If you need to know how Grace faired at the plate on any particular day, go to the MLB Statistics page and then click on a year for a full game-by-game log of Grace's prowess at the plate.

Posted February 17, 2008

Mark's charity foundation waived its annual golf outing this year and instead held a celebrity bowling tournament dubbed the "Super Bowl Classic" to raise money and awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Brandon Webb, Eric Byrnes, Robin Yount, Bruce Bochy, Aaron Rowand and Russ Ortiz were among the baseball players to attend the event held at the Brunswick Lanes in Scottsdale, Arizona. Teams of four donated $1400 a lane to bowl with the stars. A dinner and autograph "spectator" ticket was available for $50.

Posted December 17, 2007

Turn on your TV December 29th for the 37th annual Fiesta Bowl Parade and you can catch a glimpse Mark, who was named this year's Grand Marshal. The parade begins at 11am local time in central Phoenix. Grace will not only lead the parade, but will also be a guest of honor at the January 2 bowl game, presiding over the coin toss.

Posted October 6, 2007

With the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs meeting in the NLDS, many fans wondered where Gracie's allegiance would lie. Grace made it clear that he would be rooting for the Diamondbacks. "My parents taught me never to bite the hand that feeds you," he stated in an interview. As TV analyst for the D-Backs, Grace is excited at the opportunity to broadcast playoff baseball, and possibly to return to the World Series with the Diamondback, albeit this time in the broadcast booth. "The Diamondbacks have fed me very well over the last few years. I work for the Diamondbacks and obviously you want the team to move on. If the Diamondbacks move on, I move on. I get to broadcast an NLCS and maybe a World Series. So you want the Diamondbacks to win."

Posted July 3, 2007

The Diamondbacks website has a picture up of the Mark Grace Bobblehead that will be given away at the team's August 25th home game. Looks like my guess as to its design was pretty accurate (see March 5 post below)!

Posted June 28, 2007

Happy Birthday, Mark! The ever-youthful Grace turns 43 today.

Posted March 20, 2007

Mark was a special guest host on Fox Sports' "Best Damn Sports Show Period" on Monday night, the first of several appearances he will make on the show during this baseball season as part of his new contract with Fox. Part of my Mark Grace collection made an appearance too, as I was contacted by one of the show's producers and asked to share some photos from this site. They showed two pictures I provided, one of Grace in little league and one of his high school yearbook photo. Show host Chris Rose used them to lightheartedly poke fun of Grace. Said Grace upon seeing his yearbook photo "Yeah - I didn't do too well with the girls in high school."

Posted March 5, 2007

Tickets are on sale for Arizona Diamondbacks home games, and Grace fans will want to take note of the August 25th promotional giveaway. Fans attending this game will receive a free Mark Grace bobblehead doll! This will be the Diamondbacks first Grace bobblehead giveaway since 2003. Maybe he will be dressed in a suit and holding a microphone in this year's version.

Posted February 18, 2007

While folks in the desert will be seeing a lot more of Mark Grace, a national audience will soon get to hear his broadcasting skills as well. Mark agreed to a three year contract extension to his Diamondbacks broadcasting contract. This will keep him in the booth for D-backs games through the 2009 season, with a team option for 2010. Grace also signed on with Fox Sports to provide color commentary on the Fox Saturday Baseball Game of the week. He will join game analyst Tim McCarver in the booth for those games. Between the two agreements, Grace will be appearing in 125 D-Backs games and a minimum of 20 games on the Fox Network.

Posted January 21, 2007

The talk of this year's Cubs Convention has been the return of Mark Grace to the proceedings. Mark was a guest at the convention for the first time since leaving Chicago in 2000. He was one of seven 1989 teammates to take part in a "Boys of Zimmer" panel highlighting the memorable 89 team. Grace was cheered with a standing ovation from the standing-room only crowd of Cubs fans that attended the panel. His stories of Don Zimmer and Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams brought the room to laughter. Later in the day, Grace signed autos and posed for pictures with the lucky fans that waited in huge lines for the chance to meet him.

Posted September 18, 2006

Showing his charitable side and community pride, Mark has donated $50,000 for the second time as part of the "Diamond Backs" Field Building Program. The charity helps rebuild and revitalize community ball parks into diamond gems, complete with grandstands and scoreboards. His latest contribution helped build Mark Grace Thunderbolt Field, which was dedicated at Luke Air Force Base and will serve Air Force families that live both on and off the base. Governor Janet Napolitano was a guest of honor at the dedication.

Posted August 5, 2006

Is Mark Grace back in good graces with the Chicago Cubs? The relationship between the two parties has been shaky since Grace's comments after the 2001 World Series, in which he took a shot at the organization by saying "I wasn't good enough to play first base for the Chicago Cubs, but I was good enough to play for the World Champions." On Thursday, August 3 with the Diamondbacks in town, Grace was the guest conductor for the 7th inning stretch in the second game of a doubleheader. Fan reaction was very positive, especially when he sang "For it's root, root, root for the CUBBIES" despite his present employer.

Before showing off his vocal skills, Grace had a sat down with Cubs' Senior Vice President of Marketing John McDonough. Talk has it that McDonough also invited Grace to be a guest at the next Cubs Convention, which would be Grace's first appearance there since leaving the team.

Chicago Sports Talk Radio was abuzz with speculation about this thawing in the Cold War between Grace and the Cubs. Theories abounded that Grace may be in line for a manager position should Dusty Baker leave town. More likely, Chicago may offer Grace a TV analyst position and move Bob Brenely back into the dugout if Baker's term as manager comes to an end after the season's close.

Posted May 24, 2006

Who knew President Bush was a Mark Grace fan too? Grace was invited to the White House for Bush's annual Baseball Dinner on Monday, May 23. Also in attendance were George Will, John Kruk, and Jon Miller. Grace described the event as "just a bunch of guys sitting around talking baseball.’’ He also shared that the President greeted him with a good line. Bush reportedly told Mark "after your background check came over, I had to pull a lot of strings to get you in.’’

Posted August 10, 2005

Mark Grace caused quite a stir last night when a "technical glitch" caused his microphone to remain on although he was unaware of it during the Diamondbacks telecast. It proved to be a monumental embarrassment to Grace when his candid remarks about one Diamondback player's swing was broadcast live, complete with a forbidden expletive. Grace used the work "f***ing" at least twice. More damaging was his harsh assessment of Diamondback catcher Chris Snyder. His comment about Snyder's stroke, "Every f***ing swing that guy takes is an underwater swing," won't win him any friends in the clubhouse.

"I learned a lesson. I promise you it will never happen again," Grace apologized later. "I was having a private conversation with the truck, like we do everyday, and evidently some words that aren't air-able came out and through a technical difficulty, I may have offended some people," he said. "If that's the case, I apologize and I will face any consequences." It remains to be seen if any action will be taken by management.

Posted August 5, 2005

After the events of July 27 (see entry below) Phoenix Mayor Gordon has proclaimed today "Mark Grace is a Weiner Day!" Here's the full text of the hilarious official proclamation:

Posted July 27, 2005

Proving once again that he is one of the funniest personalities in baseball, Mark was a "Celebrity Sausage" tonight in Milwaukee. The Brewer's famous between-innings sausage race gave Grace the opportunity to remind people why his running style was once described as "having a piano on his back." Mark donned the green Bratwurst costume and, to the delight of the fans of Miller Park, ran in the sausage spectacle. ESPN awarded it the #10 play of the night on their "Sports Center" nightly countdown.

Posted February 1, 2005

Sammy Sosa's fall from favor in Chicago is now complete with his trade to Baltimore. It's been no secret that Mark and Sammy had their differences. Grace's bitterness with Sosa stems from Sosa's antics in the Cub's clubhouse during their tenure together, and from Sosa's comments about Grace being a "clubhouse cancer" after Grace was traded to Arizona. Not many fans and sportswriters believed him then, and now his actions have exposed him as a fraud - at least in the minds of most Cubs fans.

Posted January 15, 2005

Want to see how Mark and his wife Tanya live? Find yourself a copy of the December issue of "Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine." Their Paradise Valley home is featured in an eight-page spread. Looks like Tanya is the decorating decision-maker in this family. "It's a nice place to lay your head at night," says Mark about his digs.

Posted November 18, 2004

The speculation is over. Mark has signed a two-year contract extension to remain the Diamondbacks' color announcer on TV broadcasts. After the Wally Backman debacle, it became apparent that management was not interested in offering Grace the manager job. Looks like he will have to gain some experience in the minor leagues before being considered. But for now, fans can look forward to Mark bringing back his humorous and insightful broadcasts to Arizona telecasts.

Posted November 1, 2004

With the naming of Wally Backman as the new Diamondbacks manager, Mark Grace's future is still up in the air. The Diamondbacks have stated that they were happy with his performance in the TV booth and welcome him back for the 2005 should he wish to return. Some have speculated that Grace may be interested in the broadcasting duties vacated by Steve Stone and Chip Caray in Chicago, but that scenario is highly unlikely, given Grace's uneasy relationship with Cubs President Andy McPhail. Most likely, Grace will first consider taking a coaching position with the Diamondbacks should Wally Backman offer him one. If not, look for him to take a minor league managing position, possible the Single A Lancaster manager position Backman leaves behind, or return to the D-Backs broadcasting booth.

Posted October 7, 2004

The Arizona Republic has reported that Mark Grace will be interviewed tomorrow by Diamondbacks' executives for the position as Team Manager. Mark is on the short list of possible candidates to take over the reigns of the Diamondbacks beginning with the 2005 season. 2004 interim manager Al Pedrique was interviewed today, and it is likely 3 to 8 other managerial prospects will be interviewed.

Posted July 24, 2004

Mark Grace is elected to the Hall of Fame! The National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame that is. Grace heads the list of the 2004 NBC HOF inductees, which also included longtime NBC player-manager Carl Kentling, Alaska general manager Don Dennis and longtime fan "Baseball" Bill Gwinup make up the class. According to his NBC biography, Mark played with Liberal (KS) in 1984 and North Pole (AK) Nicks in 1985; both teams made the Championship Finals but lost. The NBC World Series brings together independent and semipro teams from across the United States and the world to compete in its historic tournament held annually in Wichita, Kansas.

Posted June 28, 2004

Mark celebrates his 40th birthday today. According to one reporter, wife Tanya is throwing a party for family and friends.

Posted October 8, 2003

Mark's first week of retirement has been an eventful one. On Tuesday, Tanya Grace delivered their second child, Preston Torre Grace. Preston is the couple's second boy, his older brother Jackson Gene is nearing his third birthday. Then on Wednesday, Mark announced his future plans with the Diamondbacks, accepting an invitation to the broadcasting booth. He had also been offered a managerial position with the Missoula Osprey, the team's Class A short season minor league team. We can now look forward to Mark bringing his humor and enthusiasm for the game to Diamondback telecasts in the 2004 season. Congratulations Mark on both the new addition to the family and the new job!

Posted September 28, 2003

Mark's last weekend as a player in the major leagues produced numerous standing ovations and memorable moments. On Saturday, Grace was honored by his home team by being put in the starting lineup one last time. He received a long standing ovation from the Arizona fans his first trip to the plate, several smaller ones throughout the game, and a final, thunderous ovation when he was lifted from the game in the 6th inning for a pinch runner. He went 2 for 3 at the plate, including the 511th double of his career, raising his batting average to .200 on the season.

On Sunday, Grace was given one last chance to take the field and tip his cap to his adoring fans. He was used as a defensive replacement in the 6th inning, and stayed in the game until making a fine defensive play at first base for the first out in the 7th. Manager Bob Brenley saw that as an opportune time to take Grace out of the game. Diamondback fans responded by sending him off with a standing ovation that did not end until Grace came back out of the dugout to tip his hat and acknowledge his final curtain call. Mark was the last one of the field after the game, and seemed at peace with his decision to hang up the spikes.

What's next for Grace? His future lies with the Diamondbacks, and several opportunities seem open to him. We will most likely see Mark Grace head to the broadcast booth or a coaching position next year. It's a small consolation on this retirement weekend to know that Grace, in one capacity or another, will be back in baseball very soon.

Some pictures from his final weekend:

 

 

Posted September 27, 2003

With class and humor, Mark Grace announced his retirement at 3:00pm press conference yesterday. He began by announcing that he had signed a two-year extension with the Diamondbacks, one last joke from the always affable star. Grace thanked his teammates and fans, both in Arizona and Chicago, for 16 glorious seasons. At times, he seemed on the verge of choking up. But as the consummate professional, Mark kept it together and showed everyone watching how a professional bows out with dignity. Saturday will be Grace's last game as a starter according to manager Bob Brenly. He may also see action Sunday as a pinch hitter.

Mark, you'll probably never see this, but I want to personally thank you for the memories and smiles. You'll be missed on the field, but I can't wait to see you on the bench as a coach or in the booth as a broadcaster. Good luck in whatever comes next!

To read more quotes from the press conference, see the following MLB.com article: Grace Says This Is Final Season

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