If only all athletes were like this...

[arthurracoon]

Mark Grace
For full article: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/0710bickley0710.html

"I don't deserve to be playing," Grace said. "I'm hitting two-freaking-thirteen."

Not the reaction one normally gets from an elite player nearing the end, one hoping to close the scrapbook with a storybook ending.

"Why do I deserve that?" Grace said. "The game of baseball is so much bigger than me or Randy Johnson or anyone in the game. Look, I've done a lot of good things and made my mark in this game over 17 years of playing it. But the game owes me nothing. Bob Brenly owes me nothing. Jerry Colangelo owes me nothing. I'm not about to (urinate) on the game that gave me everything and the organization that gave me a World Series ring."

 

[mark1]

Mark Grace has alot of class. I just wish he could hit the ball like he used to. I'm sure he does also

 

[Smolder]

um, weren't "mark grace" and "clubhouse cancer" in the same post on some other thread?

ahahahah. i just totally adore this guy. nobody quite like him. i'd gladly hand him the roster spot if only for his jokes. i'm sure he's a huge reason the kids love it in the dbacks.

 

[PDXChris]

He still owes me a autograph. I have to tell this story.

When I was 13 he and Ryne Sandberg were my favorite players and we jave just moved to Phoenix from Chicago in 1991. Well in teh spring of 92 we went to the first spring training game of the years. They were playing the. We parked by the practice field and Glen Allen His a rookie at the time gamve me and my friend a couple of balls. We were stoked. Once to the actual filed Ryno was at his normal place signing autographs for like an hour before the games and I got one of my Ryno rookies cards signed. I was even more excited. Then Will Clark was signing autographs my thirdbase and he signed one of my balls I got. Well the games went on. The Cubs won on a Ryno homer. That was the years afer he lead the NL with 40(how funny is that, Cecial Fielder had like 52 himself with the Tigers in the AL) Anyway, after the game my friend siad there was a place that the players signed autographs after the games. We waited for like 20 minutes adn tehy started coming out. Many players signing autographs for the kids. THe only person that I wanted to this point was Mark Grace, and maybe Kevin Mitchell's too, that he did not matter as much. Gracey walked out and I was the first to see him. I extended my hand and asked him for a autograph, so he pushed my hand out of the way knocking my card on the ground and he steped right on it. It still has his shoe print on it. That is my story. He was still one of my favorite players even though he was a jerk to me.

 

[mark1]

Originally posted by Smolder
um, weren't "mark grace" and "clubhouse cancer" in the same post on some other thread?

Mark Grace has never been called a clubhouse cancer that I'm aware of. I just said he can't hit anymore and I would rather see his roster spot go to somebody who can produce. I stand by that statement. Mark Grace is way way over the hill. The D-backs should make Grace a coach for the rest of the year.

 

[Smolder]

hmm. how about we couch that proposition in reverse, this way: would you really rather have, saaaaay, player b (now we all know he can produce...a little bit) over player a? b will give you...um, a bloop single, and a couple of liners every 10 at-bats. on the other hand, with a on board, everyone hits like crazy except a. now, to be sure, you don't know that a's causing all this, but if you think for a minute...rookies who're called up don't NORMALLY hit 300 immediately. now you have a whole bunch of rookies hitting 300 that's no longer an anomaly, that's an unknown factor. and then poof, suddenly your contact-hitting 3rd baseman turns into luis gonzales: the second coming, and he identifies that factor as a.

so. would you rather keep b, who's reasonably good, feilds well, hits pretty ok for average, with little to no power (who i might add, is coming off injury in addition to having a bad year). or would you keep the mysterious mister a who "just tells funny stories?" btw, in addition to his uh, unorthodox talents, a putts chicago butts in arizona seats, and he's great for pr, what with the east coast bias and all.

 

[Smolder]

Originally posted by mark1
Mark Grace has never been called a clubhouse cancer that I'm aware of. I just said he can't hit anymore and I would rather see his roster spot go to somebody who can produce. I stand by that statement. Mark Grace is way way over the hill. The D-backs should make Grace a coach for the rest of the year.

btw, i agree completely. unfortunately, grace apparently isn't interested in being "just a coach" otherwise he'd have done that by now. so, since that idea isn't going anywhere i suppose that we either keep him or get rid of him. i say keep him.

 

[mark1]

Bickley says Grace should be an un-touchable.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/0710bickley0710.html

If I had a choice between releasing Womack or Grace, I would choose Womack. I don't want to send Kata or Cintron down.