Mark Grant

Mark Andrew Grant

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 205 lb.
• High School Joliet Catholic High School
• Debut April 27, 1984
• Final Game July 26, 1993
• Born October 24, 1963 in Aurora, IL USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Mark Grant was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the first round (10th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft. Grant twice led his league in wins in the minors, and was the Midwest League MVP with the Clinton Giants in 1982. He went 16-5, with a 2.36 ERA and 243 strikeouts. In 1983 he went 10-8 with a 3.66 ERA for the Shreveport Captains of the Texas League.

He appeared in 1984 with the Giants, struggled at 1-4, and spent some time with the Pacific Coast League's Phoenix Giants, winning 5 but losing 7 with a 3.96 ERA. Mark stayed with Phoenix in 1985 and fell to a 8-15 record and a 4.52 ERA.

He got straightened out in 1986, winning 14 and losing 7, for Phoenix and got in on the tail end of the season with the major league Giants, getting into 4 games and going 0-1. In 1987 he was with San Francisco, won 1 and lost 2, and they traded him to the San Diego Padres on July 5th. The trade perked him up a bit and he went 6-7 for the Padres in 17 appearences the rest of the season.

In 1988 he won 2 and lost 8 and then his best year came in 1989, when he posted a 3.33 ERA in 116 innings as a setup man for Cy Young Award winner Mark Davis. But the following July 12th, Grant was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Derek Lilliquist. He spent the rest of 1990 with the Braves, winning 1 and losing 2. Mark was with eight different teams from 1991 to 1995, both major and minor league... and by the mid-1990s the good-natured hurler, who had grown up rooting for the Chicago Cubs, had left the majors for Taiwan.

Grant was a free spirit who was well liked by his teammates, but he struggled both as a starter and in relief, never winning more than eight games in any of his eight major league seasons.

Grant's favorite number was #22, but in 1986 it was appropriated by first baseman Will Clark, and Grant asked for #55 instead. "If I walked to a mirror and looked upside down," he explained, "the number would seem like 22."

Overall, Grant spent 1981 through 1996 in professional baseball. In the minor leagues he won 65 and lost 56 games in 163 appearences for a 3.20 ERA. In the major leagues he won 22 while losing 32 and appeared in 233 games with a 4.31 ERA. He was 0-1 in the Chinese Professional Baseball League with a 5.40 ERA.

He later became a broadcaster for the San Diego Padres, working as a television analyst alongside Don Orsillo.

Mark's cousin, Rick Ramos, was a minor league pitcher for the Montreal Expos from 1978 to 1983 and his uncle, Rich Ramos, was a minor league pitcher for the Chicago White Sox 1953-1958. Another cousin of his is Chris Michalak.

Further Reading

• Shaun O'Neill: "Mark Grant a dad first to autistic son, then a Padres broadcaster", mlb.com, June 14, 2024. [1]

Related Sites

• Mark Grant at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Minors page