A total of 12 MLB players have died while serving their country, six of them in combat.
Of the six who died in combat, only one player has a card from during his MLB career.
Eddie Grant played ten seasons for the Naps, Phillies, Reds and Giants from 1905 until 1915. Grant had been retired for two years when we became one of the first men to enlist in the Army when World War I broke out in 1917.
He was captain of the 77th division in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France, the largest battle in U.S. military history.
After all of Grant’s superior officers were killed or wounded, he took control of the troops and started a four day search for ‘The Lost Battalion’, a group of 500 soldiers isolated and surrounded by the Germans.
While Grant died during the search, his efforts helped 194 of the men get rescued just a few days later.
On Memorial Day in 1921, a monument was unveiled in center field of the Polo Grounds in Eddie Grant’s honor.
A replica plaque was installed at the Giant’s Oracle Park in 2006.
Grant had multiple player career cards including a 1909 American Caramel and a 1910 Sporting Life.
I actually just grabbed this 1914 B18 blanket off eBay for $40 after researching Grant’s story.
Edward Leslie Grant, one American hero among many, to honor on this Memorial Day.
