Ray Grimes
Oscar Ray Grimes, Sr. (September 11, 1893 - May 25, 1953) was a first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox (1920), Chicago Cubs (1922-1924) and Philadelphia Phillies (1926). Grimes batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Bergholz, Ohio.
Grimes emerged as one of the first Chicago Cubs heroes of the early 1920s. He appeared in a game with the Boston Red Sox in 1920 before being dealt to the Cubs in 1921. That season he hit .321 with 79 runs batted in, 38 doubles, and 91 runs in a career-high 149 games.
In 1922, Grimes set a major-league mark with at least one RBI over 17 consecutive games. He finished with 99 RBI, 99 runs, 45 doubles, 12 triples, 14 home runs, and hit .354, ending second in the National League batting title behind Rogers Hornsby (.401). His promising career declined after suffering a slipped disk in 1923, although he continued to play well in limited action, but he appeared in only 115 with the Cubs from 1923-24, and played 32 games with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1926, his last major league season. In a six-season career, Grimes was a .329 hitter with 27 home runs and 263 RBI in 433 games.
Grimes was the twin brother of second baseman Roy Grimes, who played briefly for the New York Giants in 1920, and also was the father of Oscar Grimes, an All-Star infielder who played with the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Athletics between 1938 and 1946. Grimes died of a heart ailment in Minerva, Ohio, at age 59.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- Baseball Library
- The Deadball Era
