Marquis Grissom Stats

Did you know that when the Montreal Expos drafted Marquis Grissom in the third round of the 1988 draft out of Florida A&M University , he had just finished his junior year, hit .448, had twelve home runs, appeared in both the outfield and on the mound, and was 9-3 with 2.40 earned run average - a prospect as both a pitcher and an outfielder?

Marquis Grissom had great speed on the bases and big league confidence. Tommy Harper (408 career SB) once said of the two-time base stealing champion, "He doesn't think he can be thrown out, which is why he's the best base stealer in the game." One of Grip's most famous stolen bases occurred during Game 3 of the 1997 American League Championship Series , officially scored a steal of home, and one of the reasons Grissom would go on to win the ALCS MVP :

Game Ending Steal of Home ( Full List )

With the 1997 ALCS even at one game apiece, a classic pitching clinic unfolded when Orel Hershiser took on Mike Mussina at Jacobs Field in Game 3 . In this historic postseason game, Mussina would set a new LCS record with fifteen strikeouts, which would be matched by Livan Hernandez in the NLCS the same year.

Jose Mesa blew the lead after Marquis Grissom lost a fly ball from Brady Anderson in the lights and the game moved on into the twelfth inning.

With Randy Myers on the mound for Baltimore, Marquis Grissom walked, then a single by Tony Fernandez moved him to third. With one out, Omar Vizquel motioned to bunt. When the pitch came, it went through the strike zone, Vizquel apparently missed the ball, and the ball got away from Orioles catcher Lenny Webster , allowing Grissom to score.

Webster and Myers thought the ball was fouled off and no one did anything to stop Grissom, but the ball was not ruled as a foul ball, and the Indians won the game. Although Orioles manager Davey Johnson argued too that the ball was fouled off, the Indians had already won on (what was officially scored) a steal of home - an extra inning game ending steal of home nonetheless.

What hitting feat do Felipe Alou , Ralph Garr and Marquis Grissom have in common? They are the only ATLANTA Braves (1966-today) players with 200-or-more hits in a season. No Brave since Grissom, who had 207 hits in 1996 , has reached the plateau.