Show your Eddie Grant Cards

[ChrisStufflestreet]

It's Memorial Day, a day where the Americans among us are asked to remember that people have given their lives while trying to ensure our freedoms. Since Captain Eddie Grant was the most visible baseball player who gave the ultimate sacrifice, how about showing some of his cards here?

I'll start off with the one I used in my blog today (you'll find the link below). It's the only E90-1 I currently own:

[FrankWakefield]

The only Grant card I have is an E90-1... so I can't add a card.

Maybe someone doesn't know why those holes are in that card. Kids would punch holes in the tops, then string thread through the cards. This would be strung across the top of a mirror or along a wall. If you look at the holes in this card, the hole punch was punching baseball diamonds.

[pete zouras]

[Tcards-Please]

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[ChrisStufflestreet]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

The only Grant card I have is an E90-1... so I can't add a card.

Maybe someone doesn't know why those holes are in that card. Kids would punch holes in the tops, then string thread through the cards. This would be strung across the top of a mirror or along a wall. If you look at the holes in this card, the hole punch was punching baseball diamonds.

Frank, I hadn't noticed the shape of those holes. Thanks for the info.

I generally neglect to mention the part about holes in the card...and considering Grant was killed by shrapnel from a German artillery shell, I'm probably cautious about saying anything off-hand that would suggest I'm making light of the way he died.

[SteveMitchell]

Although not Pre-War or even Vintage, here is a great card of Eddie that briefly tells his heroic story. It is from Megacards' Conlon Collection (1995 edition).

[Chris Counts]

Here's a Double Folder, a Triple Folder, a B-1 Blanket and 1905 scorecard from Portland, Maine that features Grant in the line-up ...

[Chris Counts]

Here's a few photos of Eddie Grant Field at Dean College in Franklin, MA, which I visited a couple years ago. There's no plaque marking the field, which sadly is used for lacrosse and soccer these days. Also, I also visited the city library to see what they could tell me about Eddie, but I couldn't find anyone who had heard of him ...

[ChrisStufflestreet]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

Also, I also visited the city library to see what they could tell me about Eddie, but I couldn't find anyone who had heard of him ...

At least they didn't ask you if he was the guy who sang "Electric Avenue" in 1983...

[rhettyeakley]

Here are a few round Eddie's...truly a forgotten American hero.

PX7 Domino Discs


E270 Colgan's Tin Tops

[ethicsprof]

I have Pete Z's Grant, from above, but with the deep green background.

best,
barry

[Kawika]

Found this striking photo of Harvard Eddie at the LOC site:

[Chris Counts]

Could that be the same photo that was used for the T205? If you flipped the negative, it looks possible ...

[Kawika]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

Could that be the same photo that was used for the T205? If you flipped the negative, it looks possible ...

Good question, Chris. Photo (flipped) and T205 look to be ever-so-slightly off-kilter to my eye (never-minding the hat and collar configurations, which were sometimes airbrushed anyway). What is your opinion?

[ChiefBenderForever]

Amazing life he lived what an American Hero ! I have never heard of him until reading this , I am looking forward to picking up one or two of his cards and learning more about him. I was going to say people like this need to be in the Hall of Fame and then came across this-

"Baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis had a very strong view that the Hall of Fame should be all about character. In the early years, he lobbied hard for a player named Eddie Grant, who went to Harvard and was both respected and admired around the game. Grant enlisted to fight in World War I after he retired, and was killed on a battlefield in Lorraine, France. He was a true hero. Grant's only real drawback as a Hall of Famer was that he wasn't a very good baseball player. He never got more than three votes."

here is the link- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...1817/index.htm

[bbcarddan]

We gonna rock down to electric avenue!!!! Sorry I couldn`t resist.


I posted this before reading the details about him. I did not realize he served his country and paid the ultimate price.Sorry if my little attempt at humor offended anyone or his memory it was not my intent.

[tbob]

I respect and admire Eddie Grant but the wounded and deceased veterans of world wars should go in on their baseball merit, like Warren Spahn.

[Chris Counts]

David, I'll bet it's the same image. By the way, if anybody would like to read more about Eddie Grant, you can look up a page I created on Facebook, "Remembering Eddie Grant."

[T2069bk]

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...tml?c=y&page=1

[tbob]

Thanks Tim, I think the time spent reading that article was well worth it. I have always been fascinated with the era of World War One, not only because of the War but because of the era itself. Perhaps that's why I love collecting cards from 1909-1919.
One other note on World War One and how the times have changed, some for the worse, some for the better, on the last day of the War, knowing that the Armistice was about to be signed at 11:00 a.m., allied officers sent their men in to bloody combat that morning to secure land which they would have been able to have walked in to that afternoon. The appalling slaughter was horrendous. Some officers refused to order their men in and were courtmartialed and faced possible execution. General John Pershing and his subordinates ordered the men in and more soldiers were killed on that last morning than the total amount of men killed during the D-Day invasion in World War II. Unbelieveable insanity. When relatives of the soldiers back home slowly but inexorably found out, many Congressmen wanted to investiagte the matter and condemn Pershing but politics prevailed. Doesn't it always? How do you condemn men who have already had mounments and statues built in their honor. Thank God some things have changed for the better and insane bloodbaths like the one on the morning of the Armistice may never happen again.
Something to reflect on on Memorial Day.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by ChrisStufflestreet

At least they didn't ask you if he was the guy who sang "Electric Avenue" in 1983...

Yeah, Chris - I clicked on the title of this thread thinking: whaa - did Eddie Grant have a minor baseball career or something? Pretty common name though, I guess.

[Volod]

tbob: Thanks for the anecdote, but I for one am not optimistic that similar events are not currently, or will not in the future, take place. Anyone who's ever been in the military - combat or not - knows why these things happen, and it's not by error or oversight on the part of megalomaniacal officers.

[Chris Counts]

There's a movie that came out a few years ago called "The Lost Battalion" that's worth watching. The battalion was led by Major Charles Whittlesey, who was one of Grant's closest friends. It is my understanding that Grant was trying to reach Whittlesey's battalion when he was killed. The movie depicts of the last days of the war and the absurdity of fighting right up until the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, just because it sounded good to somebody ...

[ChiefBenderForever]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

There's a movie that came out a few years ago called "The Lost Battalion" that's worth watching. The battalion was led by Major Charles Whittlesey, who was one of Grant's closest friends. It is my understanding that Grant was trying to reach Whittlesey's battalion when he was killed. The movie depicts of the last days of the war and the absurdity of fighting right up until the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, just because it sounded good to somebody ...

Cool, thanks for the info I can't wait to watch the movie, I read the Smithsonian article and was really good, looking forward to reading your blog as well. Not much you can say except that war is hell.

[matthew]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

There's a movie that came out a few years ago called "The Lost Battalion" that's worth watching.

Great movie. My only Grant is a B1 that I picked up a couple years back after reading about him.

[phlflyer1]

A little late but here is a contribution to the thread...