Great Eddie Grant Article

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Posted By: Kevin O

When Pat Tillman died serving his country in Afghanistan last April, there was a superb post regarding other athletes who had made the ultimate sacrifice. I just wanted to let people know that the October issue of "Smithsonian Magazine" contains a fantastic 10-page piece on Eddie Grant and the events that led to his decision to accept a US Army commission to fight in World War I. Captain Grant was killed by shrapnel while attempting to find the almost legendary Lost Battalion, deep in the Argonne Forest. Harvard Eddie is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France along with more than 14,000 other American heroes. An interesting fact is that Judge Landis later championed Grant's cause for the Hall of Fame: "Regardless of baseball performance, I would like to see Eddie Grant's name on that list."

The article is written by Kevin Coyne and contains some great photographs of Grant as a player, student and doughboy. It also reproduces both his T201 and T205 issues--not your everyday magazine fare.

On Memorial Day 1921, Grantland Rice composed the following poem for the unveiling of Grant's bronze plaque deep in the outfield of the Polo Grounds:

Far from the Game and the cheering of old/
A cross in the Argonne will tell you the story/
Where each one may read on its rain-battered mould/
A final box score that is written in glory./

A final box score of a player who gave/
The flag that he fought for, his ghost--and his grave.