Jim “Mudcat” Grant was born on August 13, 1935 in Lacoochee, Florida, a small town of about 500 people in central Florida. According to the Cleveland Indians, Mudcat Grant died peacefully in Los Angeles, California on June 11, 2021. Jim Grant was 85 years old.
Grant was a three-sport star (football, basketball, baseball) at Moore Academy in Dade City, Florida. He also competed on the semipro sandlots for the Lacoochee Nine Devils. Grant was primarily a third baseman in those days because he had such a strong arm. He earned an athletic scholarship to Florida AM University to play football and baseball. Unfortunately, after just a year and a half there economic hardships forced him to drop out and return home to work.
Cleveland Indians scout Fred Merkle started Grant on his way to life as a professional baseball player. Merkle worked the State Negro Baseball Tournament at Daytona Beach when Grant was a senior in high school, but Grant was only 17, too young to sign a contract. When Merkle heard that Grant had left Florida A&M, he tracked Mudcat down in Daytona Beach to sign him up with Cleveland prior to the 1954 season.
Grant actually started his professional career in Minnesota, pitching for the Indians Class C Northern League Fargo-Moorhead Twins in 1954 and he was 21-5 with a 3.40 ERA while pitching 217 innings. By the time that Grant made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians against the Kansas City Athletics on April 17, 1958 with a complete game win 3-2 win, he had pitched 828 minor league innings over four seasons and posted a 70-28 won/lost record. Grant was an All-Star in 1963 but got off to a poor start in 1964 and the Indians traded Grant to the Minnesota Twins on June 15 for third baseman/outfielder George Banks and pitcher Lee Stange.
The Twins quickly put Grant into their starting rotation and Grant went 11-9 in 23 starts with a 2.80 ERA in 1964. In 1965 Mudcat had his best season, winning 21 games with a league leading six shutouts and teaming with Jim Kaat who won 18 games, and between them they started 81 of the teams games during their 1965 American League championship run. With his 21 wins, Grant became the first African-American pitcher to win 20 games in the American League, an honor that he treasured. Grant made his second career All-Star team in 1965 and finished sixth in AL MVP voting finishing behind two other Minnesota Twins, Zoilo Versalles who won the 1965 MVP and Tony Oliva who finished second. In the 1965 World Series Mudcat Grant started games 1, 4 and 6 and had a 2-1 won/lost record with a 2.74 ERA. In that crucial sixth game with the Minnesota Twins facing elimination, Grant not only pitched a complete game win on just two days rest, but he also hit a three-run home run that extended the 2-0 lead to 5-0 and put the Twins in position to play in game seven against the Los Angeles Dodgers and their ace Sandy Koufax. The Twins finished second in 1966 and Grant had a 13-13 record but with a strong 3.25 ERA.
In 1967, he won just 5 games and fell into new manager Cal Ermer’s doghouse when he turned up missing during a bedcheck in July. Grant maintained that he switched rooms because roommate Earl Battey wanted the air conditioning kept on all night. Grant even had the receipt for the other room, but he still got a $250 fine. Disagreements with Ermer and team owner Calvin Griffith built up until Grant stated that he wanted off the team.
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When the 1967 ended, the Twins accommodated Grant and traded him along with Zoilo Versalles to the LA Dodgers for catcher John Roseboro and pitchers Ron Perranoski and Bob Miller. Grant finished his tenure with the Twins with the 50-35 record and 3.35 ERA in 129 appearances, including 111 starts.
Grant who 33 at the time he pitched for the Dodgers in 1968, then went on to pitch for the Expos and Cardinals in 1969, the Athletics and Pirates in 1970-1971 before finishing his MLB career at the age of 35 pitching in 15 games for the Athletics at the tail-end of the 1971 season. When all was said and done, Mudcat Grant had pitched in the big leagues for 14 years for seven teams posting a 145-119 record and pitching 2,442 innings. As good a MLB pitcher as he was, there was much more to Jim “Mudcat” Grant then just playing baseball. Please take the the time to check out RIP Baseball – Obituary: Jim “Mudcat” Grant (1935-2021) to find out all about it.
I had an opportunity to meet and spend some time talking with Mudcat Grant at a couple of TwinsFest’s and it was always a pleasure to talk with him and listen to his stories. Twinstrivia.com extends our condolences to Jim Grant’s family, friends and fans. Thank you for the great memories Mudcat!
- Mudcat Grant, American League’s First Black 20-Game Winner, Dies at 85 – NY Times
- Mudcat Grant, ex-Twins pitcher and American League’s first Black 20-game winner, dies – Star Tribune
- Mudcat Grant, star pitcher on Twins’ 1965 World Series squad, dies at 85 – KSTP.com
- Mudcat Grant – BR Bullpen
- Mudcat Grant – SABR Bio