Mark Grace

Mark Eugene Grace (born June 28, 1964) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who spent 13 seasons with the Chicago Cubs and three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks of the National League (NL). He was a member of the 2001 World Series champion Diamondbacks that beat the New York Yankees. Grace batted and threw left-handed; he wore jersey number 28 and 17 during his rookie season of 1988, and he kept number 17 for the remainder of his career.

Grace played high school baseball and basketball at Tustin High School in Tustin, California. After graduating from high school in 1982, he attended Saddleback College before transferring to San Diego State University to play for the San Diego State Aztecs. At the age of 19, he was drafted in the 15th round by the Minnesota Twins but did not sign.

The Chicago Cubs selected Grace in the 1985 Major League Baseball draft. He spent three years playing in the Cubs farm system before making his major league debut May 2, 1988.

Grace starred on Cubs teams that included Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Shawon Dunston and Sammy Sosa and was a consistent, steady hitter, compiling 2,445 hits and more than 500 doubles during his 16-year career and for a few years batted clean-up for the Cubs. He had a career on-base percentage of .383 and collected four Gold Glove Awards and was a three-time All-Star (1993, 1995, 1997). Grace collected the most hits (1,754) and doubles (364) of any player in the 1990s. Grace and Pete Rose are the only Major League Baseball players to lead a decade in hits and not be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Grace also had the most sacrifice flies in the 1990s with 73.

Grace helped lead the Cubs to the NL East division title in 1989 and the NL wild card in 1998. In the 1989 NLCS, Grace batted .647 in the five-game contest with a home run and three doubles, while driving in 8 of the 16 total runs scored by the Cubs in the series.

Grace led the team in average (.325), OBP (.393), hits (193), walks (71), doubles (39), and RBI (98 – a career high) in 1993 and was selected as an alternate to the NL All-Star team for the first time in his career. He also hit for the cycle on May 9 that year, with no other Cub hitting for the cycle again until Carson Kelly did so on March 31, 2025. In 1995, Grace hit .326/.395/.516 and hit 51 doubles (which led the NL). He was once again named to the NL All-Star team.

The song that played most frequently on the Wrigley Field organ prior to a Grace at bat was "Taking Care of Business," which Grace explained was due to his bit part in a Jim Belushi film of the same name.

Grace signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks on December 8, 2000, with a $6 million, two-year contract after the Cubs declined to offer salary arbitration. The deal included a mutual $3 million option year in 2003. He received $5.3 million in his last season with the Cubs but accepted less money for the opportunity to live year-round at his home in suburban Scottsdale, Arizona with his family. "For me to remain a Cub, the Cubs would have wanted to want me back and the Cubs would have had to win," Grace said at the time. "Neither of those happened and I'm one proud Diamondback now."