Burleigh Grimes Marquee Hall of Fame 1964

b. August 18, 1893 · Pittsburgh Pirates 1916–1917, 1928–1929, 1934, Brooklyn Robins 1918–1926, New York Giants 1927, Boston Braves 1930, St. Louis Cardinals 1930–1931, 1933–1934, Chicago Cubs 1932–1933, New York Yankees 1934

He won 270 games and lost 212 across nineteen seasons and seven clubs, working 4,180 innings and finishing 314 of his starts. Pittsburgh gave up on him after he went 3-16 in 1917; Brooklyn took him and he won nineteen the next year. He led the National League in wins in 1921 and 1928, and in strikeouts in 1921.

The spitball was outlawed in 1920, with an exemption for the pitchers who already lived by it, and he was one of them. He chewed slippery elm to work up saliva and would not shave on days he pitched, because the chewing made a shaved face sting. The stubble got him the name Ol' Stubblebeard. His last legal spitball came in 1934.

Fourteen years on the writers' ballot never brought him more than 92 votes of 269, and the Veterans Committee elected him in 1964. He had reached the World Series with Brooklyn in 1920 and won one with St. Louis in 1931. He managed Brooklyn in 1937 and 1938, scouted for years afterward, and lived to ninety-two.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
Baseball Magazine All-Star	6	1918, 1920, 1921, 1924, 1928, 1929
The Sporting News All-Star	1	1929

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1916	PIT	6	17	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	.176
1917	PIT	42	69	7	16	3	0	0	4	2	18	2	.232
1918	BRO	41	90	5	18	2	1	0	4	3	14	2	.200
1919	BRO	26	69	8	17	4	0	0	12	0	10	1	.246
1920	BRO	43	111	9	34	8	3	0	16	8	21	2	.306
1921	BRO	37	114	10	27	6	0	1	11	2	16	1	.237
1922	BRO	36	93	15	22	3	1	0	11	9	15	2	.237
1923	BRO	40	126	15	30	3	1	0	15	7	15	0	.238
1924	BRO	40	124	11	37	3	0	0	7	5	13	1	.298
1925	BRO	34	96	12	24	4	1	1	14	8	25	0	.250
1926	BRO	31	81	4	18	4	0	0	9	4	8	2	.222
1927	NYG	39	96	10	18	4	0	0	6	5	16	0	.188
1928	PIT	48	131	17	42	8	1	0	16	4	15	1	.321
1929	PIT	33	91	11	26	3	3	0	12	4	10	0	.286
1930	BSN/STL	34	73	12	18	5	0	0	13	6	14	0	.247
1931	STL	29	76	4	14	0	0	0	8	1	10	0	.184
1932	CHC	30	44	4	11	1	0	0	5	0	9	1	.250
1933	CHC/STL	21	25	2	4	1	0	0	5	1	5	0	.160
1934	NYY/PIT/STL	22	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.111
Career	—	632	1535	157	380	62	11	2	168	69	241	15	.248

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1916	PIT	2	3	6	5	0	45.2	40	12	10	20	2.36
1917	PIT	3	16	37	17	0	194.0	186	76	70	72	3.53
1918	BRO	19	9	40	30	1	270.0	210	64	76	113	2.13
1919	BRO	10	11	25	21	0	181.1	179	70	60	82	3.47
1920	BRO	23	11	40	33	2	303.2	271	75	67	131	2.22
1921	BRO	22	13	37	35	0	302.1	313	95	76	136	2.83
1922	BRO	17	14	36	34	1	259.0	324	137	84	99	4.76
1923	BRO	21	18	39	38	0	327.0	356	130	100	119	3.58
1924	BRO	22	13	38	36	1	310.2	351	132	91	135	3.82
1925	BRO	12	19	33	31	0	246.2	305	138	102	73	5.04
1926	BRO	12	13	30	29	0	225.1	238	93	88	64	3.71
1927	NYG	19	8	39	34	2	259.2	274	102	87	102	3.54
1928	PIT	25	14	48	37	3	330.2	311	110	77	97	2.99
1929	PIT	17	7	33	29	2	232.2	245	81	70	62	3.13
1930	BSN/STL	16	11	33	28	0	201.1	246	91	65	73	4.07
1931	STL	17	9	29	28	0	212.1	240	86	59	67	3.65
1932	CHC	6	11	30	18	1	141.1	174	75	50	36	4.78
1933	CHC/STL	3	7	21	10	4	83.1	86	35	37	16	3.78
1934	NYY/PIT/STL	4	5	22	4	1	53.0	63	36	26	15	6.11
Career	—	270	212	616	497	18	4180.0	4412	1638	1295	1512	3.53

On this day & linked events

1893

Born August 18, 1893

Emerald, WI, USA

1985

Died December 6, 1985

1916

Major-league debut: Burleigh Grimes

Burleigh Grimes made a major-league debut on September 10, 1916.

1934

Final major-league game: Burleigh Grimes

Burleigh Grimes played a final major-league game on September 20, 1934.

Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain