Biography

Baseball career

On December 8, 1977, he was involved in a rare four-team trade that involved the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Texas Rangers. Grieve and a player to be named later (Ken Henderson) were sent to the Mets, who also received Willie Montañez from the Braves. Texas sent Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs and Eddie Miller to Atlanta and Bert Blyleven to the Pirates. The Pirates sent Al Oliver and Nelson Norman to the Rangers, who also got Jon Matlack from the Mets. Finally, the Mets sent John Milner to the Pirates.

Primarily an outfielder and a designated hitter, the right-handed batter finished his career with a .249 average, 65 homers and 254 RBIs in 670 games.

In between, Grieve posted five solid seasons in the Venezuelan Winter League while playing for the Águilas del Zulia, Leones del Caracas and Tiburones de La Guaira clubs between 1971 and 1979.

According to his own words, he says that any player who skips winter ball does themselves a disservice because they’re too lazy.

General Manager

After retiring as a player at the end of the 1979 season, Grieve joined the Rangers' front office, and did his first work as a color commentator for Rangers television broadcasts during the 1980 season. In 1984 Grieve became general manager of the Rangers, and served in that capacity until 1994. In December 1988 Grieve made one of the best trades in team history, acquiring Rafael Palmeiro and Jamie Moyer from the Chicago Cubs for Mitch Williams. That same winter he acquired future batting champion Julio Franco. However, he also traded away several future stars, including Sammy Sosa in 1989 and Robb Nen in 1993.

Broadcasting career

Grieve currently is a broadcaster for the Rangers televised games. Since 1995, Grieve has served consistently as the color commentator for the Texas Rangers, which is the longest tenure of any TV broadcaster in Texas Rangers club history. He sits in the booth alongside play-by-play announcer and former Kansas City Royal Steve Busby.

Legacy

The Grieves were the first father-and-son combo to be selected in the first round of the MLB draft. Tom was chosen sixth overall by the Senators in 1966 while Ben was the second overall selection by Oakland in 1994. Ben Grieve played 976 games for the Oakland A's, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs.

Tom Grieve was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in a ceremony held on July 24, 2010.

Sources

[ Source: Wikipedia ]