Alexander Peter Grammas (April 3, 1926 – September 13, 2019) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. A native of

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, Grammas played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. He threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

, and was listed as tall and . Grammas's family origins are from Agios Dimitrios near

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Playing career

Grammas attended

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

and signed with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

in 1949. During his third season in the ChiSox'

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

, he was acquired by Cincinnati in 1951 and continued his

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

apprenticeship in the Reds' organization. Loaned to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

' Kansas City Blues affiliate in 1953 (Cincinnati at the time lacked a Triple-A farm team), Grammas collected a career-high 179 hits and batted .307. He was named the American Association's All-Star

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

. With

Roy McMillan Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise t ...

blocking his path in Cincinnati, the Redlegs traded Grammas in December 1953 to the St. Louis Cardinals; the trade marked an unusual "ping-pong" trend in Grammas' playing career, as he would bounce between Cincinnati (prior to 1954; 1956–58) and St. Louis (1954–56; 1959–62) during the 1950s. The Cardinals finally broke the pattern in June 1962 by trading Grammas to the Cubs, where he finished his career (1962–63). Grammas was the Cardinals' starting shortstop in , and and ranked no lower than third in

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

among

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

shortstops each season; he finished his career with a .969 overall fielding mark. He was a reserve infielder with the Redlegs and Cubs. All told, he appeared in 913

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

over ten MLB seasons, collecting 512 hits, with 90 doubles, ten triples, 12

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 163

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. He batted .247 lifetime.

Managerial and coaching career

In 1964, Grammas began his managing career as skipper of the Cubs' Double-A affiliate, the

Fort Worth Cats The Fort Worth Cats was a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats were a member of the South Division of the now disbanded United League Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Basebal ...

of the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. Although he spent the entire year at Fort Worth, as one of the Cubs' minor league pilots he was listed as a member of the Cubs'

College of Coaches The College of Coaches was an unorthodox baseball organizational practice employed by the National League's Chicago Cubs in and . After the Cubs finished 60–94 in , their 14th straight NL second-division finish, Cubs owner P. K. Wrigley anno ...

that season. He then joined

Harry Walker Harry William Walker (October 22, 1918 – August 8, 1999) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. Known by the nickname "Harry the Hat", he played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball between 1940 and 1955, ...

's staff as the

third base coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisi ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in 1965, staying on following Walker's dismissal in mid-1967. He began his big-league managerial career when he was asked finish out the Pirates' 1969 season after

Larry Shepard Lawrence William Shepard (April 3, 1919April 5, 2011) was an Americans, American professional baseball Baseball#Players, player, Manager (baseball), manager, and Coach (baseball)#Pitching and bullpen coaches, pitching coach. He managed the Pittsb ...

was fired as the team's manager on September 26. Although Grammas guided the 1969 Bucs to a 4–1 finish,

Danny Murtaugh Daniel Edward Murtaugh (October 8, 1917 – December 2, 1976) was an American second baseman, manager, front-office executive, and coach in Major League Baseball ( MLB). Murtaugh is best known for his 29-year association with the Pittsburgh Pira ...

took over as the team's manager in 1970. Grammas then returned to the Cincinnati Reds as third base coach under

Sparky Anderson George Lee "Sparky" Anderson (February 22, 1934 – November 4, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships, then added a third t ...

, spending six seasons in that post during the "

Big Red Machine The Big Red Machine is a nickname for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1979 and is widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history. The team won six National League West Division ti ...

" era, including service on Cincinnati's

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and 1972 National League champions and the 1975 world champions. After the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

fired

Del Crandall Delmar Wesley Crandall (March 5, 1930May 5, 2021) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He was born in Ontario, California. Crandall played as a catcher in Major League Baseball and spent most of his career with the Boston / ...

as manager near the end of the 1975 season, his place was taken on an interim basis by

Harvey Kuenn Harvey Edward Kuenn (; December 4, 1930 – February 28, 1988) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a shortstop and outfielder, he played with the Detroit Tigers (1952–1959), Clev ...

. But following the

1975 World Series The 1975 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1975 season. The 72nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox and the Natio ...

, the Brewers set their sights on Grammas as their next skipper, and signed him to a three-year contract in November 1975.

President

Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as ...

said that Grammas was the only manager they wanted. He added, "There is no question in our mind, we got the best man available. In the years I've been in baseball, never has anybody been recommended by as broad a spectrum of people as Alex Grammas." Grammas was, however, unable to bring the success he had seen with the Reds to Milwaukee. In 1976 and 1977, Grammas led the Brewers to consecutive sixth-place finishes in the American League Eastern Division, in which the Brewers finished 32 and 33 games, respectively, out of first place. Only the expansion 1977

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

, who lost 107 games in their inaugural season, kept the Brewers from consecutive last-place finishes under Grammas. A 10–5 start in 1976 led ''Sports Illustrated'' to publish a story praising Grammas' positive attitude and mental approach to the game. But the Brewers faded soon thereafter, losing 22 of their last 26 games. Internal signs of trouble were evident by mid-season in 1977. With the Brewers at 39–45, Brewers reserve first baseman

Mike Hegan James Michael Hegan (July 21, 1942 – December 25, 2013) was an American professional baseball player, who later worked as a sports commentator. In Major League Baseball (MLB) he was a first baseman and outfielder, and played for three different ...

, who was dissatisfied with his playing time under Grammas, made national news by saying "Grammas is a nice guy, but as a manager, he makes a good third base coach". Hegan added, "I think that we all expected that, when he came over here, he was going to provide motivation and leadership...but that hasn't happened". Grammas, for his part said some players were not putting out as much effort as they had earlier in the season, that every team has players who "cop out", including the Brewers, that the team had not played up to its potential, and that "I would say there have been times that we could have put out a lot harder". After this point, the Brewers went 27–50. On November 21, 1977, Brewers President Bud Selig fired both Grammas and General Manager Jim Baumer. Grammas ended his managerial career with a record of 137–191. Grammas then returned to the coaching ranks and the Reds in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

as a member of Anderson's staff; then, after Anderson's controversial firing, Grammas coached under

Bobby Cox Robert Joe Cox (born May 21, 1941) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Cox played for the New York Yankees and managed the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of ...

with the 1979 Atlanta Braves. In mid-June of , Anderson was hired as skipper of the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, and during his first off-season as Detroit's manager, he added Grammas to his staff as third base coach, where Grammas served for 12 consecutive years (1980–91), including on the Tigers' 1984 world championship season.

Death

Grammas died at his home in

on September 13, 2019.

References

External links

*
Alex Grammas Oral History Interview (1 of 3) - National Baseball Hall of Fame Digital CollectionAlex Grammas Oral History Interview (2 of 3) - National Baseball Hall of Fame Digital CollectionAlex Grammas Oral History Interview (3 of 3) - National Baseball Hall of Fame Digital Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammas, Alex 1926 births 2019 deaths American people of Greek descent Atlanta Braves coaches Baseball coaches from Alabama Baseball players from Birmingham, Alabama Chicago Cubs coaches Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds coaches Cincinnati Redlegs players Detroit Tigers coaches Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third base coaches Memphis Chickasaws players Milwaukee Brewers managers Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball players Muskegon Clippers players Pittsburgh Pirates coaches Pittsburgh Pirates managers St. Louis Cardinals players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players