Mark Andrew Grant (born October 24, 1963), nicknamed Mud, is an American former professional

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

and is the current

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

' television broadcasts.

Career

Grant was a first-round pick by the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

in the

1981 Major League Baseball draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1981 Major League Baseball draft. Compensation Picks Other notable players *Darrin Jackson, 2nd round, 28th overall by the Chicago Cubs *Mike Gallego, 2nd round, 33r ...

. Grant played for the Giants from through , when he was traded to the San Diego Padres. Grant played for the Padres through where he was again dealt to the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

for

Derek Lilliquist Derek Jansen Lilliquist (born February 20, 1966) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher and pitching coach. He played for the Atlanta Braves (1989–1990), San Diego Padres (1990–1991), Cleveland Indians (1992–1994), Boston Red Sox ( ...

. In the off-season, he signed with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

to a one-year deal. In , he signed to the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

. The same season on May 20, he was sent to the expansion team

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

for

Braulio Castillo Braulio Castillo Cintrón (March 30, 1933 – February 28, 2015) was a telenovela actor in Latin America. His two sons, Braulio Castillo, Jr. and Jorge Castillo, are also actors. He was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Castillo played in the ''O ...

. He was released from the club just two months later, and signed with the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

on August 20. In 1994, he took a break from baseball to host a talk radio show for KFMB-AM along with broadcasting Padres games for the station. Grant returned to baseball in when he pitched for the

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 ...

AAA affiliate

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. In he briefly played for

CPBL The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

Uni-President Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, stylized as Uni-President 7-ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇn Lions, also known as Uni-Lions (), are a professional baseball team playing in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The Lions are based in Tainan City, Ta ...

and officially retired from baseball after leaving the Lions.

Broadcasting

In 1996, Grant began working in the Padres' TV broadcast booth for

Prime Sports Network Prime Sports (originally known as the Prime Sports Network (PSN), and also known as Prime Network or simply Prime) is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, ope ...

. In 1997, Mark began his 15 year run with

Channel 4 San Diego YurView California (formerly known as 4SD, Channel 4 San Diego or unofficially COX 4, and originally known as KCOX) is an American cable television channel serving San Diego, California, owned by Cox Communications, which carries the channel pr ...

, teaming with a variety of partners including

Mel Proctor Mel Proctor is an American television sportscaster, actor, and book author. Biography A Denver, Colorado native, Proctor has called play-by-play for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, San Diego ...

and

Matt Vasgersian Matt Vasgersian ( '; born 1967) is an American sportscaster and television host. Vasgersian is a play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Angels, as well as a studio host for MLB Network and FOX Sports. In the past, he has served as an an ...

. In 2012, he moved to the new regional television network

Fox Sports San Diego Bally Sports San Diego is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between Diamond Sports Group (itself a 50-50 joint venture between the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios) (which owns a controlling 80% stake ...

, where he continued to provide color commentary with famed play-by-play announcer

Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including N ...

until the latter's retirement after the 2016 season. His current main colleague is

Don Orsillo Don Orsillo (born December 16, 1968) is the play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres on Bally Sports San Diego and for the MLB on TBS. Orsillo was the television voice of the Boston Red Sox on NESN from 2001 to 2015. He was then hired b ...

. Grant's style of color commentary along with his humorous on-air antics have made "Mud" (a nickname given early in his playing career by Giants coach

Danny Ozark Daniel Leonard Ozark, born ''Orzechowski'' (November 26, 1923 – May 7, 2009), was an American coach and manager in Major League Baseball. As manager of the Philadelphia Phillies (1973–August 31, 1979), Ozark led the Phils to three consecutive ...

in reference to

Mudcat Grant James Timothy "Mudcat" Grant Jr. (August 13, 1935 – June 11, 2021) was an American baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal Expos ...

) a favorite with Padres fans.

Personal life

Grant currently resides in

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, with his wife Mary, two sons, and a daughter. In 2007, Mark Grant was honored by the

Kiwanis Club Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizatio ...

of Alpine, for his contributions to the community. He is also a frequent contributor to sports talk shows on XX Sports Radio in San Diego, as well as the Dave, Shelly, and Chainsaw show on 101.5 KGB FM.

References

External links

Mark Grant Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Mark 1963 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Taiwan American television sports announcers Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from Illinois Calgary Cannons players Colorado Rockies players Houston Astros players Iowa Cubs players Jacksonville Suns players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball pitchers People from Alpine, California Richmond Braves players San Francisco Giants players San Diego Padres announcers San Diego Padres players Seattle Mariners players Sportspeople from Joliet, Illinois Tucson Toros players Uni-President Lions players Vancouver Canadians players