Michael William Grady (December 23, 1869 – December 3, 1943), was a professional baseball player who played

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

in the Major Leagues from 1894 to 1906. Grady played for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, Washington Senators, and

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 hav ...

. Grady was one of the first players from Chester County, Pennsylvania, to play Major League Baseball. Before signing with the Phillies, he played in the Brandywine AA League of West Chester. Grady made his major league debut on April 24, 1894 as a member of the Phillies. Grady hit .363 over the course of his rookie season, during which the pitching mound was moved back to its current distance of 60 feet, 6 inches from the plate and three Phillies outfielders batted over .400. Grady is largely famous for an apocryphal story about his committing four fielding errors on a single play, a story he would repeatedly tell long after his playing days were over; however, there is no contemporaneous record of this. Grady compiled a .294 career average over his 11 major league seasons. He led the league in OPS (a commonly used stat today that adds on-base percentage with slugging percentage) for a catcher in 1904 and 1905, and finished third in that category in his final season in 1906. All told, Grady finished his career with 884 hits, 35 home runs and 461 RBIs. After a shaky rookie season during which he posted a .900 fielding percentage, he improved his defense considerably, rounding out his career with a .950 mark in that category. He later was a player/manager in 1907 and 1908 in the

Tri-State League The Tri-State League was the name of six different circuits in American minor league baseball. History The first league of that name played for four years (1887–1890) and consisted of teams in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. The second leagu ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grady, Mike 1869 births 1943 deaths Major League Baseball catchers Baseball players from Pennsylvania Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Philadelphia Phillies players New York Giants (NL) players St. Louis Cardinals players 19th-century baseball players Allentown Colts players Wilmington Peaches players Philadelphia Athletics (minor league) players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Kansas City Cowboys (minor league) players Lancaster Red Roses players Chattanooga Lookouts players Little Rock Travelers players Harrisburg Senators players Minor league baseball managers People from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Chester County, Pennsylvania