The Cubs wanted Hee Seop Choi to take over from Grace and wanted Grace to “mentor” him and be a part-time player. He wasn’t interested and left.

It wasn’t with Hendry, who wasn’t GM at the time. It was with MacPhail.

Grace took some swipes at Cub fans after he won the WS with Arizona. That knocked him down a few places in my estimation.

About your other questions, I doubt he’d ever come back to the Cubs—and if he’s going to stay in broadcasting, good riddance. He’s horrendous in the booth.

Finally, though Grace was a good player for a long time, he has ZERO HoF credentials. He never drove in 100 runs, never won a batting title, led the league in a significant category only once (in doubles, one time).

I think you’ll find a lot of different “opinions” of what happened depending on how much people liked or disliked the parties involved, i.e. Grace and MacPhail. I am not a big Grace fan, and IMO, here’s what happened.

In 2000, Grace’s last season, Grace saw his playing time reduced a bit (may have also spent some time on the DL) in favor of Julio Zueleta. Grace was none to thrilled about this and was very vocal about the fact that he was not going to embrace the idea of helping groom his replacement. He felt he was still a full time player.

At this same time, the Cubs had Hee Seop Choi, who they saw as a top prospect and future star. They intended to give him a good amount of playing time at 1B in 2001. Grace, again, felt he was a full time player and was not going to be a part of grooming a new first baseman. Then GM Andy MacPhail knew Grace felt he was a full time player and wanted to attempt to reach the 3000 hit plateau. MacPhail informed Grace that the Cubs did not intend to use him as a full time player in 2001 and if he wanted to remain a full time player, he needed to move on.

Grace signed with the Diamondbacks. Choi didn’t even make the 2001 team, Zueleta got just over 100 ABs, Matt Stairs started a lot of games at 1B and McGriff was eventually acquired.

There was a lot of bad blood. Grace felt like he was pushed out of town and treated poorly. IMO MacPhail (who I’ve always felt has gotten a lot of blame that he didn’t deserve (along with the blame he did deserve) was simply honest with Grace, who showed no willingness to share playing time. Grace took several swipes including his “I’m not good enough to start for the Cubs but I’m good enough to start for the W.S. Champs…”

As for a return to the Cubs, its fine by me if he returns to the yearly convention but I hope he’s never a broadcaster for the team. He’s horrible.

DmL

What did he say about the fans? I can understand being mad at management, and saying things about them, but you can’t rip your fans? That is disappointing… and I can understand now why there is some distance between him and the Cubs.

Ugh!

Its sad to see the last two Cub “legends” Sosa and Grace, have such a negative light cast upon them. Maybe some of the current bunch will be more memorable.

BTW: thanks for taking the time out to respond to me

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with that. But fact is Grace left Chicago on sour terms and took unfair potshot at Andy McPhail. The Cub organization was also uncomfortable about the coziness of the Mark Grace and Kerry Wood friendship and how that manifest itself in the relationship with Sam-ME Steroid.

Before a crowd somewhere in Phoenix before the ‘07 NLDS, he led the crowd in a chant of “Beat the Cubs! Beat the Cubs!” He is a D-Back announcer, and we know where his allegiances lie. He also said after the ‘01 World Series something to the effect of “I wasn’t good to enough to play first for the Cubs, but I was good enough to play first for the world champions.” I’m glad he got his world championship in 2001 with the D-Backs, but the guy has got to get over the Cubs not wanting him back as a full-time first baseman in 2001.

Choi tore through A and AA in 2000 as a 21 year old and was expected to reach the majors in 2001. He didn’t make the team that spring, suffered an injury (a broken wrist?) and really struggled at Iowa. The 2001 team wasn’t expected to contend so they opened the season with a Stairs/Zuleta (Pedro Cerrano!) platoon, basically biding their time until Choi was ready. Of course, they surprised us that year and did contend which led to the McGriff trade fiasco and, ultimately, a season and half of the Crime Dog.

Did Grace want a long term deal during/after the 2000 season? Could that have been a factor in the falling-out, if the Cubs only offered him one year because they expected Choi to emerge quickly? If so, it’s worth noting that he was washed up after that first season in Arizona.

I doubt any of us can offer much insight on the clubhouse relationships involved but Grace was rumored to be extremely unpopular with his teammates. Various sources have described him as being “two-faced”, blasting his teammates off the record…which seems credible considering the way he now criticizes everything about the Cubs. Of course, criticism of Grace himself was always hard to come by because the media loved him so much.

Also, management probably didn’t view his whiskey-and-Winstons training regimen as a very good example for the younger players.

Wow. I didn’t know any of this stuff. To say I’m shocked is an understatement. Thanks

with the glove and bat…not superstar status, but good. IIRC he had a great NLCS against the Giants in ‘89..

when i was eleven years old, Mark Grace called me on my birthday, he was by far and away my favorite player and still is….good for him for getting a ring! I still have the “Amazing” poster.

the 1990’s with total number of hits, beating out ex-Cub Rafeal Palmiero (sp?) by a few. Other than the alleged sleeping with other players wives, including Ryno’s 1st wife, he was a solid 1B guy and loved by many here.

He left after ‘01 with what I knew as a strife with management on his future responsibilities and perhaps also a few dollars. He made a comment after the ‘01 WS championship about not being good enough to play for the Cubs but good enough for a WS champion. That did not sit well with Cubdom. Though he’s made his peace recently, I’d rather he stay in AZ for his commentary; it isn’t too good.

He’s of course more than welcome to continue attending Cubs Convention as he made his way back this past year. The Cubs made amend with him in the last year+, sort of like the Blackhawks’ organization with Rocky at the helm. I don’t think however Grace will be considered a color guy if say BB gets a managerial job, at least I hope he doesn’t.