(This is the second installment of a not-ever-published biography on former MLB player and Colorado Silver Bullets’ coach, Johnny Grubb, that I collaborated on with fellow writer, Mike McClary See the first installment here.)
In 1978, Grubb played for his fourth manager in his five major-league seasons: Jeff Torborg, who replaced Robinson during Grubb’s injury-shortened the 1977 season. It turned out that 1978 was also the season in which he could fully immerse himself in studying the American League brand of baseball, and hitting in particular.
“As an athlete, you have to be able to adjust. And I didn’t know much about the American League, and the National League took pride in being really aggressive on the basepaths and playing for one run, not trying to go for the big inning all the time,” he said.
“In the American League, the first thing I noticed was that they kind of pitched a little backwards. In the National League, if they were behind in the count … if the pitcher was behind in the count, you could pretty much bet on a fastball,” Grubb said. “In the American League, you couldn’t count on that. They could throw you a changeup, a curveball with the bases loaded and two strikes on you. They just kind of pitched a little backwards because of the smaller ballparks. And actually, I thought the pitching was better in the American League because they weren’t as predictable. Like I said, you couldn’t count on a fastball in fastball situations. So it took a while to get used to that. But if you watch and study the pitchers, you start learning how they pitch guys in certain situations.”
Grubb also had to get used to a role he never played in the National League: that of the designated hitter. “That took a little bit of getting used to as well because you have an at-bat and then you go sit. So I had to find a way to keep myself ready,” he said. “And you could either go down in the bullpen area or go up in the clubhouse and swing the bat or go down wherever you could find a place to stay loose and try to keep yourself in the game instead of just sitting there waiting around for your next at-bat.
“So you just learn to try to find out what works for you and make sure you’re ready for your next at-bat. But I’m sure it prolonged my career because I played almost until I was 40,” he said. “And I don’t know if I’d have played that long had I been in the National League.”
With his contract expiring at the end of the 1978 season, Grubb sensed the Indians were not going to re-sign him and, as the trading deadline approached, expected a trade. On August 31, 1978, he was traded to the Texas Rangers for two players to be named later. (The two turned out to be pitcher Bobby Cuellar and minor-league outfielder Dave Rivera.)
When Grubb joined Billy Hunter’s Rangers for a weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas was 65-65 and in third place in the American League West, just 4½ games behind the first-place Kansas City Royals. In his first game as a Ranger, on September 3, Grubb went 1-for-4 with a single off Ed Farmer. In 21 games with Texas to close out the ’78 season, he hit .394 with a homer and six RBIs in 33 at-bats. The Rangers finished the year in second place with an 87-75 record, five games behind the Royals.
Over the next four seasons, from 1979 to ’82, Grubb hit .272 for Texas and still saw most of his playing time in the outfield. In the spring of 1983, he could sense that a change was coming in Arlington. “I hadn’t had much playing time in spring training, so I knew something was going to happen,” he said. “Either they were going to just release me or make a trade. And I didn’t think they would just release me because I felt like I could still play.”
On March 24, he got the answer. “[Rangers manager] Doug Rader called me into his office and he told me that they had made a trade. He said, ‘Grubsteaks, you’re going to like where you’re going.’ I said, ‘Where’s that?’ And he said ‘Detroit.’ And, of course, I looked at him and kind of said ‘Yup. That would be a good team to go to.’ We knew they were strong and getting better each year and right on the verge of being a real, real good ballclub. So I was happy to go there.”
In his first season with the Tigers, 1983, Grubb, wearing number 30, played in 57 games, mostly in right field and as the designated hitter; he batted .254 with four home runs and 22 RBIs. That season the Tigers were in the hunt for the American League East lead most of the summer. In fact, Detroit flirted with first place as late as August 26, when the club was just one game behind the eventual World Series champion Orioles. The Tigers wound up finishing second with a 92-70 record, but the groundwork was set for 1984.
Though he was now 35, Grubb’s playing time increased in 1984, up to 86 games and 276 at-bats as an outfielder, DH, and – a more common occurrence – pinch-hitter. Now the seasoned veteran on a team featuring twentysomethings Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, and Lance Parrish, among others, Grubb settled into his role and enjoyed the ride. “It was fun to watch those guys play and every once in a while, to jump in and do something myself,” he said.
“What I remember most about that year is that I never really felt like we were out of any ballgame,” Grubb said. “Any lead a team could get, we felt like we could have a big inning and jump right back in the game. And we had real good pitching, so if we had the lead, we had Willie [Hernandez] and [Aurelio] Lopez coming in to shut the door on them. The pitchers did their job, and the hitters did their job. And we just felt like we could win any game.” Grubb finished the ’84 season with a .267 average, eight home runs, and 17 RBIs, and set his sights on the American League Championship Series matchup with the Royals. After coasting to victory in Game 1 of the ALCS, the Tigers found themselves in a nail-biter in Game 2.
The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead but the Royals chipped away to tie the game in the eighth inning. With one out in the top of the 11th, and with Ruppert Jones on first and Darrell Evans at second, Grubb faced Dan Quisenberry, who led the American League with 44 saves that season. The left-handed-hitting Grubb was 0-for-1 against Quisenberry during the regular season and had just two hits in 12 career at-bats against him. Grubb waited as the submariner and his batterymate, John Wathan, discussed their pitching strategy. “He got two strikes on me and Wathan went out to the mound. I was watching them when they were out there talking. I thought I could read their lips and I thought I saw them saying ‘fastball.’ And I thought, well, I can’t trust that, but I’m going to be ready for it.” Hitless in his previous three at-bats in the game, Grubb was looking to change his luck and power his team to a 2-0 series lead.
As Wathan got into his crouch, Grubb dug in. On the next pitch, he ripped a two-run double to right-center to put the Tigers up 5-3 in the game and leave them one win away from the World Series. “He threw a fastball, and I’m sure [Royals center fielder] Willie Wilson was cheating-in a little bit on me with two strikes. But I happened to get a hold of one and drove it over his head. So I’m glad I came through to help out. That was my turn, I guess, to do something to help the team.” The Tigers clinched the pennant two days later, defeating the Royals 1-0 in Game 3.
One could argue that for the Tigers to play the first game of the 1984 World Series in San Diego was perhaps more special for Trammell and Grubb than other members of the team. Trammell was raised in San Diego and it’s where Grubb’s career had begun 12 years earlier.
“That was real neat to go back. When they did the introductions, I remember they gave me a nice ovation. I wasn’t sure really what they might do. You’re not sure if fans are going to turn on you or not. But they were really, really nice. And, of course, we had friends that still lived back there, and just going back where I started my career.”
Grubb made his first World Series appearance in Game 2, as the designated hitter, batting seventh. He singled to left off Padres starter Ed Whitson in the first inning. It was the fifth, and last, hit off Whitson in the inning before he was replaced by Andy Hawkins with two out. Grubb also played in Games 3 and 5, as designated hitter and a pinch-hitter, but went hitless in both games, though he was hit by a Hawkins pitch in the World Series-clinching Game 5.
The final three years of Grubb’s Tigers career were no different than his first two; he played sparingly in the outfield and was used primarily as Sparky Anderson’s DH. His finest statistical year in Detroit came in 1986. In 81 games, he hit .333 with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs.
Detroit returned to the postseason in Grubb’s final year, 1987. The Tigers fought the Toronto Blue Jays over the final 10 days of the season and clinched the AL East title on the last day. Though his regular-season numbers were the lowest in his 16 years – a .202 average, two home runs, and 13 RBIs – Grubb excelled in the ALCS against the Minnesota Twins. Appearing in four of the five games, he batted .571 on four hits in seven at-bats.
Grubb’s major-league career came to a close on October 12, 1987, in Game 5 of the ALCS. He collected a hit in his final at-bat, a single to left field off his former Tigers teammate, Juan Berenguer, in the eighth inning. The Tigers lost the game, 9-5, and the series, four games to one. Four days later, the Tigers released the 38-year-old Grubb.
“Coming into that season, I was close to 40, so I knew it was getting right down to the end,” Grubb said. “And I knew Sparky probably saw me as not going to have a whole lot of playing time, a guy off the bench. So I knew it was a good chance it might be my last year, but I wouldn’t allow myself to think that way. And I just had a poor season, but ended up having a good playoff for us. But I wish I’d have had a better season for us. I just didn’t do that well that year.”
In 1,424 major-league games, Grubb collected 1,153 hits, with 99 home runs, and finished with a .278 career batting average.
- Next Time: The next act of Grubb’s post-playing career takes an unusual turn