Mark Grace still remembers playing a spring training game with Shawon Dunston against a Mariners team that included Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and Randy Johnson. The Cubs were getting walloped.
“I yell over to Shawon — I say, ‘Shawon! They got any players like us?’ ” Grace recounted Friday.
Earlier in the evening during the Cubs Convention at the Sheraton Grand Chicago, chairman Tom Ricketts announced that Grace and Dunston would be inducted into the Cubs Hall of Fame this year. The former teammates then addressed reporters side by side, self-deprecating stories and all.
“It’s kind of nice that a couple players like us got in,” Dunston said.
The two were being modest, of course. Both were multiple-year All-Stars with the Cubs, playing in Chicago for more than a decade. In 1986, Dunston led National League shortstops in putouts (320), assists (465) and double plays (tied at 96). Grace, at first base, was a four-time Gold Glove honoree and led the league in doubles in 1995.
“That’s a quarter of my life in a Cubs uniform,” Grace said. “I love the fact that most of his career, I was [Dunston’s] first baseman. . . . Shawon and I, the reason we’re friends is not because I could catch his throws — and I challenge any other [damn] person to do that.”
That drew a laugh.
“Shawon and I, we talked to each other on the bench,” Grace continued. “We talked to each other about, ‘Hey, what are you going to try to do against this guy?’ And what that meant is, I knew after about just a few weeks in the big leagues that he cared about me. He cared about me being successful. And I think it didn’t take long for him to feel like I cared about him and wanted him to be successful.”
Dunston quipped: “I cared about Mark, but I knew right away he was a good hitter.”
After only a few questions, they took off telling stories, such as the time Grace referenced the movie “White Men Can’t Jump” to get across that if Dunston was going to miss throwing to first, he had to miss low.
“I’m telling you,” Grace said, “for as long as Shawon was still with the Cubs, every throw was right on the money.”
Said Dunston: “If there was one shortstop who didn’t like Mark Grace, it was Rey Sanchez, because when I left, Grace couldn’t catch him because Grace said Rey wasn’t throwing hard enough.”
Signings
The Cubs announced they signed left fielder Mike Tauchman and right-handed pitcher Nick Neidert to minor-league deals with spring training invitations.
Quotable
“Even with the extra money that was flying around this offseason, we still got the guys we wanted at prices we thought were reasonable and fair,” Ricketts told the Sun-Times when asked about how an owner such as the Mets’ Steve Cohen changes the landscape. “You’ve just got to stick to your plan and not let too much of the noise get to you.”
