A Graceful Start : Chicago’s Rookie First Baseman From Tustin Has Put On an Impressive Show

The Dodgers would undoubtedly prefer that Mark Grace stay away from home from now on.

Grace, the Chicago Cubs’ first baseman who grew up in Tustin, came home for the first time as a major leaguer and helped the Cubs win two of three with the National League West’s first-place Dodgers. Friday, he hit a three-run home run and went 3 for 4 with 5 runs batted in to lead the Cubs to a 9-2 victory over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Sunday, Grace hit a lazy sacrifice fly in the seventh inning for the game-winning RBI in Chicago’s 2-1 victory.

Pretty amazing, Grace.

“It’s nice to be back,” Grace, 24, said. “It’s all that more special when you win games here. But the team comes first, and anytime you can come to Dodger Stadium and take two out of three, that’s a big highlight for us.”

Grace has become a starter and is batting .303 after beginning the season in relative obscurity.

“I didn’t know him,” Chicago Manager Don Zimmer said. “I heard a lot about him. Everyone told me what a good player he is. But I did not know him. After three weeks of spring training, though, I knew he was a good player and that he could play in the big leagues.”

Still, on opening day Grace found himself in Iowa with the Cubs’ triple-A franchise, playing in sub-freezing temperatures. He started slowly in the cold weather and was batting only .254 when he got the call to join Chicago 20 games into the season.

Grace stepped up to the majors when Leon Durham, the Cubs’ regular first baseman, fell out of favor with Zimmer. Batting .219, Durham was traded to the Cincinnati Reds to make way for Grace.

“He (Grace) could have started for me on opening day,” Zimmer said. “But I had Durham. He was still putting up good numbers, and I thought he deserved the chance to play opening day. . . . After 20 games I didn’t like what I was seeing with Durham and we decided to make a change.”

Grace took a quick route to the majors. It was a road that took him through such places as Mission Viejo and Peoria, Ill. Grace wasn’t drafted until the 24th round of the 1985 draft by the Cubs, and he spent a little more than two years in the minor leagues.

After an unspectacular prep career at Tustin High--”I wasn’t all-everything like some players,” Grace said. He attended Saddleback College for two years and San Diego State for one. Then, Grace got his big start in Peoria.

Grace batted .342 for the Cubs’ Class-A team to lead the Midwest League. He then went from Peoria to Pittsfield, Mass. and was named most valuable player of the Eastern League last season, batting .333 at the double-A level.

But if someone had told Grace last season that he would be starting for Chicago and succeeding at the plate within a year, he wouldn’t have believed it.

“I would have seriously doubted it,” Grace said.

Grace didn’t grow up dreaming of playing in the major leagues. In college, Grace was pursuing a degree in business management, not a big league career.

“I had baseball on my mind,” Grace said. “But it was just to go out and have a good time. It was something to do. It was a lot of fun, but I still didn’t have any aspirations to be a big league player.”

He didn’t start thinking about the majors until Peoria, two years ago. The adjustment to major league life, however, has not come without transitions.

“Now, I’m finally getting my feet on the ground,” Grace said. “I’m finally accepting the fact that I’m here. But at first I was a little overwhelmed: the new ball parks, all the people, lockers next to big league ballplayers.”

But it’s no longer an overwhelming experience.

Said Joe Altobelli, Cub coach: “We’re very happy with the way he’s progressed. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to put together a year and make an all-star team or two.”