Wayne Allan Granger (born March 15, 1944) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

right-handed

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

who played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1968, 1973),

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

(1969–1971),

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

(1972),

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

(1973),

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

(1974),

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

(1975) and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

(1976). The 6–4, 165-pound Granger was one of baseball's most effective and durable relief pitchers during the early years of Cincinnati's famed

Big Red Machine The Big Red Machine is a nickname for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1979 and is widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history. The team won six National League West Division titl ...

Amateur career

Granger graduated from Huntington High School in

Huntington, Massachusetts Huntington is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 2,094 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Originally Plantation Number 9 by the Cou ...

. In 1962, just out of high school, he played for the Sagamore Clouters of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

(CCBL). Playing against largely collegiate competition, Granger batted .329 and led the league in home runs and RBI. He was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2010. He attended

Springfield College Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...

where he was a pitcher on the 1965 baseball team. Before his professional career began, Granger played two seasons in the province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in the Saguenay senior league—in 1963 for the Jonquiere Braves and in 1964 for Port-Alfred in 1964.

Professional career

Granger was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1965. He made his big-league debut at age 24 on June 5, 1968, in a 3–1 Cardinals win over the

at the Astrodome, also earning his first save with one perfect inning in relief of starter

Larry Jaster Larry Edward Jaster (born January 13, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher between 1965 and 1972 for the St. Louis Cardinals, Montreal Expos and the Atlanta ...

. The first-ever batter he faced was Bob Aspromonte, whom he struck out. The rookie sinkerballer went 4–2 with a 2.25 ERA in 34 games that season. However, on October 11, 1968, the Cardinals traded

Bobby Tolan Robert Tolan (born November 19, 1945) is an American former professional baseball center fielder / right fielder, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (–), Cincinnati Reds (–), San Diego Padres (–, ...

and Granger to the

for

Vada Pinson Vada Edward Pinson Jr. (August 11, 1938 – October 21, 1995) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball for 18 years (1958–1975), most notably for the Cincinnati Reds, for who ...

. With the Reds in 1969 Granger posted a 9–6 record and 2.79 ERA with 27 saves in a then-

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

record 90 appearances, and he won the first of two straight Fireman of the Year awards. The following season in 1970 he set a National League record with 35 saves (since broken) while going 6–5 with a 2.66 ERA in 67 games. That season, he ranked eighth in the National League

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...

voting. In June of that year, he threw the final pitch and also earned the last victory at the Reds' venerable home

Crosley Field Crosley Field was a Major League Baseball park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home field of the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through June 24, 1970, and the original Cincinnati Bengals football team, members of the second (1937) an ...

before the team moved to Riverfront Stadium. During Game 3 of the

1970 World Series The 1970 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1970 season. The 67th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles (108–54 in the regula ...

against the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

, Granger surrendered a grand slam to opposing pitcher

Dave McNally David Arthur McNally (October 31, 1942 – December 1, 2002) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from 1962 through 1975, most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dyn ...

. It is the only time in

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

history that a pitcher has hit a grand slam. The Reds lost the best-of-seven series in five games, and Granger never again pitched in the postseason. In 1971 he again led the league in games pitched with 70, posting a 7–6 record with a 3.33 ERA and 11 saves. He was traded by the Reds to the

for Tom Hall on December 3, 1971. After one year with the Twins, beginning in 1973 Granger pitched for five teams in four seasons. He was reacquired by the Cardinals from the Twins for

Larry Hisle Larry Eugene Hisle (; born May 5, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player and hitting coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies (1968–71), Minnesota Twins (1973–77), and M ...

and

John Cumberland John Sheldon Cumberland (May 10, 1947 – April 5, 2022) was an American professional baseball pitcher and coach. A left-hander, Cumberland appeared in 110 games over all or parts of six Major League Baseball seasons between 1968 and 1974 as a ...

on November 29, 1972. Arm injuries cut short his career in 1976. He earned induction into the

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is an entity established by Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds franchise that pays homage to the team's past through displays, photographs and multimedia. It was instituted in 1958 to recognize the ...

in 1982, only the second Reds' relief pitcher to be so honored. He has since periodically returned to Cincinnati for Reds reunions including the annual RedsFest and Reds Hall of Fame inductions.

References

External links

Wayne Granger
at Baseball Biography
Wayne Granger
- Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Granger, Wayne 1944 births Living people Alacranes de Durango players Alijadores de Tampico players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Arkansas Travelers players Baseball players from Springfield, Massachusetts Bourne Braves players Cafeteros de Córdoba players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Chicago White Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Denver Bears players Houston Astros players Iowa Oaks players Major League Baseball pitchers Mexican League baseball pitchers Miami Amigos players Minnesota Twins players Montreal Expos players National League saves champions Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Yankees players Orlando Juice players Raleigh Cardinals players Springfield Pride baseball players St. Louis Cardinals players Tigres del México players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players