{{Short description|American baseball player (1893–1953)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Ray Grimes |image= Ray and Oscar Grimes-1921.jpg |caption= Grimes with his son Oscar Ray Jr., before a Cubs game circa 1921. |alt= |position=First baseman |bats=Switch |throws=Right |birth_date=September 11, 1893 |birth_place=Bergholz, Ohio, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1953|5|25|1893|9|11}} |death_place=Minerva, Ohio, U.S. |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=September 24 |debutyear=1920 |debutteam=Boston Red Sox |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=August 12 |finalyear=1926 |finalteam=Philadelphia Phillies |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.329 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=27 |stat3label=Runs batted in |stat3value=263 |teams= * Boston Red Sox ({{baseball year|1920}}) * Chicago Cubs ({{Baseball year|1921}}–{{Baseball year|1924}}) * Philadelphia Phillies ({{Baseball year|1926}}) |awards= *MLB record 17-game RBI streak }} '''Oscar Ray Grimes Sr.''' (September 11, 1893 – May 25, 1953) was a first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox (1920), Chicago Cubs (1921–1924) and Philadelphia Phillies (1926). Grimes batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Bergholz, Ohio.
==Playing career== Grimes emerged as one of the first Chicago Cubs heroes of the early 1920s. He appeared in a game with the Boston Red Sox in 1920 before being traded to the Cubs in 1921. That season he hit .321 with 79 runs batted in, 38 doubles, and 91 runs in a career-high 149 games.
===Record season (1922)=== In 1922, while with the Cubs, Grimes set a major-league mark with at least one RBI over 17 consecutive games (from June 27 to July 23), a record which still stands. As noted by baseball historian Clifton Blue Parker, "It is a little-known record, but perhaps one of the most enduring and challenging ones."<ref>Parker, CB: ''Fouled Away: The Baseball Tragedy of Hack Wilson''. Jefferson, North Carolina. McFarland & Company, 2000, p. 101. {{ISBN|0786408642}}</ref> During the streak, Grimes drove in 27 runs and had 29 hits in 67 at-bats for a .433 batting average, including seven doubles, three triples and three home runs.<ref name="Snyder">{{cite book|last=Snyder|first=John|title=365 Oddball Days in Chicago Cubs History|year=2010|publisher=Accessible Publishing Systems|location=United States|isbn=9781459607255|pages=570}}.</ref> He finished the 1922 season with 99 RBI, 99 runs, 45 doubles, 12 triples, 14 home runs, and hit .354, ending second in the National League batting race behind Rogers Hornsby (.401).
His career declined after suffering a slipped disc in 1923. He appeared in only 115 games with the Cubs during 1923 and 1924, and played 32 games with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1926, his last major league season. In a six-season career, Grimes was a .329 hitter with 27 home runs and 263 RBI in 433 games.
Grimes was the twin brother of second baseman Roy Grimes, who played briefly for the New York Giants in 1920, and also was the father of Oscar Grimes, an infielder who played with the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Athletics between 1938 and 1946. Grimes died of a heart ailment while working at the Cronin China Company in Minerva, Ohio, at age 59.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ex-Ball Player Taken |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-review-ray-grimes-may-27-1/197244456/ |access-date=May 9, 2026 |work=East Liverpool Review |agency=Associated Press |date=May 27, 1953 |page=7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==See also== *List of second-generation Major League Baseball players *List of Major League Baseball individual streaks
==References== <references />
==External links== {{baseballstats|br=g/grimera01}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060526191534/http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/excerpts/baseball_between_the_wars5.stm Baseball Library] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060507082811/http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Grimes.Ray.Obit.html The Deadball Era]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grimes, Ray}} Category:Boston Red Sox players Category:Chicago Cubs players Category:Philadelphia Phillies players Category:Major League Baseball first basemen Category:Baseball players from Jefferson County, Ohio Category:Baseball players from Columbiana County, Ohio Category:1893 births Category:1953 deaths Category:American twins Category:People from Minerva, Ohio Category:20th-century American sportsmen Category:Bridgeport Americans players Category:Atlanta Crackers players Category:Columbus Senators players Category:Durham Bulls players Category:Fort Worth Panthers players Category:Little Rock Travelers players Category:Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Category:San Antonio Bears players Category:San Antonio Indians players Category:Toledo Mud Hens players