This past week marked the 40th anniversary of Ross Grimsley's debut in the majors. Though somewhat overlooked now compared to more high-wattage 70s freaks like Dock Ellis and Bill Lee, Grimsley was one of great eccentrics of the era; exiled from the Reds for refusing to conform to their grooming standards, "Scuz" (as he was known) would often superstitiously forgo showering if he was in the midst of a winning streak, and was accused by Billy Martin of throwing a spitball-like pitch using an excess wad of grease hidden in his hair — an unkempt mane so revolting, umpires refused to stick their hands into it to see if Martin's complaints were factually-based.
Grimsley also occasionally wore turquoise contact lenses — thus earning him the "Crazy Eyes" sobriquet — consulted witches, beaned (and injured) a heckler in the stands during a 1975 game in Boston, and collected nude photos sent to him by fat, hairy women. He was also a damn good pitcher, going 18-13 with 17 complete games and a 3.07 ERA in 295.2 innings for Baltimore in 1974, and winning 20 games (against 11 loses) with 19 complete games and a 3.05 ERA in 263 innings for Montreal in 1978 — becoming, in the latter case, the only hurler in the too-short history of the Expos to win 20 in a season.
My man Shawn Anderson over at The Hall of Very Good uses an image of Grimsley as the mascot for his (very fine) site, and he's pulled out all the stops this week to come up with a wide array of celebratory "Scuz" content, including artist renderings of Scuz, interviews with some of Grimsley's teammates, reprints of pieces by Cardboard Gods' Josh Wilker and Cooperstown Confidential's Bruce Markusen, and this interview on 70s baseball with yours truly. Dig into it if you get the chance — unlike Scuz's 'do, you can rest assured that there's nothing (too) disgusting lurking within.
"Who is the only man in the history of the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals to win 20 games?" is always a great trivia question to whip out.
I answered it as a call in to a long defunct local radio show...in 1985, and it's still the same answer today.
Posted by: PepeFreeUs | 05/26/2011 at 12:48 AM