On this day in 1898 Charlie Grimm was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He made his major league debut during his age 17 season with the 1916 Philadelphia A's and went on to play 20 MLB seasons at first base as a member of four teams, including 12 years from 1925-36 as a member of the Cubs. For his final five years as a player in Chicago Grimm served as a player/manager.
Grimm retired as a player following the 1936 season but remained as manager of the Cubs until 1938. He later rejoined the Cubs as skipper in 1944 and was at the helm for parts of six more seasons before being let go after just 50 games in 1949.
Finally, in 1952 Grimm was hired to manage the Boston Braves, and in 1953 he became the franchise's first manager in Milwaukee. He was in charge for the first three-plus seasons at County Stadium, posting a 290-218 record and leading the team to three second place finishes and a third in the National League.
Grimm returned to the Cubs briefly in 1960, managing 17 games, and finished his career with a 1287-1067 managerial record over 19 seasons.
Grimm died in 1983 or he would have turned 114 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index we'd also like to wish a happy birthday to Burlington, Wisconsin native Braggo Roth. He played eight MLB seasons between 1914-21 as a member of the Indians and five other teams and would have turned 120.
Today is also the 20th anniversary of a 1992 game where the Brewers set an AL record with 31 hits in a 22-2 win over the Blue Jays. We covered that event in this space last year.