Galena Great George Grantham
George Farley Grantham was born May 20, 1900 in Galena,
Kansas, a town named for the lead-bearing mineral found nearby. He was the only
child born to Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Grantham, a lead prospector from
Indiana, and his wife, Anna, who went by Emma. Before George was nine, the
family moved to the gold-mining town of Goldroad, Arizona. There Frank worked
as an engineer in an electric plant at one of the local gold or quartz mines.
At the age of 14, George played shortstop and right field
for the Rays Consolidated industrial team. The next year, Grantham began
attending the Northern Arizona Normal School in Flagstaff, where he played
football and first base. By the end of 1916 he was the shortstop for a club in
his new hometown of Kingman, Arizona. The following spring, the Kingman nine
played an exhibition game against the visiting Chicago Cubs in which Grantham
subbed and went hitless in his lone at-bat, against George Zabel.
In 1917 Grantham excelled in left field and at third base
for the Kingmanites, and as a shortstop for the Lovin and Withers industrial
team. In July, he received an invite from W.W. McCredie, owner of the Pacific
Coast League Portland Beavers, to a tryout in California. That same day,
Grantham’s father died from tuberculosis.17
Grantham reportedly attended a tryout, but it’s unknown if
he got an offer. By the following August he was in the Navy. A case of the
mumps kept Grantham from being shipped out to France weeks before the fighting
ended in World War I. He was discharged ten months later.
A few months after his return home, Grantham signed a contract
with the Detroit Tigers. Unsure about leaving his mother alone, he waited to report
to Tacoma of the Pacific Coast International League until just before the 1920
season.
(The above is an excerpt I compiled from SABR, a bio titled “George
Granthan,” by Larry DeFillipo)
…
Footnotes/Attribution
Frank had found enough success working a mining lease to
marry the former Annie Wagner, a Galena native, in July 1896.
Galena (Kansas) Evening Times, May 22, 1900:; “A Big
Strike,” Galena Times, July 30, 1893: “Local Happenings,” Galena Times, July
10, 1896.
It’s unclear when
the Granthams moved from Goldroad. They’re listed in the 1920 U.S. Census as
residing in Kingman.
“Kingman Ball Stars Victorious,” Mohave County Miner
(Kingman, Arizona), December 23, 1916.
