Grant Thatcher

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Grant Thatcher

|position=Pitcher

|image=

|bats=Switch Hitter

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1877|2|23}}

|birth_place=Maytown, Pennsylvania

|death_date={{death date and age|1936|3|17|1877|2|23}}

|death_place=Lancaster, Pennsylvania

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate= September 9

|debutyear= 1903

|debutteam= Brooklyn Superbas

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate= April 24

|finalyear= 1904

|finalteam= Brooklyn Superbas

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=4–1

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=3.16

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=13

|teams=

Brooklyn Superbas ({{baseball year|1903}}–{{baseball year|1904}})

}}

Ulysses Grant Thatcher (February 23, 1877 – March 17, 1936) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the United States.

Biography

Born in Maytown, Pennsylvania on February 23, 1877, Thatcher pitched in five games for the Brooklyn Superbas during the 1903 and 1904 baseball seasons, making four starts, and acquiring a 4–1 record with a 3.16 earned run average during his appearances.

Thatcher had an unusual end to his Major League career. When the Superbas attempted to play a second Sunday home game on April 24 against the Philadelphia Phillies, the club was tipped off that the pitcher, catcher and hitter at the start of the game would be arrested. Thus three "decoys" were inserted at the start of the game, with Ed Poole being replaced by Thatcher after Poole's arrest.{{cite book|last=Snyder|first=John|title=365 Oddball Days in Dodgers History|year=2010|publisher=Clerisy Press|location=United States|isbn=978-1578604524|pages=384}}.