He was a popular player when he was a first baseman for the Cubs from 1988 – 2000. He earned the nickname “Amazing Grace” during his years with the Cubs because of his consistency at first base and at the plate.
But Mark Grace also earned himself a reputation for being a partier and being seen with female celebrities while out partying. Perhaps this was a harbinger of things to come as today Grace learned he will serve four months in jail on a work-release program after pleading guilty to felony endangerment and misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol charges. The charges stemmed from an arrest in August in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was Grace’s second arrest for DUI in 15 months. After his first arrest, he was required to install an interlock device in his car and his driver’s license was suspended. During the August arrest, Grace was charged with disengaging that interlock device and driving on a suspended license, as well as the DUI charges. He pleaded not guilty in October to felony DUI charges, but today pleaded guilty to the charges before him, avoiding a possible jail term of up to four years.
By pleading guilty today, Grace was sentenced to four months of work-release jail time, which will begin Feb.10. After his jail sentence is served, he will be on supervised probation for two to three years. He must install an interlock device in his car for six months and he must get court approval if he wants to leave the state of Arizona. Grace lost his job as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ television analyst after the second DUI. Grace said at the time he has no one to blame but himself.
Arizona has some of the toughest DUI laws in the country. Jail time of 30 – 90 days is mandatory after a second DUI arrest. Grace’s jail time will be four months, and that’s getting off easy due to the other charges against him.
Cubs fans were slow to react to the news, but Arizona fans were more verbal with a few saying because Grace is a celebrity and has money, his jail time was reduced. Whether this is true will never really be known, but serving jail time is mandatory after a second DUI, and he will have to go back to jail at the end of his work day.
This was huge fall from grace for a former player and broadcaster who had many, many fans both in Chicago and Phoenix.
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