Free talk at NYS Military Museum focuses on first pro ball player killed in World War i

Dr. Karen Markoe will share the story of Capt. Eddie Grant who was killed leading men to relieve the "Lost Battalion" in 1918

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"Harvard Eddie:" Grants major leage baseball card. Grant was the first professional ballplayer killed in action in World War I.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK (03/31/2025) (readMedia)-- The story of Eddie Grant, a Harvard educated infielder for the New York Giants who died during the Meuse-Argonne offensive during World War 1, is the subject of a free talk at the New York State Military Museum on Saturday. April 5.

The talk kicks off at 2 p.m.

Karen Markoe, a Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York Maritime College, will tell the story of Grants baseball and military career.

Markoe, a lifelong Yankees fan, is the author of the book, Eddie Grant, Baseball and the Great War.

Not only was Grant a graduate of Harvard University, he, also earned a degree from Harvard Law School. One of his law school buddies was Charles Whittlesey, who went on to earn the Medal of Honor for his courageous leadership of the " Lost Battalion" during October 1918.

Grant was killed in action on October 5, 1918, while leading another battalion in an effort to relieve Whittlesey's men.

Grant graduated from Harvard in 1905 and then earned his law degree in 1909. But he went on to play baseball instead, where he was nicknamed "Harvard Eddie."

As World War I kicked off in Europe, Eddie Grant was one of a number of American professional men who volunteered their time to take officers training at camps run at Plattsburgh Barracks in Plattsburgh New York. A third of the 1,200 men who attended the first camp were Harvard graduates.

When American entered the war in 1917, Grant joined the 77th Division, a National Army division recruited in New York City and known as the Metropolitan Division. He was the first professional baseball player to die in the war.

The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Resource Center is located at 66 Spring Avenue in Saratoga Springs. The free talks are supported by the Friends of the New York State Military Museum