Eddie Grant ( baseball ) Edward Leslie Grant ( May 21 , 1883 – October 5 , 1918 ) , was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball who became one of the few major leaguers who were killed in World War I . Biography . He was born on May 21 , 1883 in Franklin , Massachusetts . After completing high school in 1901 , Grant attended Dean Academy ( now Dean College ) in Franklin for a year before enrolling at Harvard University ( earning him the nickname " Harvard Eddie " ) . While at Harvard , Grant was a member of the freshman basketball and baseball teams . He played varsity basketball for the Crimson during his sophomore year in 1903 , and was set to play varsity baseball the following spring until he was declared ineligible for playing in a professional independent baseball league the previous summer . He graduated from Harvard University with an undergraduate degree in 1905 and a law degree in 1909 . Grant entered the majors with the Cleveland Indians at the very end of the season as an emergency replacement for an ailing Nap Lajoie . He played in the minor leagues in 1906 , but returned to the majors with the Philadelphia Phillies in , and was the Phillies ' starting third baseman from - 1910 . Grant batted leadoff for the Phillies , but was known more for his fielding and base stealing than his bat . His best year was , when he batted . 268 , 67 runs , and stole 25 bases . Traded to the Cincinnati Reds in , he batted just . 223 , his last year as a starter . Grant was traded again to the New York Giants in the middle of the season , where he finished his career as a utility infielder . Grant appeared in two games of the 1913 World Series , once as a pinch runner and once as a pinch hitter . He retired after the season . His lifetime batting average was . 249 . Perhaps because of his Harvard background , Grant refused to call for a fly ball by yelling , " I got it ! " Instead , he would only say the grammatically correct , " I have it ! " Post - career . Upon his retirement from baseball , he opened a law practice in Boston . Grant was one of the first men to enlist when the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , and he served as a Captain in the 77th Infantry Division . During the fierce battle of the Meuse - Argonne Offensive , all of Grant ' s superior officers were killed or wounded , and he took command of his troops on a four - day search for the " Lost Battalion . " During the search , an exploding shell killed Grant on October 5 , 1918 . He was the first Major League Baseball player killed in action in World War I . He was buried at the Meuse - Argonne American Cemetery in Lorraine , France . Legacy . On Memorial Day , May 29 , 1921 , representatives from the armed forces , baseball , and the sisters of Grant unveiled a monument in center field of the Polo Grounds to his memory . During the celebration at the end of the last Giants ' game in , someone pried the plaque from its monument . It was missing for over 40 years until it was claimed re - discovered in a Ho - Ho - Kus , New Jersey home that had been owned by a New York City police officer . However , the photo shown of the supposed plaque on the Internet does not look like the missing plaque from the Polo Grounds , which has now been replicated at the San Francisco Giants current ballpark as of 2006 . Grant is also memorialized with the Edward L . Grant Highway in The Bronx , New York and by Grant Field at Dean College .