Grant Lester Dunlap of Stockton, California. A Marine Corps officer during World War II, Dunlap participated in V-12 training and served in the South Pacific and China.
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Grant Dunlap

Marine Corps Service

Grant Lester Dunlap earned the title of United States Marine during World War II. He participated in the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Occidental College, where he studied physical education and played shortstop for the Tigers in 1944. Dunlap batted .464 and earned first-team all-conference honors that season.

Occidental College records that Dunlap served in the South Pacific and China, while his family obituary identifies him as a Marine Corps officer. His China service would have placed him among the Marines assigned to the region during the closing period of the war or its immediate aftermath.

Available public sources do not identify Dunlap’s unit, precise rank, deployment dates, or participation in a particular combat operation. His service in both regions is documented, but the surviving record does not support a more detailed chronology. For that reason, this directory does not mark him as a documented combat participant.

Baseball Career

Born in Stockton, California, on December 20, 1923, Dunlap was nicknamed “Snap.” The six-foot-two right-handed hitter signed with the Cincinnati Reds at age 17 in 1941. He used his $870 signing bonus to pay for an operation his mother needed, then began his professional career as a shortstop with the Riverside Reds.

Military service interrupted Dunlap’s early development after two minor-league seasons. He returned to professional baseball in 1947 and gradually moved from the infield to the outfield and first base. His breakthrough came with the Shreveport Sports in 1952, when he batted .333, won the Texas League batting championship, and helped the club win the league playoff title. The St. Louis Cardinals purchased his contract after the season.

Dunlap made his Major League debut against Cincinnati on April 21, 1953. Used primarily as a pinch hitter, he collected six hits in 17 at-bats for a .353 average, one triple, one home run, and three runs batted in. His only Major League home run came on May 10, when he batted for pitcher Jackie Collum and homered off Ken Raffensberger. Dunlap also played four innings in right field on July 17. His final Major League appearance came on July 28, 1953.

He returned to the minor leagues and completed his professional playing career in 1955. Across 11 minor-league seasons, Dunlap appeared in more than 950 games and maintained a career batting average above .300.

Later Life and Legacy

Dunlap returned to Occidental College in 1955 and spent the next three decades as a coach, professor, and administrator. His baseball teams compiled a 510–316 record and won nine conference championships. He also coached basketball for 16 seasons, posting a 205–156 record and winning five conference titles, and served as Occidental’s athletic director from 1971 through 1976.

Occidental granted Dunlap professor emeritus status when he retired in 1984. He was inducted into the athletic halls of fame at Occidental and the University of the Pacific and was honored by the Stockton Sports Hall of Fame for both baseball and basketball. In retirement he wrote Kill the Umpire, a novel drawing upon his experiences in the Texas League. Dunlap died in Vista, California, on September 10, 2014, at age 90.

Sources and Further Reading

  1. Occidental College, “A Student of the Game”
  2. Los Angeles Times, Grant Dunlap obituary
  3. Major League Baseball, Grant Dunlap statistics and biographical data
  4. Baseball-Reference, Grant Dunlap Major League record
  5. Baseball-Reference, Grant Dunlap minor-league record
  6. University of the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame, Grant Dunlap
  7. Wikipedia, Grant Dunlap