[H_KARLUK]

I am very sorry to read right this moment that Mr. Grant Baze passed away. I am watching Cayne teams. Here are Charlie Weed's words :
"Bridge world lost a great this morning and a dear friend of mine, GRANT BAZE"

http://www.worldbrid....asp?qryid=8667

http://www.bridgeaholics.com/tipsandtools/...t_bazetips.html

Sleep gently please.
Amen

[Aberlour10]

In Memory...

"Playing His Strong Suit" - by Nina Schuyler

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazin...s/onthejob.html

[Lobowolf]

Great player, and a class act. Sorry to hear this.

[Phil]

One of the truly nice guys in the game.

I will always remember his laugh that sounded like a cross between a crow and a seal.

[PassedOut]

Phil, on Jan 11 2009, 09:30 PM, said:

One of the truly nice guys in the game.

I will always remember his laugh that sounded like a cross between a crow and a seal.

Before he moved to California, Grant played often at the Atlanta DBC. Great player and great person. So sorry to learn this.

[fred]

Grant was on my team when I won my first ACBL National Event. I had the complete pleasure of being both his partner and his teammate on a number of other occasions.

Grant's tempo was beyond belief. I know of only a handful of players who could come close to Grant in terms of being able to play both quickly and with his exceptional skill. He also had a well-deserved reputation of being an extremely honest player and for always conducting himself professionally both at the table and away from it.

Grant was a good friend to me over the course of many years. Talking bridge with Grant over a beer after the game was a real joy as well as a great learning experience.

"He will be missed" tends to overused, but in the case of Grant Baze it is certainly true.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[eyhung]

Very sad to hear about this. I learned bridge mostly when I was in San Diego and Grant was always the player. I remember when I was just learning the game, and went to a club game there. My partner and I were two college kids, and we whispered with excitement as we realized the great Grant Baze was in attendance. We had never played against him but we knew how good he was. We eventually made our way to his table and sat down for three hands against Grant. On the first hand, we bid to a cold game and made it. On the second hand we bid to a cold slam and made it. And then, the fateful third hand -- partner opened a strong 2C, Grant jumped in with 4D, and we lost our way and ended up in 7NT with a combined 30 HCP or so. Partner was declarer and tested one suit, it broke 2-2 with the QJ falling. Then he tested another suit, it broke 3-3 with the Q onside. I was staring slackjawed at my partner as he kept reeling off aces and kings and dropping queens and jacks. Then at trick 12, my partner claimed, showing two black 3s, and throwing one of them down to indicate he could reach the two good clubs on the board...but it was the losing spade 3!

I admit I did not comport myself well at that moment -- I shrieked "what?!" and LHO, Baze's client, was like, "hey, I can win that spade! You're down 2!" But Grant, sitting North as usual, said, "No, we know what he meant to play." And he scribbled down +2220 E/W on the traveller, showing us youngsters that bridge is not about winning and losing, but about doing what is right. As we stumbled in shock from the table, he warned us, "You boys better not come play in my rubber game."

[blackshoe]

eyhung, on Jan 12 2009, 09:50 PM, said:

As we stumbled in shock from the table, he warned us, "You boys better not come play in my rubber game."

ROFL!!!!

[Jlall]

Starting at about age 12 when I used to play on OKB a lot, I always liked to play against Grant because of what a great player he was. He immediately took an interest in me, and often would give me advice on hands in private (even though he would always be playing pro at the time, and have to worry about giving his partner advice as well), and invite me to play against him.

One time his partner failed to show up, and rather than log off he played with me for several hours and then talked to me about a lot of the hands. He did this just to help a young kid who idolized him, and his kind act really touched me. Imagine Michael Jordan playing 1 on 1 with someone he met on the playground for free and helping him with his shot.

During that time when I was having a lot of personal problems Grant would always take the time to ask me how my life was when he saw me at a tournament, or email me if I was MIA for a while. He would never judge me but always offer me his wisdom about life and being a bridge pro. Once I dropped out of school he'd usually be hassling me to go back

I was lucky enough to get a professional engagement with him a couple of years ago at the San Diego regional. It is very standard to stay at a hotel at a regional obviously, but Grant insisted that I stay with he and his lovely wife at their house and insisted that he would pick me up from the airport. He also invited me to come early and he showed me around San Diego, and we did a bunch of bidding problems together.

As you can see the common theme of Grants relationship with me was genuine kindness and selfless behavior. He never had to do any of the things he did, but that's just the kind of guy he was. I'll never forget that.

Edit: Also, I'm sure I'm just being overly sensitive but is the water cooler really the right place for this? It almost seems disrespectful to consider this "non bridge related," and I know that the Water Cooler is less read than General Bridge Discussion.

[keylime]

Even tho I did not have the fortune or joy of playing against Mr. Baze, the one item that always resonated from people, was both his grace and practicality at that table. That alone is for me, a lasting legacy.

[pigpenz]

sorry to hear that
Grant was also one of the first to see the merits of online bridge

[Winstonm]

Sorry to hear this - Grant had a customer in the Tulsa area so I played against him quite often. He was one of the truly good guys of the game.