A left-handed pitcher, Grissom played in Major League Baseball between 1934 and 1941 for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.

Born in Sherman, Texas, and raised in Red Bluff, California, Grissom stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg).

[5] Grissom and Gene Schott rowed a boat out from the center field wall, and the resulting photo appeared across the country.

A blurb in the "Odds 'n Ends" section on the inside back cover of Action Comics #1, from 1938, mentions that Grissom is anxious to pitch both games of a doubleheader one day.

[4] After playing his last game on September 24, 1941, Grissom joined the military on June 6, 1942, and was originally assigned to the infantry and later to the United States Army Air Forces.

His younger brother, Marv Grissom, was a major league pitcher and pitching coach during a long professional baseball career that extended from 1941 through 1978.