Clark Griffith

Early life

Clark Calvin Griffith was born on November 20, 1869, in Clear Creek, Missouri, to Isaiah and Sarah Anne Griffith, both of Welsh ancestry. The family had lived in Illinois before his birth and later traveled by covered wagon toward the Oklahoma Territory, but encountering disenchanted returnees, they settled in Missouri. Griffith grew up with five siblings, four of them older. When he was a small child, his father died in a hunting accident after being mistaken for a deer.

Sarah Griffith raised her children as a widow, with neighbors helping plant crops. Fearing a malaria epidemic, the family moved to Bloomington, Illinois. At age 13, Griffith and other boys raised $1.25 for a baseball, but the boy sent to buy it kept a dollar; the ball burst on its second hit. At 17, he earned $10 pitching in a local game in Hoopeston, Illinois.

Professional career

Griffith entered the American Association in 1891, pitching 226 1/3 innings and going 11-8 for Comiskey's St. Louis Browns. Released in July after developing a sore arm, he joined the Boston Reds later that season. After the Association disbanded, he moved among independent minor league clubs in Tacoma, Washington; Missoula, Montana; and Oakland, California. He had 30 wins for Oakland when the club disbanded in August 1893, then performed in Wild West variety shows in San Francisco's Barbary Coast before signing with the Chicago Colts in early September.

He spent the rest of his playing career in the majors. In 1893, the pitcher's box was moved to 60 feet, six inches, increasing offense. Cap Anson, the Colts' player-manager, used only three starting pitchers; Bill Hutchison had thrown over 600 innings in a season for Anson. Griffith developed a pitch similar to the screwball by modifying his curveball grip, and often scuffed balls with his spikes.

In 1894 he began six consecutive 20-win seasons, going 21–14 with a 4.92 ERA. He lowered his ERA to a league-low 1.88 in 1898.

Managerial career

At Johnson's suggestion, Griffith left Chicago to manage the New York Highlanders, who had just moved from Baltimore. His last year as a regular player came after he nearly suffered a breakdown from overwork in April 1907. After a falling-out with Highlanders ownership, he was fired during the 1908 season after the team's pitching faltered and he was criticized for trading Jimmy Williams. He made brief player appearances for the Reds (1909–1910) and Senators (1912, 1913, 1914).

Griffith returned to the National League as manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Late in the season, the Washington Senators needed money to build National Park after Boundary Park burned down. Principal owner Thomas C. Noyes, a friend of Griffith, asked Ed Walsh to manage, and Griffith bought stock in the team. By selling cattle on his Montana ranch and mortgaging it, he acquired a 10 percent stake for $27,000, becoming the largest single shareholder.

The franchise had never had a winning record or finished higher than sixth. Griffith hired Nick Altrock as a first base coach for entertainment. He engineered a turnaround to second place in his first season, and in nine years his teams finished below fifth only twice.

Death and legacy

In October 1955, Griffith was hospitalized with neuritis when he suffered a stomach hemorrhage. Though he appeared to improve, he died a few days later, nearing his 86th birthday. Newspaper accounts noted his relationships with U.S. presidents: he petitioned Woodrow Wilson to allow baseball during World War I and Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, and began the tradition of presidents throwing ceremonial first pitches, starting with William Howard Taft.

He donated photographs of these pitches to the Baseball Hall of Fame. League president Will Harridge called Griffith "one of the game's all-time great figures." Griffith and his wife had no children but raised several relatives, including Calvin Griffith, who was informally adopted at age 11 and later moved the team to Minnesota as the Twins. Another nephew, Sherry Robertson, played for the Senators and Philadelphia Athletics.

A monument erected at Griffith Stadium was moved to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium after the stadium was demolished in 1964. A collegiate baseball league was renamed in his honor but suspended operations in 2010.