page_title: Clark Griffith
section_title: As a pitcher and player-manager
hierarchical_section_title: Clark Griffith / Major league career / As a pitcher and player-manager
caption_attribution_description: English: Bain News Service,, publisher. [Clark Griffith, Cincinnati, NL, at Hilltop Park, New York City (baseball)] [1909] 1 negative&#160;: glass&#160;; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. Notes: Original data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards: Clark Griffiths (Cinn. N). Corrected title and date based on research by the Pictorial History Committee, Society for American Baseball Research, 2006, and the source: Flickr Commons project, 2008. Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress). Subjects: Baseball Format: Glass negatives. Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print General information about the Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.09241 Call Number: LC-B2- 2202-10
context_page_description: Clark Calvin Griffith, nicknamed "The Old Fox", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, manager and team owner. He began his MLB playing career with the St. Louis Browns, Boston Reds, and Chicago Colts/Orphans. He then served as player-manager for the Chicago White Stockings and New York Highlanders.
  He retired as a player after the 1907 season, remaining manager of the Highlanders in 1908. He managed the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Senators, making some appearances as a player with both teams. He owned the Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955. Sometimes known for being a thrifty executive, Griffith is also remembered for attracting talented players from the National League to play for the Senators when the American League was in its infancy. Griffith was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
context_section_description: Griffith entered the American Association in 1891, pitching ​226 ¹⁄₃ innings and winning 14 games for the St. Louis Browns and Boston Reds. He began the following season with the Chicago Colts. In 1893, the pitchers box was moved back; it had been 55 feet from home plate and was moved to the modern distance of 60 feet, six inches. Following that change, offensive numbers increased across baseball and many pitchers had to adjust their approaches.
  Cap Anson was the player-manager of the Colts during Griffith's tenure and he utilized a rotation of only three starting pitchers. Just before Griffith's arrival on the team, pitcher Bill Hutchinson had thrown more than 600 innings in a single season for Anson, which may have contributed to a decline in Hutchinson's career. Griffith tried a new pitch to increase his longevity. By modifying the grip of a curveball, he threw a pitch similar to the screwball that Christy Mathewson had developed. He also often scuffed balls with his spikes or rubbed them in the grass.
  In 1894, Griffith began a string of six consecutive seasons with 20 or more victories, compiling a 21–14 record and 4.92 earned run average (ERA). Griffith lowered his ERA over the following years to a low of 1.88 in 1898, the lowest mark in the league.
  When Ban Johnson, a longtime friend, announced plans to form the American League, Griffith was one of the ringleaders in getting National League players to jump ship. Using the cover of his post as vice president of the League Protective Players' Association (a nascent players' union), Griffith persuaded 39 players to sign on with the new league for the 1901 season. Griffith himself signed on with the Chicago White Stockings as player-manager. He won 20 games for the final time in his career and led the White Stockings to the first AL pennant with an 83–53 record.
  At Johnson's suggestion, Griffith left Chicago in 1903 to take over as manager of the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders had just moved from Baltimore, and Johnson knew that for the league to be successful, it needed a strong franchise in the nation's biggest city. Griffith's last year as a regular player was 1907, though he made brief appearances as a player for the Reds (1909–1910) and Senators (1912, 1913 and 1914). After a falling-out with the Highlanders' ownership, Griffith was fired during the 1908 season. The team had started strong, but the team's pitching faltered as the season progressed and Griffith was criticized for trading away Jimmy Williams in exchange for a disappointing prospect.
caption: Griffith at Hilltop Park, 1909
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