Doug Griffin

Douglas Lee Griffin

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lb.
• School Jackson State Community College
• High School El Monte High School
• Debut September 11, 1970
• Final Game June 2, 1977
• Born June 4, 1947 in South Gate, CA USA
• Died July 27, 2016 in Clovis, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Doug Griffin served in the U.S. Navy from 1966 to 1968, missing the 1967 and 1968 seasons.

He was the starting second baseman for the Boston Red Sox from 1971 to 1975, when he was replaced by Denny Doyle on the team that went to the 1975 World Series and lost in seven games to the Cincinnati Reds. Griffin had one at-bat in the Series, as Doyle got all of the playing time, but he returned in 1976 to serve as a back-up, and also played a few games for Boston in 1977.

He originally came up with the California Angels in 1970 after having been a 21st-round selection in the 1965 amateur draft. He played just 18 games in his only season with the Angels, hitting .127, then was included in a major six-player trade that landed him in Beantown. Going the other way were Tony Conigliaro, Ray Jarvis and Jerry Moses, while Jarvis Tatum and Ken Tatum accompanied him to the east coast. Being traded for local hero Tony C did not make the unproven Griffin popular, but he quickly showed his mettle by claiming the starting second base job in 1971, hitting .244 in 125 games and playing much better defense than the incumbent, Mike Andrews. He made the 1971 Topps All-Star Rookie Team, then in 1972 won a Gold Glove for his defensive play at second base, while the Red Sox famously fell only a half-game short of a division title because of games lost to that year's strike. He improved to .260 that year, in a low-hitting environment, but he did not contribute much to the offense apart from a few singles, as he had little power or speed.

He kept his starting job over the next two seasons, and with Rick Burleson emerging as a top-rank shortstop, the Red Sox thought they had their keystone combo locked up for years to come. He hit .255 in 1973 and .266 in 1974, but hit only one homer during that two-year span and the Sox were in trouble when he missed a lot of games to injury the second year, as they really had no one to take over. Thus, early in 1975, they traded for Doyle, who had been the starting second baseman for the Angels, and he gradually took over full-time duty as the Red Sox ran away with a division title. The writing was on the wall for Griffin at that point. He finished his career with a .245 average in 632 games over 8 major league seasons.

He passed away in July 2016 following a lengthy illness.

Notable Achievements

• 1971 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
• AL Gold Glove Winner (1972)

Further Reading

• Ron Anderson: "Doug Griffin", in Bill Nowlin and Cecilia Tan, ed.: '75:The Red Sox Team that Saved Baseball, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2015, pp. 33-39. ISBN 978-1-933599-97-7

Related Sites

• Doug Griffin at the SABR Bio Project
• Obituary from the Boston Globe