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Before becoming a Hall of Fame executive as the owner of the Washington Senators, Clark Griffith was a 237-game winner as a big league pitcher.

From 1894-1900 Griffith won 151 games for the National League’s Chicago Colts, eclipsing the 20-win plateau six times in seven years.

Griffith was quite a hurler. His page on the Hall of Fame website features a quote by teammate and pitcher Roy Patterson.

“I will hand it unreservedly to Mathewson as one of the greatest pitchers who ever lived. But I think that old Clark Griffith, in his prime, was cagier; a more crafty if not more brainy proposition.”

In 1901 Griffith switched leagues and teams, but stayed in the Windy City with the upstart American League White Sox. In the AL’s inaugural season, Griffith did it all.

As manager he pushed the right buttons all year long to push his team to the pennant. On the hill he notched a team-high 24 victories. Griffith led the Junior circuit in winning percentage and shutouts.

For good measure he went 27-for-89 at bat. Among Chicago position players with at least as many at bats as Griffith, only third baseman Fred Hartman and Fielder Jones hit higher than Griff’s .303.

His .446 on-base percentage was the highest on the roster by 34 points.

In the collection is this letter from Griffith dated November 16, 1943. It is written on Senators letterhead that lists him as team president. Griffith writes about that 1901 campaign.

“Yes, I managed the White Sox in 1901 when we won the pennant. The lineup of the team was Isbell, first base; Mertes, second base; Sugart shortstop; Hoffman (sic), third base; Jones, centerfield; Hoy, left field; McFarland, right field, Billy Sullivan and Joe Sugden were the catchers; and the pitchers were Patterson, Callahan, Griffith, Platt, and Katoll.”

Griffith’s bold signature is found at the bottom of the letter.

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Clark Griffith had a 20-year big league pitching career to remember. After debuting in 1891 with the American Association’s St. Louis Browns, he mixed in seven 20-win seasons on his way to 237 career victories.

Griffith also had a 20-year managerial career. His highlights include piloting the 1901 White Stockings to the first American League pennant in the Junior Circuit’s inaugural season. He also served as the team’s ace, winning 24 contests with 5 shutouts. For good measure, he hit .303 with a 146 OPS+.

Two years later Griffith was named the first manager for New York’s American League entry that later became the Yankees.

Soon he turned he desired to own and run a franchise. After the 1911 season he got his chance. Griffith mortgaged his family ranch in Montana and raised the needed money to become the largest stockholder of the Washington Senators.

The Senators were a cellar-dwelling franchise, finishing last or next-to-last in each of the previous 9 seasons. Griffith’s steady hand and baseball savvy immediately changed that.

Taking over the 90-loss, 7th place club, Griffith as manager guided the franchise to its first winning season. The Senators won 91 games in his first season and followed it up with 90 victories in 1913. In his 9 seasons as the skipper in DC, the Senators posted a .518 winning percentage.

Griffith left the dugout for good after the 1920 season. In 20 years as a manager he helped teams win 1,491 games. Soon Griffith turned his attention to running the day-to-day operations full time.

In 1921 at 51 years old Harris was without a big league uniform for the first time since 1891 when he was just 21 years old. He had a tough time adjusting, hiring and firing three managers in as many years.

Griffith saw something special in the Senators’ 27-year old second baseman Bucky Harris and installed him as manager for 1924. It was a decision that forever altered the history of the Washington Senators.

Harris pushed all the right buttons in ’24 and guided the once-woeful franchise to its first – and only – World Series triumph. The Senators repeated as AL champs in ’25 but dropped to the Pirates in the Fall Classic.

Harris went on to manage Washington for 18 years spanning three stints. His 1,336 wins with the Senators are still the most by a manager in Senators/Twins history.

Shown above is a letter written and signed by Bucky Harris. Dated 17 days before the opening of the 1925 World Series, the letter reads, “As the World Series approaches we need your help to have a winning team. Hope you have made arrangements to come at once. You will be a great help to the team. The players seem to have more courage and pep when you’re around. Please do not fail us. Sincerely, Stanley “Bucky” Harris

Letters from this era handwritten by members of the Hall of Fame are rarely seen.

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As owner of the Washington Senators, Clark Griffith fielded many offers for trades. In this letter of November 29, 1926 Griffith writes to fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Collins expressing his sorrow that Collins was deposed as manager of the White Sox.

With Collins as their second baseman and manager Chicago finished the 1926 campaign with a 81-72 record. The White Sox fired Collins at the end of the season to complete his time as Sox skipper with an overall record of 174-160.

Griffith continues his letter asking Collins’ opinion of a possible trade of the Senators’ Roger Peckinpaugh for Chicago White Sox pitcher James Edwards. Collins would certainly have insight having managed Edwards for the last two seasons.

Collins replies at the bottom of the letter saying among other things that Edwards, “won’t win 50% of his games”.

Collins signs his initials “ETC” at the bottom of the note. Griffith and the Senators did end up trading the 1925 MVP Peckinpaugh to the Sox two months after this letter was written.

Instead of getting Edwards, Washington and Chicago agreed on a swap for Leo Magnum and Sloppy Thurston.

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Buddy Lewis broke in with Clark Griffith’s Senators in 1935 and played for Washington throughout his 11-year career. Lewis had an outstanding run before becoming a World War II pilot.

From his first full season in 1936 until 1941 when he left the Senators for the war, Lewis hit over .300 three times and scored 100 or more runs four times. He led the AL in triples when he hit .319.

Lewis became one of Griffith’s favorite players, even renaming the C-47 WWII cargo plane he flew “The Old Fox” after the Senator owners.

Lewis was on the track to the Hall of Fame before the war. Instead of reaching Cooperstown, he answered a higher calling.

In the collection is a letter from Lewis who writes of Griffith, “Mr. Griffith was more like a father to me than a boss. I was still in my teens on reporting to his club, and he took me on as a project and led me through the difficult days. He was so kind and compassionate that writing this note makes me once again remember the things that I am very grateful for.”

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This letter, between two Hall of Famers represents the intersection between baseball and politics. Signed by William Harridge and dated March 29, 1955, this correspondence is written to Washington Senators owner and Hall of Fame member Clark Griffith.

Harridge informs Griffith that the annual passes for President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon have been sent to Washington.

During the 1950s, American League president William Harridge made sure that our nation’s president and vice president each received a season pass to all A.L. games. As was tradition, Griffth personally presented these passes.

Six days after the letter was sent, Griffith would meet would President Eisenhower and give him the pass as shown in the accompanying photo.

It would mark the last time Griffith made such a presentation as he died on October 27, 1955, less than a month after the conclusion of the 1955 World Series.

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Born when Abraham Lincoln’s immediate successor Andrew Johnson was Commander in Chief, Clark Griffith later befriended eight US presidents. Each year as owner of the club in the nation’s capital, Griffith give the sitting president and vice president season passes to all American League games.

Griffith sat in the Oval Office with William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower.

In this photo a smiling 85-year-old Clark Griffith poses with Eisenhower after giving the president a pass for all American League games for the 1955 season. It was Griffith final season as Senators owner. He died twenty days after the World Series.

 

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Clark Griffith is a Washington DC baseball legend. The manager of the Senators from 1912-1921, he purchased controlling interest in the club in 1920. Griffith owned the club until his death in 1955.

The photo above is signed from a DC baseball legend to a DC basketball legend.

Red Auerbach starred for the George Washington University basketball team from 1937-1940. After stints in the Navy and as a high school basketball coach, Auerbach was named head coach of the Washington Capitols in 1946. That year marked the first of the Basketball Association of America, the precursor to the NBA.

Auerbach and the Capitols were an immediate success, posing a 49-11 record. Two years later they reached the BAA Finals before losing to the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers. In 1949 the league merged with the NBA. Before the 1949-50 season Auerbach approached owner Mike Uline to propose personnel changes. When Uline declined Red’s requests, Auerbach resigned.

Soon Auerbach was hired by the Boston Celtics where he built a dynasty. As a coach, Red set the NBA records with 938 wins and 9 championships.

He never forgot his DC roots. In 1959 Auerbach was inducted into the George Washington University Athletic Hall of Fame. Decades later in 1993 Red was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Public Service.

This photo boldly signed by Baseball Hall of Fame member Clark Griffith remained in the Auerbach family until it was put up for auction.

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Clark Griffith led a wondrous life in baseball. In 1888 he began playing the game professionally at age 18, made the big leagues two years later and won 237 games as a major leaguer. His initial job as player/manager came in 1901 when he piloted the Chicago White Sox to the American League’s first pennant.

In 1912 he became a club owner when he bought shares of the Senators. Installing himself as manager, he guided the D.C. team to 91 wins and a franchise-best second-pace finish. By the time he was done managing, Griffith’s team won 1,490 games. He owned and ran the team until his death in 1955 just two weeks shy of his 86th birthday.

When Griffith passed, he left the team to his wife’s sister’s son Calvin, who Griffith had taken in at age 11 and raised as his own. Calvin Griffith eventually relocated the team to Minnesota and renamed it the Twins after the 1960 season.

Calvin continued his stewardship until selling the team in 1984. He never forgot the generosity and love of Clark whom he loved as a father.

In this letter Calvin heaps might praise on Clark.

“I will have to say Clark Griffith was one of the great men of baseball. He was one of three people that played, managed, and club owned. The other two are Comiskey and Connie Mack.

“He had a heart of gold. He gave away more money to the poor than he kept for himself.

“I was a lucky person – he brought me from Canada to live with him. He really was a great father.”

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Calvin Griffith was born in Canada to a Scottish immigrant father and a women whose sister married Clark Griffith. When his father died in 1922, the left his widow to raise seven young children. With little income, life was difficult.

The next year Clark and his wife Addie took in the two oldest children, Thelma and Calvin, to help alleviate the widow’s struggle. The Griffith raised the children as their own.

Calvin showed a great interest in baseball and became the team’s bat boy in 1924. His timing was terrific. The Senators won the first World Series in ’24, follow by another pennant in ’25.

Calvin played high school and college ball before playing in the minor leagues. In 1938 he was named manager and general manager of the Piedmont League’s Charlotte Hornets. Then in 1941 Calvin returned to the Senators as the head of concessions.

During the next 14 years, Calvin took a variety of roles with the club. As Clark aged, Calvin took over more and more of the everyday responsibilities of running the team. He represented the Senators at league meetings, became the de fact GM, and took over contract negotiations with advertisers and media outlets.

When Clark died in 1955, he left half of his ownership stake to Calvin, and half to Calvin’s sister Thelma. She voted her shares with Calvin, making him the controlling owner of the team. Calvin kept the running of the Senators a family affair..

His brothers became team executives as did Thelma’s husband Joe Haynes, a recently retired 14-year MLB veteran. After the 1960 season, Calvin moved the team to Minnesota where it became the Twins. During his time in the Twin Cities, the team had Camilo Pascual, Jim Kaat, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Mudcat Grant, Rod Carew, and Bert Blyleven.

Eventually Calvin’s son Clark Griffith II and nephews held front office positions with the Twins. The Griffith family ownership of the team came to an end when Calvin and Thelma sold to Carl Pohlad and 1984.

Shown here is the second page of Calvin Griffith’s letter about Hall of Famer Clark. He closes the letter with information that confirms the letter was written sometime between 1988 and his death in 1999.

He closes the correspondence, “I don’t know where you letter has been. I haven’t been to the Humphrey Dome since ’87.

“Good Luck

“Calvin Griffith”