Alfredo Claudino Baptist Read Griffin (born October 6, 1957) is a Dominican former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

player. He played

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB) for four teams from 1976 to 1993.

Playing career

Griffin began his career as a member of the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

, who signed him as an amateur free agent in 1973. On December 5, 1978, before having played a full season in the majors, he was traded, along with Phil Lansford (minors), to the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

for Víctor Cruz. Griffin made an immediate impact, sharing the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1979 with

John Castino John Anthony Castino (born October 23, 1954) is a former Major League Baseball player. Castino played as an infielder, primarily at third base and second base, with the Minnesota Twins from 1979 through 1984. Professional career Castino gradua ...

. In 1980, Griffin led the majors in triples, tying Willie Wilson of the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

with 15; both Griffin and Wilson set an AL record for most triples in a single season by a switch-hitter. Five years later in 1985, Wilson himself shattered the record that he shared with Griffin by tallying 21 triples. In 1984, Griffin was named to the All-Star team. This was explained by

John Feinstein John Feinstein (born July 28, 1956) is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator. Early life Feinstein was born to a Jewish family in New York City on July 28, 1956. His father was heavily involved in the arts having been the ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' as: "Making the All-Star team the hard way: Major league baseball pays the expenses for each player here and for one guest. In most cases, players bring wives or girlfriends. Dámaso García, the Toronto Blue Jays' second baseman, brought his shortstop, Alfredo Griffin. When the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

Alan Trammell Alan Stuart Trammell ( ; born February 21, 1958) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, manager and coach and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a player. His entire 20-year playing career in Major League Baseball ...

hurt his arm and could not play tonight, Manager

Joe Altobelli Joseph Salvatore Altobelli (May 26, 1932 – March 3, 2021) was an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who played for the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball. He was also a manager for the San Fr ...

named Griffin to the team, partly because he's a fine player, but mostly because he was here." Griffin spent six years with the Blue Jays from 1979 to 1984, playing in 392 consecutive games. He was traded after the 1984 season to the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

, where, despite his reluctance to draw walks and a tendency to be overaggressive on the basepaths, he began to harness the offensive promise that he showed in 1980. Griffin won the American League

Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

in 1985. After establishing personal bests in most offensive categories with the Athletics, Griffin was traded to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

for

Bob Welch Bob Welch may refer to: *Bob Welch (baseball) (1956–2014), American baseball pitcher *Bob Welch (author) (born c. 1955), American author and newspaper columnist *Bob Welch (musician) (1945–2012), American musician and member of Fleetwood Mac ** ...

prior to the 1988 season. The three-team trade, which included the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

, also netted the Dodgers

Jay Howell Jay Canfield Howell (born November 26, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds (1980), Chicago Cubs (1981), New York Yankees (1982–1984), Oakland Athletics (1985–1987), Los Angeles Dodgers (1988–1992), ...

and Jesse Orosco. All three teams involved in the deal would go on to win their respective divisions in 1988. A

Dwight Gooden Dwight Eugene Gooden (born November 16, 1964), nicknamed "Dr. K" and "Doc", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Gooden pitched from 1984 to 1994 and from 1996 to 2000 for the ...

fastball broke Griffin's hand in May 1988, and Griffin was disabled for much of 1988 and part of 1989. He missed most of the 1988 season, but the Dodgers won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

, and he was awarded a championship ring. In 1990, Griffin became the last player to finish last in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

, of those who qualified for the batting title, in batting average,

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

, and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. Griffin returned to Toronto in 1992 and was a bench player as the Blue Jays won the first of two consecutive championships. On October 23, 1993, he stood on deck as

Joe Carter Joseph Chris Carter (born March 7, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue ...

faced

Mitch Williams Mitchell Steven Williams (born November 17, 1964), nicknamed "Wild Thing", is an American former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for six teams from 1986 to 1997. He was also a studio analyst for the MLB Network from 2009 to ...

in the ninth inning of Game Six. His career came to an end moments later when Carter homered to win the World Series for Toronto. Griffin was the first player in major league history to have started three times for the opposing line-ups in a perfect game: against Len Barker (Cleveland) in 1981 for the Toronto Blue Jays, then against

Tom Browning Thomas Leo Browning (April 28, 1960 – December 19, 2022) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1984 to 1995, spending almost his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds. In his rookie season in 1985, ...

(Cincinnati) in 1988 and Dennis Martínez (Montreal) in 1991, both for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Griffin ended his 18-year playing career with a .249 batting average, 24

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 527

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the b ...

, and a 67 OPS+ in 1,962 games played. Writer

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...

named Griffin the most aggressive baserunner of the 1980s.James, Bill (2001). ''The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract''. p. 299.

Coaching career

Griffin coached for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1996 and 1997. He was the first base coach for the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

in MLB from 2000 to 2018, and also for the

Estrellas Orientales Estrellas Orientales (English: Eastern Stars), also known as Estrellas de Oriente, is a baseball team in the Dominican Winter League. Based in San Pedro de Macorís, the team has historically struggled, winning championships only in 1936, 1954, 19 ...

(Eastern Stars) in his native Dominican Republic's Winter League.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Alfredo 1957 births Living people American League All-Stars Anaheim Angels coaches Cleveland Indians players Dominican Republic baseball coaches Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Canada Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Republic national baseball team people Dominican Republic people of Cocolo descent Gold Glove Award winners Gulf Coast Indians players Los Angeles Angels coaches Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim coaches Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Major League Baseball shortstops Oakland Athletics players Portland Beavers players Reno Silver Sox players San Jose Bees players Sportspeople from San Pedro de Macorís Toledo Mud Hens players Toronto Blue Jays coaches Toronto Blue Jays players Williamsport Tomahawks players

Playing career

Coaching career

See also

References

External links