Robert Derrell Griffith (born December 12, 1943) is an American 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 Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

. The

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...

appeared in 124

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Baseball ...

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 (AL) ...

for 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) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...

over parts of four seasons (–). Griffith was born in

Anadarko, Oklahoma Anadarko is a city in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The city is fifty miles southwest of Oklahoma City. The population was 5,745 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Caddo County. History Anadarko got its name when its post off ...

. He batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed as tall and . Griffith graduated from high school in his hometown and attended

Southwestern Oklahoma State University Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) is a public university in Weatherford and Sayre, Oklahoma. It is one of six Regional University System of Oklahoma members. History SWOSU was first established through an act of the Oklahoma T ...

. He signed with the Dodgers before the season and posted solid offensive statistics in levels from Class B to Triple-A. After a one-game stint with Los Angeles in September , he was recalled by the Dodgers for an extended stay in MLB in June . He started 35 games at third base and another 27 in the outfield for the 1964 Dodgers and batted .290 with five three-hit games.

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

1964 NL batting log
/ref> His 69 total hits included 16 doubles and four

home runs 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 is ...

. But 1964 was Griffith's only sustained service and period of success in the majors. In , he was moved to

left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering syst ...

in May when regular Tommy Davis broke an ankle. Griffith was batting .133 in nine games started when he lost the regular job to

Lou Johnson Louis Brown Johnson (September 22, 1934 – October 1, 2020), nicknamed Sweet Lou, was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. Johnson's professional baseball career lasted for 17 seasons, and included 8 years in the majors: parts of 1960� ...

and he returned to Triple-A for the heart of the regular season. Then, in , he sustained a shoulder injury that hindered him for the rest of his career. Griffith kept the injury a secret for almost 50 years until revealing it in an interview on an

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

television station in May 2015.KWTV (29 May 2015), "Former Dodger Derrell Griffith Enjoying Life in Anadarko"
/ref> He collected only one more major league hit in 1966 before returning to the minors. The Dodgers then packaged Griffith (with Tommy Davis) in a four-player trade to 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 leagu ...

after the 1966 season, but he failed to stick with the Mets, and spent 1967, his last year in pro ball, in the minors in the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

' and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...

' organizations. As a major leaguer, Griffith collected 77 career hits, batting .260 with five homers and 33

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 ba ...

. As of 2015, he owned and operated a liquor store in Anadarko.

References

External links

1943 births Living people Albuquerque Dukes players Arizona Instructional League Dodgers players Austin Braves players Baseball players from Oklahoma Great Falls Electrics players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball third basemen Oklahoma City 89ers players People from Anadarko, Oklahoma Richmond Braves players Spokane Indians players {{US-baseball-third-baseman-stub