Page 40 - 1975 BoSox

DOUG GRIFFIN’S PROFESSION- al baseball career comprised 13 years, beginning at Idaho Falls in 1965 and
nishing with the Boston Red Sox in 1977. He spent eight seasons in the major leagues, seven of them with the Red Sox, and appeared brie y in the 1975 World Series.
Douglas Lee Gri n was born on June 4, 1947 in South Gate, California. He was listed as an even 6 feet tall, and his playing weight was about 160 pounds. At El Monte (California) High School, he achieved All- Pacific League, All-Valley, and All-California Interscholastic Federation honors. He also lettered in basketball, football, and track. He graduated in 1965.
Gri n was discovered by California Angels scout Tu e Hashem.1 He was drafted by the Angels in the 21st round of the 1965 amateur draft, and was assigned to Idaho Falls of the rookie Pioneer League, where he played 31 games, batting .200. In 1966, Gri n was sent to Davenport, Iowa, where he hit .276 with the Quad Cities Angels of the Class A Midwest League, and was named the league’s All-Star second baseman.
For the next two years, Gri n was in the Navy sta- tioned at Pearl Harbor in the Submarine Service. While there, he played for military teams and the Honolulu Islanders, an amateur team of servicemen all-stars, which in 1967 participated in the semipro National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas. Honolulu placed second to the
Boulder Collegians, who won the series with a 5-3 victory over Gri n’s club. Gri n received a rst-team All-America selection, out of 520 players competing, by a board of major-league scouts attend- ing that series.
He returned to the Quad Cities team in 1969, playing in 60 games and batting
.250. at same season he advanced to El Paso of the Double-A Texas League, where he hit .308.
Gri n was elevated to California’s Triple-A club, the Hawaii Islanders for the 1970 season. He had an excel- lent year in Hawaii, batting .326 with 180 hits and slugging at a .437 pace. He was named the Paci c Coast League All-Star second baseman, won the Topps PCL player of the month award in July, and was named the league’s 1970 Rookie of the Year. e 1970 Islanders team is still considered one of the greatest minor-league teams of all time, with a 98-48 record under the leadership of manager Chuck Tanner.2 Spokane swept the best-of-seven PCL championship series in four games. Gri n was one of three Hawaii players to get ve hits in the series, and his two-run homer knocked in the only runs Hawaii scored in the nal game.
After the championship series, Gri n was called up to the Angels, making his major-league debut on September 11, 1970. He alternated between second and third bases, since he was competing with All-Star second baseman Sandy Alomar. He played in 18 games for the Angels, posting a .127 batting average with seven hits in 55 at-bats, but a respectable .970 elding percentage.
Among his unique accomplishments, Gri n partici- pated in two minor-league triple plays (for Idaho Falls in 1965 and Quad Cities in 1966). He tied a Hawaii
Islanders club record in 1970 by scoring ve runs in a game, and established a club consecutive hit streak record, hitting safely in 28 straight games.
“Big-Dealing Bosox Counting on Gri n,” said a headline in the December 19, 1970, edition of e Sporting News, highlighting the arrival of Gri n in Boston.3 Red Sox general manager Dick
Doug Grif n
By Ron Anderson
33