Bert Griffith

Bert Griffith (1896-1973) had a brief major-league career, playing for the Brooklyn Robins in 1922-231 and Washington Senators in 1924, principally as an outfielder. Hitting and throwing right-handed, Griffith was a stocky man who stood an inch shy of 6 feet and weighed 187 pounds. He appeared in 191 big-league games and sported a .299 lifetime batting average (174-for-581), with 72 RBIs and 69 runs scored. Particularly valued for his offense, he was a contact hitter and struck out only 28 times.2

Griffith’s baseball career received renewed attention via his grandson, Matt Williams. Williams was a five-time All-Star third baseman in 17 big-league seasons (mainly with the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks) who combined power and Gold Glove defense. He later served as manager of the Washington Nationals and, most recently, as third base coach with the Giants. “I have relatives who’ve told me, ‘Boy, you sure look like Bert when he was younger,’” Williams remarked in 2015.3

Griffith (four) and Williams (378) combined for a total of 382 home runs in the majors. Only two grandfather-grandson pairs have surpassed them: Carl Yastrzemski and Mike Yastrzemski (575 through the 2025 season), and Ray Boone and Bret Boone (403).

***

Bartholomew Joseph Griffith, Jr. was born on March 3, 1896, to Bart and Josephine (Josie) Griffith, in Lovejoy, Illinois, just outside St. Louis, Missouri. Both his parents were first-generation descendants of Irish immigrants. Bert’s father was listed as a merchant in 1900; census records from 1910 indicate that he worked mixing chemicals for a company manufacturing mirrors. Before he turned age 10, Bert and his siblings (older sister Loretta and younger brother Clotus) had moved with their parents to St. Louis proper.4

The classroom did not suit Bert. Once he met the minimum educational requirements, then set as sixth grade, he left school, likely going on to assist his father. Hunting and fishing were among his outdoor pursuits at a young age, and he would maintain these interests to the end of his days. As a teen, Griffith became involved and excelled in local sports in the St. Louis area – basketball, soccer, and sandlot baseball.5

Griffith began his career in organized ball in 1916, at age 20. He broke into professional ball as a pitcher for the Alton (Illinois) Blues of the Interstate League after being invited to a spring tryout by Branch Rickey.6 While playing for Alton, Griffith reportedly won 10 of his first dozen starts.7

The U.S. entered World War I in April 1917; three months later, Griffith appeared before the draft board and indicated that he worked as a “bolt maker” for the St. Louis Screw Company.8 At the time, he was heralded as the ace pitcher of the company’s team in the commercial league of the Municipal Baseball Association in St. Louis.9 Griffith enlisted in the U.S. Navy in December 1917. He was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago and served as acting company commander for approximately 150 men, including the Naval Station’s football team, of which he was a member during the 1918 season. Griffith played right guard in the Tournament East-West Game held on New Year’s Day 1919, in Pasadena, in which the Navy defeated the Mare Island Marines. After the game, Griffith and his teammates were discharged, the Armistice having been signed six weeks earlier.10

The young veteran exchanged his military uniform for baseball togs. The Little Rock Travelers of the Single-A Southern Association signed him in early April 1919. At Little Rock, he initially pitched, but after developing a sore arm, shifted to infield and outfield positions.11

He was placed on unconditional waivers by the Travelers after less than a month. The Chattanooga Lookouts, also in the Southern Association, immediately claimed Griffith and played him mostly in the outfield.12 During 1919, Griffith appeared in 118 games for Little Rock and Chattanooga combined, collecting 95 hits in 428 at-bats (.222).13

Before the start of the 1920 season, Chattanooga traded Griffith to another Southern Association club, the Birmingham Barons, for Sammy Crews.14  Griffith made further strides in his transition from pitcher to outfielder under manager Carlton Molesworth. Ability to shift positions demonstrated his willingness to embrace challenges and grow as a player.

By late summer, former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Nap Rucker and scout Larry Sutton reported favorably on the prospect’s potential.15 While author Eugene C. Murdoch stated that Rucker signed Griffith, another source credited Charley Barrett as the scout who finalized the deal.16 The Kansas City Journal reported that Brooklyn purchased Griffith’s contract from Birmingham on August 11.17 The Dodgers wanted Griffith as insurance in case one of their regular outfielders was injured during their National League pennant chase. Although the press widely reported that Griffith would join Brooklyn after Birmingham’s season ended, he was not called up.18 Griffith appeared in 154 games for the Barons in 1920, batting .304 and stealing 25 bases.19

But Griffith wasn’t done playing baseball in 1920. In October, he suited up for the Salt Lake City Bees of the Pacific Coast League, appearing in 10 games and patrolling left field. He collected eight hits in 38 at-bats (.211). The Bees finished their season in mid-October with a 95-92 record.20 

Meanwhile, Birmingham had transferred Griffith’s contract to the Pittsburgh Pirates in September 1920 (the details remain murky). The Pirates placed him on their reserve list, but he never reported to the team.21 At the conclusion of the 1920 season, the Birmingham club filed a complaint with the National Baseball Commission protesting that Dodgers team owner Charles Ebbets had breached an agreement to purchase Griffith’s contract for $7,500.  Birmingham claimed Nap Rucker had offered more money for procuring Griffith’s contract than the price the Dodgers later offered, and therefore the Barons refused to sell him. Ebbets disagreed, claiming the negotiations were still in the discussion stage at that point and had broken off before the transaction between the two clubs had been formalized. It appeared that the dispute might become one of the first cases the newly installed Commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, would be asked to resolve.22

However, the Dodgers settled their disagreement with Birmingham amicably before Landis weighed in. On January 11, 1921, Ebbets agreed to pay $3,000 and send outfielder Horace Allen in exchange for Griffith. The Dodgers then optioned Griffith to the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association, with whom they had a working agreement, for the stated purpose of giving him another year of seasoning.23  Only after he had been assigned to New Orleans by the Dodgers did the Pirates announce they had released Griffith to the Dodgers.24

Playing in 154 games for the Pelicans in 1921, who tallied a 97-57 record, Griffith batted .355 and led the league with 224 hits, while striking out just 21 times. He also flashed speed, finishing third in the league with 47 stolen bases.25 Hence, no one was surprised when, in October, Griffith was one of eight outfielders among the 38 names submitted by the Dodgers for their reserve list for the upcoming 1922 season.26

Coming out of the Dodgers’ spring training camp in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1922, just two seasons removed from having won the National League pennant, manager Wilbert Robinson expressed confidence in his projected outfield: Zack Wheat in left, Hy Myers in center, and a platoon of Tommy Griffith and Bert Griffith (no relation) in right. The newest Dodger was generally slated to start against southpaws.27

Bert Griffith, having turned 26 the previous month, made his Dodgers debut on April 13, 1922, when he was inserted as a pinch-runner in a game at the Polo Grounds against the Giants. The following day, in his first at-bat, he singled as a pinch-hitter. Griffith was penciled into the starting lineup for the first time on April 22, a game at Ebbets Field against the Giants in which he went 1-for-4. 

Griffith got a hot start out of the gate. On June 1, the New York Daily News noted he was “very popular with the fans.”28 Small wonder: in the first week of June, after his first 25 games, Griffith’s batting average – a lofty .394 – was second in the league.29 On June 10, in a home game against the Cubs, he enjoyed his first of three four-hit games in the majors. Griffith’s first home run came on July 8 off Cardinals southpaw Bill Sherdel, whom he would take deep again the following season.

About this time, the Brooklyn Eagle described Griffith as “a natural hitter, with a rather sharp swing that sends the ball on a line.”30 He ended the season having collected 100 hits in 325 at-bats (.308), with two homers, eight triples, 22 doubles, and 35 RBIs. As a rookie, Griffith appeared in 106 games, starting 72 (64 in right field, the rest spread among the other outfield positions and first base). When Tommy Griffith hurt a knee in August, Bert played more.

As his first big-league season wound down, the New York Herald observed that Griffith possessed one of the key attributes Brooklyn fans sought in their favorite players: he “seems to have been inoculated with a proper hatred for the Giants in his first season.”31 But it was the archrivals who won the pennant; the Dodgers ended in sixth place with a 76-78-1 record.

Griffith was among more than a dozen men who joined a barnstorming trip organized by a former ballplayer, Herb Hunter, to play a series of exhibition games in the Far East after the 1922 season concluded.32 The trip proved to be consequential for Griffith’s career. He became popular with the spectators in Tokyo for his playful antics, including performing a phantom workout before a game and catching a fly ball behind his back while running towards the outfield fence.33 The more lasting impact, however, was that Griffith seriously injured his heel while on the tour, though no specifics were immediately revealed to the public on exactly when or how it had occurred.34

Before the 1923 season began, the Dodgers traded outfielder Hy Myers to the Cardinals for first baseman Jacques Fournier. They intended for Bert Griffith, who arrived in spring camp in March as an unsigned player, to anchor center field. Aware of the foot injury the outfielder had sustained during the previous winter’s barnstorming trip, Ebbets insisted that Griffith undergo a physical before inking him to a contract. Diagnosed with a torn ligament, he had his foot placed in a cast during spring training, and when that didn’t solve the problem, surgery ensued.35 Ten days before Opening Day, a noticeably concerned Ebbets told the press, “I hope there is no permanent ill effect as Griffith is a fine ballplayer and we need him in the outfield.”36

Griffith was unable to play when the season began. His initial appearance in the 1923 season came as a pinch-hitter on May 27 in Brooklyn against the Braves, and his first hit came in a similar role on June 1 against the Braves at Boston. He did not make it into the starting lineup until June 12, when he trotted out to his familiar position in right field, going 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Yet, unlike 1922, Griffith would make only nine starts in right field all season long, as Tommy Griffith held down that position, while Bernie Neis had become the everyday center fielder. Bert Griffith got most of his playing time in left field, starting 49 times in place of Wheat, who had torn ankle ligaments at midseason.37 Despite his disappointing start, Griffith began to collect his share of hits, including a hot streak beginning in late July in which he hit at nearly .350 for a few weeks. Griffith hit his fourth and final big-league home run on August 19, at Ebbets Field against future Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Though his sophomore season was marked by the recurring foot problem, Griffith’s batting average dipped only slightly from his rookie campaign. In batting .294 for the 1923 season, he was among the team’s top hitters, finishing behind only Wheat (.375), Fournier (.351), and second baseman Jimmy Johnson (.325). He drove in 37 runs. Although no one was aware of it at the time, Griffith would play his last game for the Dodgers on October 7, 1923, in a win over the Giants at Ebbets in which he scored twice and went 1-for-3. The Dodgers, however, had another disappointing year overall, repeating their 76-78-1 won-lost record of the prior season and again finishing in sixth behind the frontrunning Giants.

Ahead of the 1924 season, Griffith returned the contract to the Dodgers unsigned – and having inserted a 25 percent salary increase. It was not unusual for the veteran Wheat to threaten to stay home on his Missouri farm as part of his contract negotiations, but Griffith had not yet achieved the future Hall of Famer’s status. Ebbets took umbrage with Griffith’s salary demand. Not only was the outfielder a holdout, but Ebbets viewed him as an ungrateful one. In mid-February the Dodgers owner told a coterie of reporters that the club had paid Griffith his full salary in 1923 even though he’d missed a good part of the prior season owing to his injury in a non-Dodgers-sponsored barnstorming activity.38 Though he had not been invited to the Dodgers’ spring camp in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Griffith arrived and informed Ebbets he had changed his mind and would accept the original salary offered by the club. In response, Ebbets said the organization had since withdrawn the contract Griffith had rejected and would not tender another until physicians had pronounced him fit to play ball. 

Dodgers beat writer Tom Meany reported that Griffith had been advised to shed weight and, after having done so, reportedly reverted to his demand for a salary increase. Griffith may have miscalculated his value to the Dodgers – but in any event, the strategy backfired. Ebbets lost all patience; on March 4, he let it be publicly known that the club was looking to shuttle the outfielder off to the minors and had placed him on waivers.39

The Southern Association’s Nashville Vols purchased Griffith’s contract in mid-March 1924.40 The Brooklyn Times Union speculated that the Dodgers maintained an interest in the outfielder, however, asserting. “There is reason to believe that the Brooklyn club will give Bert Griffith another trial period and give [him] another crack at a big league job.”41 The outfielder played well for Nashville, where he appeared in 43 games, with 46 hits (12 for extra bases) in 155 at-bats, for a .297 average.42 In late June, it was reported that Griffith, nursing a sore leg, bristled when his manager inserted him into a game as a pinch-runner and they got into a shouting match. When the game concluded, Griffith turned in his uniform and returned home to St. Louis.43

Nashville released Griffith to the American League’s Washington Senators on July 2, and the outfielder was called up to the club two days later. The Senators, who would go on to win their sole world championship that season, then faced a grueling schedule of six doubleheaders in nine days; they believed adding an experienced outfielder would help. But, as it turned out, Griffith was used sparingly and started in only one game. His eight at-bats with Washington produced one hit, a single, against the Tigers’ Bert Cole, on July 10. His final big-league appearance came as a pinch-hitter on July 13, and he was subsequently sent back down to the minors.44 

On July 18, 1924, the Senators sought a prospect, outfielder Pete Scott of the Kansas City Blues of the Double-A American Association. They assembled a trade package consisting of Griffith, shortstop Chick Gagnon, and catcher Pinky Hargrave. The exchange fizzled, however, when Scott refused to report to the Senators. Kansas City returned Hargrave to Washington, along with an undisclosed amount of cash; Griffith and Gagnon remained with the Blues. Appearing in 56 games, mostly as a right fielder, Griffith collected 64 hits in 197 at-bats, 25 for extra bases, and finished with a .325 batting average.45 

Before the 1925 season got underway, Kansas City released Griffith to the Syracuse Stars of the International League, the highest level of the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system, but Kansas City retained an option to recall him.46 The Brooklyn Eagle surmised that Cardinals manager Branch Rickey wanted Griffith to be close at hand and ready to step into the St. Louis outfield, if needed.47 In 82 games with the Stars, Griffith, playing mostly outfield, with a handful of games at first and second base, had 105 hits (including seven homers) in 312 at-bats. His .337 batting average was the highest among team members with a minimum of 150 at-bats. 48  

This consistent success at the plate induced Kansas City to recall Griffith from Syracuse at about the midpoint of the 1925 season – but it was not back to “The Show” he would go. Instead, the Blues sent him to the Dallas Steers of the Texas League. Initially filling in as a first baseman, Griffith eventually was shifted back to the outfield. In roughly two months with Dallas, Griffith continued to produce at bat: 69-for-207 (.333) in 56 games.49 

In early 1926, the Shreveport Journal previewed Dallas’s team for the upcoming season and noted, “Griffith is regarded as one of the best defensive men in the league.”50 Yet he refused to sign his contract with the Steers when they failed to give him a raise. He was placed on the retired list, though his contract was sold to the Chattanooga Lookouts, a team he had played for in 1919. In January 1927, Griffith informed the Lookouts he had stayed in shape while back home in St. Louis; he was ready to play. But it was not clear how much action the veteran would receive, and he was informed that he would be competing for an outfield spot. He did not make the Lookouts’ final roster.51

It was reported that Griffith had been forced to retire from baseball after the 1927 season, having developed rheumatism, a disease marked by inflammation of the joints and tissue. In that he had not been tendered a contract by March 1, 1928, he was declared a free agent by Commissioner Landis.52 At age 32, Griffith was not quite ready to abandon baseball, however, and he hoped still to catch on with a pro team. He let it be generally known that his health had returned, pointing out that he had played football in St. Louis the previous winter and in doing so had lost 20 pounds.53

Perhaps he had made some connections in Florida during earlier spring trainings, but in March 1929, Griffith’s name was splashed across the nation in wire stories as a “reputed gambler and former baseball player” being held for questioning for his presence during a poker game gone bad in a Miami Beach hotel. A New Yorker and associate of crime boss Arnold Rothstein – who himself had been gunned down a few months earlier – died at the hands of an unknown assailant.54 No charges were filed against Griffith, who at the time claimed residency in Miami. The sports editor of the Brooklyn Standard Union described Griffith in April 1929 as “paunchy and baldish” and “traveling around the land with a troupe of gentlemen of chance,” a euphemism for gamblers.55 In the spring of 1930, living with his mother (his father had since passed) and younger brother Clotus in St. Louis, Bert described himself to the federal census taker as an unemployed National League ballplayer.56

In May 1931, Griffith, married Pennsylvania-born Eva B. Mason, a tearoom hostess. A short time later they relocated to southern California.57 There the couple had one child: a daughter, Sarah, in 1932. During the early years of the Great Depression, Griffith displayed an entrepreneurial spirit, investing in local commercial properties in the Redondo Beach area. He purchased a local amusement center on the waterfront, and in addition to opening it as the Wagon Wheel Café and Bar, in 1935, he also incorporated a permitted commercial card room, ballroom, gymnasium, and boxing ring for amateur matches. Griffith found success, soon opening two other eating and drinking establishments nearby: The Empty Saddle and Griff’s.58 

Griffith became active in promoting Redondo Beach’s downtown economic revitalization. He was the driving force behind the creation of a local “Covered Wagon Days” festival in Redondo Beach in 1934. For many years this annual community-wide celebration featured bands specializing in cowboy music, western-themed booth contests, a barbecue, rodeo performances, and parades. In the latter, “Griff” (as he was often called in the local press) rode a wild mustang he said he had captured in Arizona, brought back to California, and broken in. In 1937, the Los Angeles Times featured a bearded Griffith wearing a cowboy hat and playfully gritting his teeth in a promotional shot taken for that year’s festival.59  His name became familiar in Los Angeles’ South Coast area. Local papers extolled his collection of hunting and fishing equipment “worth hundreds of dollars” and mentioned that the former big-leaguer was “crazy about children and animals.”60

Before World War II, Griffith took an additional step in his pursuit of all things western when he purchased and began operating a ranch along Highway 395 in Big Pine, about 250 miles north of Los Angeles, in sparsely populated Inyo County. There he raised livestock and grew potatoes. In the 1950 federal census, Griffith self-identified as a farmer. He also had side businesses: for a number of years, he leased out construction equipment and, with his daughter, operated a business raising purebred dogs. By 1953, however, Bert had begun selling off his farm and ranching equipment. He and Eva purchased and began operating Fish Springs Resort, located a short distance from their Big Pine residence and ranch, which included a general store, gas pumps, café and bar.61   

Amid his varied interests, Griffith still found time to be engaged in baseball. In spring 1948, he spearheaded the establishment of the adult Eastern Sierra Baseball League. “Griff” managed the Big Pine Warriors in the league’s first nine years and occasionally inserted himself as a pinch-hitter; he managed a Little League team as well.62

In 1958, Griffith threw his hat in the ring for an Inyo County supervisor seat. His candidacy statement reflected his down-to-earth nature, when he acknowledged his sixth-grade education, and wrote, in part, “…I am just Bert Griffith…62 years of age, chew tons of Beechnut tobacco, drink beer both at home and in public places, and have a few other bad habits too numerous to mention.” 63 Among other attributes, Griffith cited his connection to his military service, his work to establish area Little Leagues, and having once played with the Dodgers. Voters did not elect him.

Eva, Bert’s wife of 28 years, passed away in 1959, at age 54. Bert soon moved to Las Vegas, but on occasion, he returned to Inyo County. In 1961 he participated in an old-timers’ game in which he “staged his usual colorful show in the third-base coaching box, delighting the Big Pine fans … just as in the ‘old days.’”64

Matt Williams (who was born in 1965) remembered his mother driving him and his three older brothers from Big Pine to visit their grandfather in Vegas. Bert also came back for family visits. As Williams reminisced in 2015, “I remember him very well, even though he died when I was a boy – about 8. Gramp, nobody called him anything else, was a jolly, loud, barrel-chested man. He’d walk in a room, see a friend and say, ‘Hey, you ol’ so-and-so’ and jump into a conversation.65

Bert Griffith died at Northern Inyo Hospital in Bishop, California on May 5, 1973, at age 77.66 He was buried in the Big Pine Cemetery, in Big Pine, California, near Bishop, next to Eva.67 

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Mike Eisenbath and checked for accuracy by SABR’s fact-checking team; to each the author expresses his thanks. The author also wishes to thank Cassidy Lent, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Director, for providing the player file on Griffith and Alan O’Connor, Sacramento baseball historian, for information on Griffith’s stint in the PCL.

Photo credit: Bert Griffith, Library of Congress.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the endnotes, the author also accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, and the SABR BioProject.

Notes

1 The Brooklyn franchise originated in the National League as the Bridegrooms in 1890 and had been renamed the Superbas by 1899; in 1911 they took on the name of the Dodgers and in the years 1914 through 1931, the franchise was informally nicknamed the Robins after their manager Wilbert Robinson. The name “Dodgers” was officially adopted in 1932. Paul Dickson. The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Third Edition (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 2009), 261.  As reflected in several citations below, however, many newspapers continued to refer to the team as the Dodgers in the early 1920s, and that more familiar term for the Brooklyn franchise is used from this point forward.

2 In the big leagues, Griffith’s best offensive production came against three pitchers: the Pirates’ Wilbur Cooper (batted .481), the Cardinals’ Bill Sherdel (batted .361), and the Reds’ Eppa Rixey (batted .342). Conversely, Babe Adams of the Pirates and Jesse Barnes of the Giants handcuffed him; he batted .125 and .188, respectively, when facing them.

3 Thomas Boswell, “Could Grandson Follow Grandfather to the World Series?” Washington Post, February 24, 2015.

4 Government records, such as Griffith’s U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card (June 5, 1917) and U.S. Passport Application (October 14, 1922) specify he was born in Lovejoy, Illinois. Given its close proximity, and that he moved there as an adolescent, Griffith often told people his birthplace was St. Louis, Missouri, however.  Information on the Griffith family was culled from the U.S. Federal Censuses for 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930.

5 “Griffith an All Around Star,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 2, 1919: 26; Ray Gillespie, “St. Louis Grew Many Stars in Old Kerry Patch,” The Sporting News, July 10, 1957: 8.

6 “Alton Will Have Five Pitchers,” Alton Evening Telegram, June 16, 1916: 7; The Interstate League was not part of Organized Baseball, and it counted the Manewals, Waladas, and Brookmeyers among its member teams. The Alton Blues joined the Three-I League (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa) one year later, in 1917.

7 “Judge Landis to Adjust Dispute Over Local Star,” St. Louis Star, December 22, 1920: 19; “Bert Griffith Displays Wonderful Improvement Over Work Last Year,” Birmingham News, August 11, 1920: 12.

8 U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card for Bert J. Griffith, June 5, 1917.

9 Charles Bartley, “Amateur Baseball Semi-Pro,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 23, 1917: 7; “Star Pitcher Now a Company Commander,” St. Louis Star, August 2, 1918: 9; “Griffith an All Around Star,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 2, 1919: 26.

10 “Bert Griffith is Latest St. Louis Boy on Navy Team,” St. Louis Star, September 15, 1918, 13; The Great Lakes football team of 1918 went undefeated, and it had wins over Iowa, Illinois, and Purdue, among other schools and beat the Marines 17-0 on January 1, in a game that presaged the official Rose Bowl Game, which began in 1923. Francis Buzzell, The Great Lakes Naval Training Station: A History (Boston: Small, Maynard and Company Publishers, 1919), 166-67; Timothy P. Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife: The Doughboys and Sailors of the WWI Rose Bowls (West Bloomfield, MI: Brown House Publishing, 2017), 322-23. Great Lake’s quarterback in 1918 was Paddy Driscoll, who had played 17 games with the Cubs in 1917 before joining the Navy. George Halas of the Great Lakes Navy squad was named MVP.

11 “Little Rock Will Have Strong Team,” Birmingham News, April 20, 1919: 14; “Bert Griffith to Join the Chattanooga Club,” Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 3, 1919: 15; “Bert Griffith, New Superba Find, Was a Failure Till [sic] This Year,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 9, 1920; 22.

12 “Lookouts Sign Player Released by Travelers,” Shreveport Journal, May 3, 1919: 7.

13 Marshall D. Wright, The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2024), 202.

14 “Lookouts Today in First Game of 1920 Season,” Chattanooga Daily Times, March 21, 1920: 18.

15 Charles Segar, “Bert Griffith, Like Tommy, Started Career as Pitcher,” Brooklyn Citizen, February 19, 1922: 13.

16 Eugene Converse Murdock, Baseball Players and Their Times: Oral Histories of the Game, 1920-1940, Westport, CT: 1991), 112; Thomas S. Rice, “Rowdy Elliott Goes; B. Griffith Bought,” Brooklyn Eagle, January 12, 1921: 22; Bill Nowlin and Jim Sandoval, Can He Play? A Look at Baseball Scouts and their Profession. (Society for American Baseball Research. November 2011), 11.

17 “Dodgers Break Even in Twin Bill with Cubs,” Kansas City Journal, August 12, 1920: 9.

18 “Bert Griffith, New Superba Find, Was a Failure Till [sic] This Year,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 9, 1920: 22.

19 Wright, The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961, 205.

20 Carlos Bauer, The Coast League Cyclopedia: Volume One, A through K, San Diago: Baseball Press Books, 2003, 283. “Dell Once More Downs Beelets,” Salt Lake Tribune, October 10, 1920: 28; “Bees Close Season by Taking Two Games,” Salt Lake Tribune, October 18, 1920: 4.  The Sporting News Baseball Player Contract Card for Bert Griffith does not list his brief stint with the Salt Lake City club.

21 Ernest J. Lanigan, “Dixie League’s Best Batters Go to Majors,” Pittsburgh Press, December 22, 1920: 36; “Young Outfielder is Sold by Buccaneers,” Pittsburgh Press, January 19, 1921: 25.

22 “Here is One for New Ball Head,” El Paso Herald, December 1, 1920: 10; “Judge Landis to Adjust Dispute Over Local Star,” St. Louis Star, December 22, 1920: 19.

23 “Gene Sheridan Released to New Orleans Club; Bert Griffith Also Goes,” Brooklyn Daily Times, January 16, 1921: 13.

24 “Brooklyn Drafts a Pirate Recruit,” Kansas City Star, January 19, 1921, 12: Edward F. Balinger, “Player is Bought from Buccaneers by Dodger Champs,” Pittsburgh Post, January 19, 1921” 10. Balinger was incredulous that somehow Brooklyn had acquired Griffith from Pittsburgh after the Dodgers had publicly announced they had acquired him from Birmingham and assigned him to New Orleans; the sportswriter was not sure how it was accomplished but credited the Dodgers for “being out in front by several laps” of other club owners in maneuvering to acquire prospects, indirectly poking Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss.

25 Wright, The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961, 211.

26 These outfielders were Bert Griffith, Zach Wheat, Hi Myers, Tom Griffith, Bernie Nels, Wally Hood, John Roseberry, and Eddie Eayrs. Charles Segar, “38 Players Are Now on Reserve List of the Brooklyn Club,” Brooklyn Citizen, October 28, 1921: 4.

27 Wilbert Robinson, “Robbie Sure His Team Will Be in the Fight,” New York Herald, April 9, 1922: 54.

28 “Dodger Dabs,” New York Daily News, June 1, 1922: 20.

29 “Bert Griffith Leads N.L.; Sisler Supreme in the A.L.,” Brooklyn Eagle, June 4, 1922: 70.

30 Thomas S. Rice, “Bert Griffith Climbs to .385” Brooklyn Eagle, June 14, 1922: 26.  

31 “Zach Wheat’s Trick Catch Beats Giants,” New York Herald, September 1, 1922: 9.

32 Griffith was the sole Dodger; his teammates were Fred Hofmann, Joe Bush, and Waite Hoyt of the Yankees, Herb Pennock of the Red Sox (traded to the Yankees during the trip), Luke Sewell and Riggs Stephenson of the Indians, Bibb Falk and Amos Strunk of the White Sox, and Casey Stengel, George Kelly and Irish Meusel of the Giants; tour organizer Herb Hunter would also play. Also see, Adam Berenbak, “The Diamond Stage: Herb Hunter’s 1922 Tour of Japan,” published in Nichibel Yakyu: US Tours of Japan, Volume I: 1907-1958, edited by Robert W. Fitts, et. al, published by the Society of American Baseball Research.

33 Frank F. O’Neill, “Griffith Delights Jap Rooters with Phantom Practice,” St. Louis Star, December 17, 1922: 5; Waite Hoyt, “Japs Have Sense of Humor Enjoy Yankees’ Comedy,” Alton Evening Telegram, March 8, 1923: 6.

34 George Moriarty, “Bert Griffith Slid Himself Out of Big League Baseballdom,” Mount Caramel Daily News, March 3, 1926: 3. Moriarty, brought along to umpire the exhibition games, wrote, “Bert Griffith was one of the outstanding stars of the entire trip.” He further explained, however, that in a game in Manila, a Filipino catcher purposely tipped Griffith’s bat. In the following game, despite his team holding a large lead, Griffith tried to take revenge and stole home, landing feet first into the same catcher. “The Filipino backstop was carried off the field and Griffith hobbled to the bench with what seemed to be a slightly sprained ankle. He played the rest of the game, but not without a perceptible limp. When the team reached Honolulu a few weeks later, Griffith was hardly able to walk on account of the injury.”

35 “Bert Griffith Returns to Cast Lot with Team, Brooklyn Times-Union, March 9, 1923: 3; James J. Murphy, “B. Griffith Can’t Start Season,” Brooklyn Eagle, March 29, 1923: 24.

36 “Ebbets Back with Tidings of Stronger Brooklyn Team,” Brooklyn Daily Times, April 6, 1923: 18.

37 Joe Niese, Zack Wheat: The Life of the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2021), 121.

38 James J. Murphy, “Bert Griffith, Holdout, Told to Show Some Form,” Brooklyn Eagle, February 14, 1924: 24.

39 Thomas W. Meany, “Waivers Are Asked on Outfielder Bert Griffith,” Brooklyn Daily Times, March 4, 1924: 12.

40 “Bert Griffith and Shriver Sold to Nashville Club,” Brooklyn Citizen, March 14, 1924: 8.

41 “Ollinger Sent to Minors; Bert Griffith to Be Given Another Trial,” Brooklyn Times Union, March 28, 1924: 20.

42 Wright, The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961, 233.

43 The Sporting News, June 26, 1924: 1.

44 Several secondary sources, including Baseball-Reference.com, state that the Dodgers traded Bert Griffith in December 1923 to the Washington Senators for pitcher Bonnie Hollingsworth, but the evidence does not support this: no dates are given for this supposed transaction and no contemporary newspapers, including The Sporting News, noted it at the time. It also would not explain how Bert Griffith was in the Dodgers spring training camp in 1924, nor the fact that numerous newspapers reported when Hollingsworth became a Dodger in July 1924. See: Thomas W. Meany, “New Orleans Pitcher Added to Dodgers’ Hurling Staff,” Brooklyn Daily Times, July 21, 1924: 10; Thomas S. Rice, “New Brooklyn Purchase Allows Less Runs Than Any Southern Rival,” Brooklyn Eagle, July 23, 1924: 20.

45 Martin J. Haley, “Lester Bell `the Rogers Hornsby’ in American Association Batting,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, January 5, 1925: 8.

46 “Shoots and Griffith Released by Blues,” Kansas City Journal, March 29, 1925: 8; Lee Lowenfish, Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2007),156.

47 Rickey was the Cardinals’ manager until he was fired at the end of May 1925, when he was replaced by Rogers Hornsby.  “Bert Griffith to Play with Syracuse Club,” Brooklyn Eagle, April 5, 1925: 47; Charles J. Foreman, “Introducing New Texas Leaguers: Bert J. Griffith.” Wichita Daily Times, January 26, 1926: 9. 

48 Marshall D. Wright, The International League: Year-by-Year Statistics, 1884-1954 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2024), 259.

49 Charles J. Foreman, “Introducing New Texas Leaguers: Bert J. Griffith, Dallas,” Wichita Daily Times, January 26, 1926: 9.

50 “Conley and Morris Think Dallas Steers Will Do,” Shreveport Journal, January 29, 1926: 12.

51 Kelly Cousins, “The Spectator,” Houston Post, January 27, 1927: 11; “Nicklin Signs Bert Griffith for Look-Over,” Chattanooga Daily Times, January 30, 1927: 13; E.T. Bales, “Viaduct Over `Nooga Field Gives Free Views of Games,” Atlanta Journal, March 6, 1927: 25.  

52 Hammond Times, April 5, 1928: 20.

53 Hammond Times, April 5, 1928: 20.

54 “Gables Murder Seen Rothstein Mystery Sequel,” Miami Daily News, March 7, 1929: 1, 4.; “Miami Police Seek Gamblers in Walsh Death,” Anniston Star, March 8, 1929: 9. He had also been questioned in connection to a murdered police officer in St. Louis in 1924, as it was reported he had been in a nearby saloon at a wild party when the body was found. He was not held. “Bert Griffith in Murder Quiz,” New York Daily News, February 13, 1924: 21; “Police Question Dodger Fielder,” Indianapolis Times, February 13, 1924: 6.

55 Murray Robinson, “As You Like It,” Brooklyn Standard Union, April 8, 1929: 16.

56 U.S. Federal Census for 1930.

57 Bert J. Griffith and Eva Mason, Application for License for Marriage, Overland, Missouri, May 23, 1931.

58 “Wagon Wheel Café Opened by Bert Griffith on El Paseo,” Redondo Reflex, November 1, 1935: 8; South Bay Daily Breeze, November 23, 1936: 2. Two of Griffith’s establishments were raided and temporarily closed in 1941 for illegal gambling operations – taking in football and horse-racing bets. “Café Owner Held on Bookie Charge After Beach Raids,” Los Angeles Daily News, November 6, 1941: 3; Griffith and several others pleaded guilty and received fines and brief jail sentences. “Jail Sentences and Fines Meted Out to Redondo Beach Bookmakers,” South Bay Daily Breeze, May 1, 1942: 1.

59 “Short-Whiskered Officers Suffer at Redondo Fete,” Los Angeles Times, July 23, 1937: 33.

60 “Redondance by the Centurion,” Redondo Reflex, July 17, 1936: 6 and “Gambling Raid Here in County Clean-up by Authorities,” Redondo Reflex, November 7, 1941, 1.  Baseball Reference.com identifies that Bert Griffith in 1937, at age 41, was associated with Class D Paducah Indians in the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League, but no baseball statistics are provided, and no other source appears to verify that nexus, including a search of the Paducah Sun for that year. In fact, his time in Redondo Beach, California in 1937 is well covered in local Southern California newspapers. We note a Bert Page Griffith lived in Paducah, Kentucky at the time though no other information about him was uncovered.

61 Owens Valley Progress Citizen, November 14, 1941: 7; Newspaper ad, Owens Valley Progress Citizen, April 19, 1946: 7; U.S. Federal Census for 1950; The American Kennel Club Register, 1952, 314; Mono Herald, November 27, 1953; Newspaper ad, Bridgeport Chronicle-Union, November 6, 1953: 5.

62 “Bert Griffith is Honored by Teams on Father’s Day,” Mono Herald, June 26, 1955, 3; “Bishop Buccaneers Edge Big Pine in Thrilling Ninth Inning Rally,” Mono Herald, April 29, 1955: 7; Howard Frost, “Sport Topics,” Inyo Independent, May 3, 1957: 5.

63 Bert J. Griffith, “Bert Griffith Gives Views; Is Candidate for Supervisor,” Bridgeport Chronicle-Union, April 4, 1958: 5.

64 “11th Inning Clout Gives Big Pine Win over Bishop,” Mono Herald, June 23, 1961: 7.

65 Boswell, “Could Grandson Follow Grandfather to the World Series?”.

66 Deaths – Bert J. Griffith, Inyo Register, May 10, 1973.

67 Find a Grave Memorial for Bert J. Griffith: www.findagrave.com/memorial/28649601/bert_joseph-griffith accessed October 26, 2025. The cemetery was originally known as the Crocker Cemetery when it opened in the 1880s, and though it was referred to as the Big Pine Cemetery when Griffith was buried there, it is sometimes identified now with the blended name of the Big Pine Crocker Cemetery.