Clark Griffith MGWashington 11/21/12

Clark Calvin "The Old Fox" Griffith (1869–1955) appears here in the Sporting News Supplement dated November 21, 1912, captioned as manager of Washington — a date that places the issue at the very start of the franchise relationship that would define the rest of his life. Hired by the Senators as field manager in late 1911, Griffith took over for the 1912 season, and after a few years on the bench he bought a controlling interest in the club in 1920 and ran it as owner until his death thirty-five years later. As a pitcher he had been one of the craftiest right-handers of the 1890s, posting six straight twenty-win seasons with Cap Anson's Chicago Colts and finishing with 237 career wins. He was one of Ban Johnson's first marquee American League jumpers in 1901 and managed the new Chicago White Stockings to that league's first pennant. The Sporting News Supplements ran from 1909 through 1913 as oversized newspaper-distributed portraits. He died October 27, 1955 in Washington, D.C. and is buried at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Maryland. The Hall of Fame elected him in 1946.