Clark Griffith

Clark Calvin "The Old Fox" Griffith (1869–1955) shows up in our 1909-era card holdings on two of the period's better-known issues: the E93 Standard Caramel set and the T204 Ramly tobacco set, both of which depicted him in his role as player-manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The right-handed pitcher had built his reputation in the 1890s as a crafty Chicago Colts hurler who lived on guile and breaking stuff rather than velocity, then made the jump to the new American League in 1901 to player-manage the Chicago White Stockings to the league's first pennant. By the time the 1909 caramel-and-tobacco wave swept through, he had moved on to the National League and was working as the dugout brain for Cincinnati. His real lasting impact would come later, after his playing arm gave out: Griffith went on to manage and ultimately own the Washington Senators, becoming the patriarch of the Griffith family ownership that ran the franchise for half a century. The Ramly set is among the most coveted of all 1911 tobacco issues for its ornate gold-framed design, and Griffith's inclusion there alongside the Standard Caramel issue speaks to his prominence as both a manager and a baseball-establishment figure in the late dead-ball years. He died October 27, 1955 in Washington, D.C. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946 by the Old Timers Committee.