Francis Arthur "Pug" Griffin (April 24, 1896 – October 12, 1951) was a

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), ...

player. He debuted in for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

, playing mostly as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

but also appearing in three games as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. After spending in the minor leagues with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

and out of organized baseball, Griffin returned to the majors in with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

as an

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 cat ...

, appearing in five games. Griffin continued to play in the minor leagues until . In , he became a player-manager, taking over the

Omaha Crickets Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

. He continued to manage on and off in the minors until the year of his death, winning a pair of league championships along the way. Griffin managed the

Lincoln Links The Lincoln Links were an American minor league baseball franchise that represented Lincoln, Nebraska, for 18 seasons over a 23-year period (1917–39) during the 20th century. They played in the Class A Western League (1917; 1924–27), the Cla ...

to the

Nebraska State League The Nebraska State League (NSL) was an American professional minor league baseball league with five incarnations between 1892 and 1959. The Nebraska State League formed five times: in 1892, from 1910 to 1915, from 1922 to 1923, from 1928 to 1938 a ...

title in , and guided the Pueblo Rollers to the championship of the Western League in .

Sources

Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Philadelphia Athletics players New York Giants (NL) players St. Louis Browns scouts Baltimore Orioles (IL) players Memphis Chickasaws players Omaha Buffaloes players Dallas Steers players Des Moines Demons players Wichita Falls Spudders players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Omaha Packers players Pueblo Braves players Minor league baseball managers Baseball players from Nebraska Sportspeople from Lincoln, Nebraska 1896 births 1951 deaths {{US-baseball-outfielder-1890s-stub