Calvin: Baseball’s Last Dinosaur
By Jon Kerr
Calumet Editions, 2016
$16.99
“He was very tight with a buck, but he was honest with his heart.”
Dave Boswell (Minnesota Twins pitcher, 1964-70)
Describing Twins’ owner Calvin Griffith
Calvin – Baseball’s Last Dinosaur is ostensibly about Calvin Griffith and his 30-year tenure at the helm of the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins. But it really is about much more. It is about the Griffith family’s passion for the national pastime; it is about family loyalties and family turmoil; it’s a true rags-to-riches story; and it is a tale about the changes wrought by the ending of the reserve clause, free agency, expansion and arbitration.
Calvin: Baseball’s Last Dinosaur was originally published in 1990. This second, revised edition was released April 10, 2016 – reflecting its “legacy” value; particularly as it relates to the history of (and major changes in) the national pastime.
JUNE 20TH – A “CALVIN EVENT” AT SUBTEXT BOOKS
(DOWNTOWN SAINT PAUL)
On Monday, June 20, 2016 (7:00 p.m.-8:00 P.M.), author Jon Kerr will discuss Calvin: Baseball’s Last Dinosaur at Subtext Books, 6 West Fifth Street, downtown Saint Paul. There will be readings, Q&A, lots of great baseball talk and, of course, a book signing. If you are a fan of baseball, the Minnesota Twins, Calvin Griffith or just a history buff, this promises to be an enjoyable evening.
The book presents the life of Calvin Griffith – with all its virtues and flaws – in the context of the history of the national pastime. That context is appropriate since the history of the Griffith family was deeply influenced, in fact shaped, by baseball – and, conversely, the Griffith family had a significant influence on the history of the game. With that in mind, this is a book that has a lot to offer, not just for Minnesota Twins fans, or past Washington Senators fans, or Calvin Griffith fans (or detractors) – but for all fans of our national pastime. And, the story is made better in the telling by a combination of author Jon Kerr’s meticulous research, Calvin Griffith’s long (well-documented) record of honestly speaking his mind; and Griffith’s position at the center of such issues as the integration of the game, expansion, stadium financing, free agency and arbitration.
HONEST TO A FAULT
When preparing this post, I asked author John Kerr what he found most surprising about Calvin and the Griffith family. Kerr’s answer:
“Their down-to-earth honesty. They were elite in the sense of their long role in the baseball fraternity. Yet, they never forgot their humble roots. On a personal level, they were also not the cheapskates as commonly portrayed. This is true even though Calvin was clearly very aware of his family’s financial limitations in baseball’s new world of free agency and arbitration.”
The Griffith saga really begins with Baseball Hall of Famer Clark Griffith. Known as the Old Fox, Clark Griffith built a life around baseball as a player, manager and owner. As a right-handed hurler, Griffith went 237-146 in his MLB career (winning twenty or more games seven times); as a manager, he went 1,491-1367 and led the Chicago White Stockings to the first AL pennant; and as an owner, he brought the World Series to Washington D.C. in 1925-1925 and 1933.
Of essential importance to Kerr’s biography of Calvin Griffith is the fact that Clark Griffith – whose life was so deeply dedicated to baseball – was the single most significant influence on Calvin Griffith (both inside and outside of baseball).
Clark Griffith’s story was one of hard work and unstoppable determination. He went from a poverty-defined, hardscrabble upbringing in Missouri to a Hall of Fame baseball career to team ownership. And, the odds were seldom in his favor. Despite his 5’6”, 156-pound stature, he fashioned a Hall of Fame career as a major league pitcher – and later risked his baseball earnings (and a Montana ranch) to join the ranks of baseball owners. Along the way, he learned the ins-and-outs of baseball – from the field to the front office. He also, as Kerr explains, developed a passion for the game, a deep work ethic, a sense of frugality and an aversion to debt.
Through it all, Clark Griffith maintained a strong commitment to family – and it is that commitment that brought Calvin into the game. I don’t want to give away too much of Kerr’s book, but Calvin Griffith was born Calvin Robertson, and Clark Griffith was his uncle. Like his uncle Clark, Calvin grew up in poverty (in a family of nine). In 1922, Clark Griffith’s sense of family led him and his wife Addie to take two of the Robertson’s children into their home (and lives) – 11-year-old Calvin and his nine-year-old sister Thelma. While never adopting the pair (Calvin and Thelma later changed their names legally to Griffith), Clark and his wife Addie raised them as their own – and Calvin and Thelma inherited the Washington Senators when Clark Griffith passed away in 1955.
How much of an influence was this hardworking, baseball-focused, frugal, family man and father figure on Calvin? Kerr quotes Calvin in his book, “He (Clark Griffith) was only 5-foot-six or five-foot-seven, but he had the – what’s the word? – statue of a giant. He was an individual who was impossible to copy. He was a saint. Next to God, Clark Griffith was it.”
It was the move to Clark Griffith’s home in Washington D.C. that brought Calvin to the baseball life detailed in Kerr’s book. Starting his first summer as a “Griffith,” young Calvin found himself as bat boy for Clark Griffith’s Washington Senators – mingling with the likes of Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson and Ty Cobb. His future was sealed.
CALVIN GRIFFITH – SUPERIOR ATHLETE
Calvin Griffith, often pictured in later life as significantly out of shape, was quite an athlete in his younger days: captain of the Staunton Military Academy (high school) Virginia State Champion baseball AND basketball teams; and later catcher and star pitcher for George Washington University. It was, in fact, only his Uncle Clark’s insistence that the real future in baseball was in the front office that led Calvin to walk away from a contract offer from the Chicago Cubs.
True to his commitment to work ethic and family, once Calvin left George Washington University and joined the Senators’ organization, Clark Griffith demanded his anticipated heir learn the ropes – from the bottom up – in baseball; starting in the front office of the Senators’ Chattanooga Lookouts farm team and moving on to the Charlotte Hornets.
CALVIN GRIFFITH – LEARNING THE ROPES
Excerpt from Calvin: Baseball’s Last Dinosaur
But it was hardly of bed of roses for Calvin either, who operated most of four years at Charlotte as a combination of front office executive, manager, coach, batting practice pitcher, and in other assorted roles. Included was his return to active player, as catcher for a hard-throwing pitcher named Ruben Ortiz.
“We had two catchers, both of them got their hands broken up,” remembers Calvin of the unusual circumstances. ”I went to General Crowder, manager of the Winston-Salem club, and I said, ‘How ‘bout me catchin’ it, or we’re gonna have to forfeit and you’re gonna have to give the money back to the fans.’”
With Crowder’s agreement, Griffith took his place at catcher for the fast-balling Cuban. “I went out there and I said, ‘Give me a chance to see the damn ball. We’re gonna start with some curves or something, so I can see the spin on the ball.’”
“First goddam pitch is a fastball over my head,” recalls Calvin. “It went over my head and hit the screen. I said ‘Uh, this ain’t gonna be good.’ It was a goddam doubleheader. The next day I was so stiff, all I could do was lay in Epsom salts for a couple of hours.”
It wasn’t long (1942) before Calvin joined Uncle Clark with the Senators, initially as head of concessions – working his way up the organization until he and his sister Thelma inherited team ownership in 1955. It was then that Calvin began the saga of baseball ownership that ended with his 1984 sale of the team – and took him through the struggles of team movement, expansion, race relations, stadium financing, free agency and arbitration. As Kerr details, Calvin worked hard to keep baseball a family operation, but he knew the writing was on the wall.
From now on, baseball owners are going to have to be associated with other businesses, so they won’t have to depend on sports to feed their kids. Or they are going to have to be men who were born wealthy, who have zillions of dollars and are looking for a team to buy so they can have something to do with their time and money.
Calvin Griffith, 1975
From Calvin: Baseball’s Last Dinosaur
Kerr’s book take readers through Calvin’s tenure as an owner, detailing the negotiations surrounding the move from Washington D.C. to Minnesota (and previous attempts to move the franchise); the early, glory years of the Twins – the 1965 AL Pennant and 1969-70 Division Championships; right up to the 1984 sale of the club to the Pohlad family (and Griffith’s later misgivings about the transaction).
There also are insights into the players (and Calvin’s relationships with them). Fans know the names: Killebrew, Carew, Allison, Versalles, Grant, Oliva, Hrbek, Blyleven, Puckett, Gaetti and more.
And, there is the joy of Calvin’s many malapropisms. (On the warm reception he received as he was selling the team: “The fans were really great. I’ve been hung in apathy before, so I didn’t know what to expect.”) BBRT note: There is a book dedicated to Calvin’s thought process and unique use of the English language … Quotations from Chairman Calvin by David Anderson.
Kerr also give readers a look at the what was going on behind the scenes all that time: family squabbles, particularly with his son Clark; the logic behind key trades; salary, free-agent and arbitration battles; “Billybrawl;” the departure of fan favorites like Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew; players strikes; opportunities to move the team; the move to the Metrodome; Calvin’s second-thoughts about the sale of the team; and even the ill-considered and politically incorrect presentation by Calvin at the Waseca Lions Club. It’s all there – and all worth reading.
Notably as Kerr points out, Griffith fought long and hard to keep baseball in the family, surviving longer them most (perhaps even Calvin) expected. Here’s a final quote from Jon Kerr that I think sums up why Calvin: Baseball’s Last Dinosaur makes a great summer read:
“Calvin was also a distinctly different animal than any other modern baseball owner. His battle with change in the game was based as much on history and moral beliefs as financial analyses. Whether based on stubbornness or principle, he was the last holdout in an era of baseball that will never return.”
Jon Kerr
Jon Kerr is a former sportswriter for United Press International (who covered the Twins) and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. His freelance writing has appeared in a wide range of publications. He currently is the director of a non-profit doing work in Nicaragua (Interfaith Services to Latin America), where he also gets to see plenty of baseball. He also continues his work as a freelance journalist (along with other writing projects).
FOR MORE BASEBALL BOOK REVIEWS, CLICK HERE.
I tweet baseball @DavidBBRT
Member: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR); The Baseball Reliquary; Baseball Bloggers Alliance.
