It's impossible to talk about the American League's early years without talking about Clark Griffith, the former pitcher and manager who, this week 106 years ago, finally completed his quest to become a big league owner. Griffith's Senators would eventually become a laughingstock, and his legacy complicated by his complicity in perpetuating the color line, but his early years were filled with success. Mike and Bill look back on one of the longest baseball lives, a 75 year span in which Griffith was an integral part of the game, for better and for worse.
Plus, happy birthday to Pat Hentgen and Jack Crooks!
And farewell to Félix Torres and Bill Hepler.
