Random Topps Card of the Day: 1976 Topps #654 Doug Griffin

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Thursday, November 28, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1976 Topps #654.
• Player Name, position, team: Doug Griffin, second baseman, Boston Red Sox.
• Major League Debut: September 11, 1970.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1975 stats (Red Sox): 100 G, 287 AB, 21 R, 65 H, 6 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 29 RBI, .240 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Angels #22nd, June 1965. Traded by the Angels to the Red Sox 10/11/1970. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 7. This is his sixth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: n/a.
• Commentary: So I'm spending time with my wife's family at my brother-in-law's house in Indiana. His in-laws are in town from Massachusetts, and I had to tell them that after the Tigers went down, there was nobody left for me to root for, even as a NL fan, so it was "Go Red Sox" for me. It then turned into a discussion about how Ben Cherington has been a great GM since Theo left and that John Farrell was robbed of the AL MGR of the Year Award. Maybe I should show them my Doug Griffin card from 1976, the card that came out AFTER the 1975 World Series run and ask what they thought of the second baseman. Apparently Douglas Lee Griffin was a pretty good ballplayer when his career started. After being traded to Boston from the California Angels, he finished fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1971 and won a Gold Glove in 1972 despite a broken hand injury that affected his hitting. In 1973, he was beaned by a Nolan Ryan fastball, knocking him unconscious. The beaning would ultimately affect Griffin for the rest of his career. Although he played in more than 100 games as the team's second baseman during that magical 1975 season, he was left off the playoff roster throughout the ALCS and only appeared in one game (Game 5) of the World Series as a pinch hitter. In 1976, Griffin would be the backup at second base and the team's primary pinch hitter. In 49 games, Doug would hit .189 with 4 rbi's in a very limited capacity. Griffin would only appear in five games during the 1977 season, and by June, was given his unconditional release. He would never work in baseball after his release, working in the construction business in both California and Florida. Griffin's story is one of many that can be found thanks to the SABR's BioProject. 
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.15-$0.40.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 2.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1977 Topps #10. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Until tomorrow everybody.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama