RIP Doug Griffin

That's kind of how I felt when I heard that Hendu had passed away. He's the only player from the 1986 team who isn't around anymore.

The 1975 team is still mostly around. There were some guys who had a few ABs that year who are gone. Deron Johnson and Dick McAuliffe, who passed away recently.

Of course, Jim Burton who lost Game 7, passed away a few years ago, too.

The 2004 team lost one of its own, too. Frank Castillo, who had pitched for the Sox previously came back to pitch 1 inning. I think he drowned a few years back.

The 67 team has lost a number of players. I think Norm Siebern is the latest guy who left us. My wife and I actually met him about 9 years ago and he wasn't doing too well back then unfortunately.

And Bobby Doerr is the only living member of the 1946 Red Sox (I think). He will turn 99 years old in April 2017.

Doug Griffin was one of the more underrated Redsox players due to circumstances.  After
Tony C had his great 36 homer season in 1970, despite still not good vision in the beaned eye the Sox broke his heart and traded him to California for some good pieces.  Unfortunately all 3 main players had various injuries ending their effectiveness:  Tony's vision got worse and he failed and quit Cali after '71.
He had been offered the lead role for The Godfather, before Pacino, but declined saying his heart was still in Baseball.  Ken Tatum was a young reliever who had an unbelievable year and then a solid one for the Angels must've got hurt, because he did nothing in Boston.  Doug Griffin meanwhile was a solid fielding
.244 rookie in '71, then showed great promise in '72-  hit .260 and won the gold glove.  He was one of the best fielders at the position in sox history.  I went to a game in Yankee stadium and my friends were blown away by his hands.  Reggie Smith mentioned that Doug's shifts were so precise for hitters that he followed him in the outfield.  A coach said that Rick Burleson made himself into a great fielder by brutal work, but was not born with the amazing soft hands Doug had.  Consider he was young and it was a very skewed pitching era, and he would've only gotten better, but alas the beaning and other injuries after that limited his effectiveness and ended his career, necessitating the acquisition of the veteran Denny Doyle for the '75 team, and Jerry Remy afterwards.   I LOVED that '72 team (that finished 1/2 game out due to the unequal schedule because of a brief strike.)  That one and the '75 were my favorites ever.  RIP Doug Griffin.  Lastly, Nolan was interviewed after Doug faced him again post beaning and raved about the guts he showed, aggressively digging in there.

Couldn't find a bigger pic