Fred McGriff

Frederick Stanley McGriff (born October 31, 1963) is an American former first baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for six teams from 1986 through 2004.

McGriff signed with the New York Yankees after being selected in the 9th round of the 1981 amateur draft.

He received a $20,000 signing bonus.

In 1982, the Yankees dealt McGriff, Dave Collins and Mike Morgan to the Toronto Blue Jays for Dale Murray and Tom Dodd.

To improve his skills, McGriff also played for three seasons in the Baseball Winter League of the Dominican Republic for the teams Azucareros del Este (today Toros del Este), Leones del Escogido and Caimanes del Sur (defunct franchise), between 1984 and 1987.

Murray won only three games in three years with the Yankees, and was out of baseball by 1986.

Dodd was released at the end of the season, and apart from a month with the Baltimore Orioles in 1986 spent the remainder of his career in the minors.

Before McGriff became a regular major leaguer, baseball great Ted Williams took note of his power at a batting practice session during spring training.

Williams was drawn to McGriff when he heard the sound of the ball leaving McGriff's bat.

He won a Golden Glove in that league during the 1986-87 season and went to the league's postseason in the 1984-85 campaign.

McGriff played two innings at first base on May 17, 1986, and the next day started his first career game as the designated hitter.

His first at-bat was in the bottom of the second inning against Don Schulze, during which he hit a line drive to left field for his first career hit.

McGriff played in only one more MLB game that season.

McGriff reached the majors full-time in 1987, and hit 34 home runs the next year, his first of seven consecutive seasons with over 30 homers.

McGriff finished in the top ten in voting for his league's Most Valuable Player Award every year from 1989 through 1994, during which time he led the major leagues in home runs.

He emerged as the top power hitter in the American League in 1989, leading the league with 36 home runs, including the first home run hit at the SkyDome, helping the Blue Jays win the AL East division title.

He was one of the most consistently productive power hitters of the 1990s, posting over 80 runs batted in (RBI) every year from 1988 through 2002, and became the first player since the dead-ball era to lead both leagues in home runs — the American League (AL) in 1989 and the National League (NL) in 1992.

His power numbers remained steady in 1990, as McGriff batted .300 and established himself as a consistent producer.

After spending the first third of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres, McGriff became a major component in the Atlanta Braves' long run of division champions, posting over 90 RBI for five straight years after joining the club in a midseason 1993 trade, and helped lead the team to the 1995 World Series title over the Cleveland Indians.

In 50 career postseason games, McGriff batted .303 with 10 home runs and 37 RBI.

A five-time All-Star, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1994 contest after his pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth inning tied the score at 7–7, with the NL winning in 10 innings.

He then joined his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays when that club was established in 1998, and was the team's main power hitter for its first four seasons, establishing various franchise records which lasted several years before being broken.

He hit 20 or more home runs fifteen times, becoming the first player to hit 30 home runs with five different teams, drove in 100 runs eight times, and batted .300 four times.

McGriff's 493 career home runs were tied for tenth in major league history among left-handed hitters when he retired, and put him only seven away from joining the 500 home run club; his 462 home runs as a first baseman ranked fourth.

He also ended his career with 1,550 RBI, and a .509 slugging percentage.

One of the most durable first basemen in history, he ranked third in career games at first base (2,239), ninth in assists (1,447) and third in double plays (1,775).

His nickname "Crime Dog", a word play on McGruff the Crime Dog, was coined by Marty Barrett and popularized by Chris Berman.

McGriff currently works in the Braves' front office as Special Assistant to Baseball Operations.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 23,.

McGriff was born in Tampa, Florida.

His mother, Eliza, was a schoolteacher and his father, Earl, was an electronics repairman.

As a child, he hung out at Al Lopez Field during Cincinnati Reds spring training and worked as a vendor at Tampa Stadium.

McGriff went out for the baseball team at Jefferson High School as a sophomore but was cut.

He made the team the following year after undergoing a growth spurt.

He was a high school teammate of Al Pardo.

He first attracted the attention of professional ball clubs after hitting a long home run off of Hillsborough High School's Dwight Gooden with scouts in attendance to watch Gooden pitch.

McGriff accepted a scholarship offer to play college baseball for the Georgia Bulldogs.

The trade is now considered one of the most one-sided deals in baseball history; in 2006, Rob Neyer wrote that the trade looked particularly lopsided because it was one of the few instances that a player of McGriff's stature was traded before getting to the majors.

At the time, the trade appeared to make some sense from the Yankees' perspective, since McGriff was blocked from first base by Don Mattingly.

Nonetheless, the Yankees didn't get nearly enough in return.