Marc Griffin (baseball)

Griffin was born in Quebec City and attended École secondaire Les Compagnons-de-Cartier and the National Baseball Institute.^[1][2] He was a member of the Canada national baseball team that played in the 1988 Summer Olympics.^[3] In 1988, he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a reported bonus of $70,000. During his time in the Dodgers' organization, the team used the English spelling of Mark rather than the French spelling of Marc.^[4]

In 1989, Griffin batted .282 with 2 home runs, 52 RBI, and 35 stolen bases in 129 games for the Vero Beach Dodgers. He was a member of the National League team in that year's Florida State League All-Star Game.^[5] He split the following season between Vero Beach and Bakersfield. In 137 games between the two clubs, he had 3 home runs, 38 RBI, 49 stolen bases, and a .258 batting average. In 1991, he batted .240 with 33 RBI and 42 stolen bases in 115 games for Vero Beach.^[1] He was named most valuable player of the 1991 FSL All-Star Game after a 4 hit, 3 RBI, 2 stolen base performance that included a steal of home.^[5]

On December 9, 1991, the Dodgers traded Griffin to the Montreal Expos for Ben Van Ryn.^[4] In June 1992, Dr. Frank Jobe performed surgery on Griffin's right elbow and was unable to play in any games that season.^[6] He returned the following season and played 69 games with Class A-Advanced West Palm Beach Expos, where he batted .319 with 23 stolen bases. In 24 games for the Expos Double-A affiliate, Harrisburg Senators, Griffin's batting average dropped to .151. After going 6 for 26 in 10 games for the Senators in 1994, Griffin was demoted to Class A.^[1] Griffin refused the demotion and after he was unable to find a team that would sign him at the Double-A level, retired.^[7] He came out of retirement the following spring and joined the Expos as a replacement player during the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike.^[8] However, the dispute was settled before regular season games were played.^[9]