Menu
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Griffin leaves long-lasting legacy as one of Northview's best ballplayers
Northview’s baseball program has had numerous standouts over the years with several of them going on to play collegiately and a few playing at the professional level.
There was a great chance Andrew Griffin, a switch-hitting third baseman with an abundance of speed, power and athleticism, would have been the best player to ever wear a Northview Knight uniform, and those around him saw it from a young age.
“Andrew was a one-of-a-kind athlete,” said Ryan Nees, Griffin’s longtime teammate and friend. “He was good at anything he tried, and it just came naturally. I played with Andrew through the Clay Youth League, but my first memory of him was him being the kid that hit a home run that landed at second base on the field directly behind the field he was playing on.
“I was fortunate enough to spend two years traveling the country playing baseball with Andrew and Brady [Shoemaker],” Nees continued. “We played a lot of baseball during that time, and it was during that time that I was playing with some amazing athletes. I remember at a World Series tournament we played at that Andrew received a couple of awards because of how well he played. There were numerous times that his athletic ability left us in awe.”
“Andrew was talented at everything he did,” said Brady Shoemaker, another one of Griffin’s longtime teammates and close friends. “I was fortunate to get to play a lot of baseball with Andrew growing up as kids and up into high school. As 13-year-olds, we were playing in USSSA World Series in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and he hit multiple home runs as a switch hitter on a college field.
“There are several images I will always have of Andrew but one I will never forget is that he was named the MVP of the World Series that year. I remember we lost and finished fourth in the tournament and before we left the stadium, they announced over the loudspeakers that he was the MVP of the tournament – before it was even finished,” Shoemaker continued. “Andrew brought so much attention to himself with the talent he had but didn’t enjoy any of the extra attention. He was very shy and extremely humble.”
His talent continued to shine brightly at the high school level.
Griffin, who could bounce around from position to position with his athletic ability and baseball IQ, primarily manned third base after rising from the freshmen team to the junior varsity team and then onto the varsity team in a short amount of time.
“As a freshman, he worked his way up to the varsity baseball team in a week where he hit home runs against West Vigo in a freshman game, then a JV game, and finally in the varsity game,” Shoemaker recalled. “As a freshman, he was the best player on our team.”
“His success continued into high school. He had power from either side of the plate and hit bombs from both sides of the plate as well,” said Nees.
“We have had very few freshmen start in the history of Northview baseball, but he cracked the lineup without question his freshman year and played third base. [He was a] switch hitter, fast, and had great instincts for the game,” said Griffin’s teammate and friend Craig Trout. “As a freshman, he could do things that seniors couldn’t do and just a skill set that was hard for people I think to realize how good he would be.
“One ability that Andrew possessed was when he would steal without coach Witham giving the sign, and he would get thrown out, he had the uncanny ability to go about halfway into left field on the way back to the dugout to avoid coach’s wrath,” Trout continued. “He was, however, my euchre partner on the bus and was really bad. So, if he had one skill he was missing, it was his card shark ability.”
Terre Haute North standout Mark Sturm recalled a breath-taking play Griffin made in the 2003 sectional that ended his high school career, stating, “He made a grab at a ball I hit to third base and turned it into a double play to not only beat us, but be my last game of high school ball.”
Unfortunately, Griffin’s on-field promise wasn’t able to be fulfilled, as he lost his life in an automobile accident on Feb. 1, 2004, at the age of 16.
Having only played one season at the high school level, Griffin never got the chance to put together what Nees, Shoemaker and Trout believe would have been the best career by any ballplayer to ever don the maroon and black of Northview, and would have likely ended up with him playing professionally down the line.
“The guys I played with – Brady Shoemaker, Ryan Nees, Shane Cooper, T.J. King, Shawn Hughes, Jason Johnson, Jesse Johnson, Michael Stuckey, Wade Thacker – would all say the same thing, that Andrew had the potential to be the best baseball player Northview ever had,” stated Trout.
“There are many of times that I think about Andrew and wonder where he would be today. Without a doubt in my mind, he would be playing professional ball for some team. There is no doubt that he would have played with Brady or against Brady and I would have been there to witness that game,” said Nees. “He was a force to be reckoned with.”
They have also wondered what it would have been like to have Griffin a part of the 2005 semi-state team, although all three noted while he may not have been on the field in his No. 43 jersey, he was certainly with them in spirit.
“I will tell you that even though he was not there physically with us in 2005, he bonded that team together as we set out to win sectionals for him and we were able to do so,” Nees said. “There is no doubt in my mind that he was there with us.”
“I played many games after [Griffin’s passing] just wishing I could be on the same team with him again and see him at third base and hitting clean up,” said Shoemaker. “I just always wondered what it would have been like to have him on our 2005 Northview Semi-State team – even though we all knew he was with us – and the 2006 Post 346 National Runner up team, and always wondered if he would of went to Indiana State. Even though his talents would have probably taken him directly to pro baseball.”
With it being 18 years since he passed away, the memory of Griffin remains strong within the Northview baseball family, and for many others that had the privilege to get to know him.
“As good as Andrew was at baseball, he was an even better person,” said Nees. “Always had a smile, always laughing and always with his friends. He was as humble as they come. I wish we could have seen what he was going to accomplish.”
“I have so many memories of Andrew that bring a smile to my face. He was so fun to be around once you got to know him and he opened up. He was extremely quiet until that point. He had a bright future that ended too early. A day that affected so many that loved Andrew,” said Shoemaker. “Andrew is missed by so many and always will be.”
Griffin’s legacy will continue on for the rest of time in the town of Brazil, and so will his namesake, as Trout and Shoemaker honored their friend by passing his name onto their children.
“I look at my daughter, Calli Drew, and Brady’s son, Drew, who carry his name, and I think about what his future would have been like,” said Trout. “I know he is looking down on all of us.”