In the 1990’s, Ken Griffey Jr was the face of Major League Baseball. He was rocking the best skill set in the game although he was hiding away in the great Pacific Northwest. How can you argue with a guy who had back to back 56 home run years?
He finished his career in Seattle hitting 48 home runs with 134 runs batted in. He was traded to Cincinatti, and it seemed that this was the next chapter for Junior.
But it wasn’t. He started off strong his first year with the Reds, going for 40/118. Then came the injuries. Over the course of the following four seasons, he would play in 111, 70, 53, and 83 games. Various injuries, including a horrific Nomar-style hamstring ripped from the bone injury all contributed to the decline of the one time MVP.
His career for the Reds didn’t feature much winning or much personal success, at least up to the standards he set. He had a quick go around with the White Sox, before returning home to Seattle in 2009. People in the Pacific Northwest never forgot their fresh faced 19 year old in the outfield who electrified fans and opponents alike.
His retirement announcement was overshadowed by the wildly controversial 28 out perfect game in Detroit. But in the end, could it have been any different? Robbed of the prime of his career by injuries in Cincinnati, overshadowed by putting up big numbers for a bad Seattle team, there is no greater what-if career in Major League Baseball.
Griffey will finish his career with 630 home runs, which is an incredible number. How many would he have hit if he had stayed healthy? No one knows. I like to think of it as a feat he hit as many considering how many games he missed, how many time he had to rehab, and how many times he ended up on the trainers table getting worked on.
Griffey had every opportunity to walk away from the Reds. Passing your prime and still having to work out just to get back to be a shell of your former self? That has to be so mentally draining, so incredibly tough to stomach every day. But he did it. When it reached the point that he wasn’t a MLB caliber player anymore, he walked away. And thus ends the career of Ken Griffey Jr.
So let the talks begin, where he ranks amongst the all-time greats, when he should be voted into Cooperstown, and the what could have beens. I’ll always remember a fast youngster in those awesome Mariners jersey’s with bat speed that felt like it broke the sound barrier.
My talk will begin with Thanks Ken.
Stats thanks to the incredible Baseball-Reference.com – Major League Baseball Statistics and History
