The Kid followed in the footsteps of his father, who taught him how to play the game. Ken Sr. instructed Junior on the three parts of baseball; defense, hitting, and base running — defense being first. Junior listened to his father, a long time Cincinnati Red, and himself became a pro player at age 17. It wasn’t long before everyone in baseball knew, The Kid could play ball.
Ken Griffey Jr. made his MLB debut with the Seattle Mariners in April 1989. In his first home field at-bat, Griffey swung and barreled a ball over the left field wall. His home-town home run was one of hundreds more to come. Griffey hit 417 home runs in front of Seattle crowds during his career as a Mariner.
Although his powerful swing was mighty enough to build a career on, Junior. was taught that defense came first. The centerfielder played the game with reckless abandon, and challenged the dynamics of baseball physics on more than one occasion. Junior routinely left the earth, and sacrificed his body to take away extra base hits. He ran up walls and crashed into them. He even brought one down in Baltimore. Once, during his sophomore season, the Mariners traveled to Yankees Stadium, where Junior robbed slugger Jesse Barfield of his 200th career home run. He jumped over the warning track and, in the same stride, leapt half way up the wall. He extended his glove and snared the bleacher bound ball, then pulled it back into the field of play for the final out of the inning. It was by all accounts, a spectacular play, and one of many defensive highlights Junior would create.
Throughout the 90’s decade, Griffey was a fixture among the best in the biz discussions. Still today, he is hailed as one of the greatest center fielders to ever play the game. He won 10-straight Gold Glove Awards, was selected to 10-consecutive All-Star teams, and he won seven Silver Slugger Awards, all during the 1990’s. His induction into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown seems eventual, but his influence on the game spans far greater stretches than his centerfield range ever did. He is loved in Seattle where he made his debut, and equally cherished by thousands in Cincinnati. But beyond the great impacts he made in the communities where he served as an ambassador of the game; Ken Griffey Jr. demonstrated for a generation of athletes, how fun and integrity should fit together in professional sports.
Though injuries plagued him through portions of his career, the infamous asterisks tied to so many of today’s great players, have no place in discussions of The Kid. While Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire chased Roger Maris’ single season record for homeruns in 1998, Junior trailed not far behind, but ultimately fell short with 56 dingers, to McGwire’s 70, Sosa’s 66. However, it seems fitting that the historic race between Sosa and McGwire easily forgets that Griffey almost did it too. In the months leading up to the 2010 season, McGwire came clean about his steroid use as a pro player, and Sosa tested positive in 2003. Both players will forever remain a part and portion of the doped-up age of the MLB, and there is nothing they can ever do to erase their names from the pages of steroid-user history.
George Kenneth Griffey Jr. has remained untarnished and untouched by the dark cloud of scandal that hangs over baseball’s most powerful records. Junior’s righteous credibility as a player who never touched steroids, rings a refreshing reminder of the child like innocence and wide eyed belief in our heroes, we used to share for the game. It also reminds us of professional sports’ desperate need for greater integrity from their athletes, because what’s left when they retire is the impact they’ve left on the game, and the fans. Griffey retired ranked fifth among the game’s most powerful men in history, with 630 home runs. Barry Bonds* sits atop the prestigious list and holds the record for most career ‘outta heres, with 762.
The Kid retired from major league baseball in May 2010, after 22 big-league seasons. He finished his career in Seattle, where his indelible mark impressed baseball fans, from the very beginning. His individual accolades and highlight reel never culminated into a championship, but perhaps that isn’t why the game needed Junior. We didn’t need individuality or prestige. We have enough pride and ego in the game to suffice already. Rather, what the game needed The Kid to do is teach the baseball world about integrity. We needed him to offer a counter point during the darkest age of modern era baseball; when cheating ran rampant. He is not the savior of baseball, because the game would have continued with or without Ken Griffey Jr., but throughout his stay, Junior demonstrated how to play the game, the right way.
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