Ken Griffey Jr. joined the elite 600 Home Run Club with a 413-foot first inning shot against Florida left hander Mark Hendrickson on Monday, a two-run blast that provided the first scores for the Cincinnati Reds in a 9-4 victory. Griffey was voted to the All-Century Team in 1999 and selected as the Player of the Decade in the 1990s but after several injury plagued seasons he has become an almost forgotten man, so in a way it is fitting that he hit this milestone home run run in front of just 16,003 fans in Dolphin Stadium.
Here is Griffey's historic blast:
An old Inside Sports article about Jim Rice once described the Boston slugger's swing as "short, compact, POW." That is also a fitting way to characterize Griffey's swing, a work of athletic artistry worthy of being displayed in the Louvre. Has anyone ever had a prettier, smoother and more effortless hitting stroke? Griffey has been called "The Natural," which is of course a reference to Bernard Malamud's novel of the same name--but that term carries another, very special meaning now, because Griffey has joined the home run immortals without even the whiff of a cheating scandal, unlike Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, 600 Home Run Club members whose numbers are more suspect than Enron's.
It seems like only yesterday that Ken "The Kid" Griffey, Jr. burst on to the national scene. His father played on two World Series championship teams, made the All-Star Team three times and won the 1980 All-Star Game MVP award but it quickly became apparent that Junior Griffey would leave even bigger footprints in the game's record book. The elder Griffey stuck around long enough--or the younger Griffey was prodigious enough, depending on how you want to look at it--to be his son's teammate in Seattle for two seasons. In 1990, they accomplished something together that had never been done before and is unlikely to ever be done again, hitting back to back home runs against the Angels' Kirk McCaskill. What makes that even more remarkable is that the elder Griffey was 40 years old at the time, hit only four home runs that season and compiled just 152 home runs in his 19 season major league career.
Griffey Jr. was the youngest player to reach 300, 350, 400 and 450 home runs and he seemed to be well on course to breaking Hank Aaron's career record of 755 home runs. After Seattle traded him to Cincinnati--where his father played for most of his career--he had 40 home runs and 118 RBI in 2000, his first season with the Reds. Griffey Jr. missed more than 400 games due to various injuries in the next four seasons but he has had at least 428 at bats each of the past three years, launching 35, 27 and 30 home runs in 2005-2007. It is unlikely that he will catch Babe Ruth (714) for the number three spot all-time but Sosa (609) is definitely within reach and if he plays two more years with reasonable health he has a shot at passing Willie Mays (660). That would be a truly amazing accomplishment for someone who has overcome so many injuries: as Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy detailed in Tuesday's edition of the Dayton Daily News, "Three screws in his tailbone keeps his hamstring attached to the bone, six screws hold his shoulders in place and (Griffey adds), 'I used to have five screws in my elbow.'"
Cincinnati Manager Dusty Baker, who hit 242 home runs during his 19 year career, was a teammate of Aaron's and managed Barry Bonds in San Francisco, said, "He must really love the game, because he doesn't need the money. He has gone through a lot of pain and suffering. I have to damn near drag him out of the lineup."
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6 comments:
anymous reggie
he was better than bonds slightly in the 90's he was on pace for 755 then he went down with injuries. i think bonds blew him away from 01-04 bonds but the kid was special player in his prime he was 5 tool all the way can do everything. he was natural thats a plus since bonds and mcgwire wasnt so they say how many home runs do you take off of 73 and 70 7 or 8 they still hit 65 and 62 if you say performance enhancing drugs help them so much what is the percentage is my point. griffey hit 56 natural bonds 46 mgwire 49 or 58 in 97 i dont know when he started useing but he hit 49 in 87 and he was skinny.
but yeah griffey is one of the all time great player and could of been better if he didnt get hurt.
Reggie:
Bonds "blew Griffey away" during the years that Bonds cheated and Griffey was injured.
Steroids and other PEDs not only help a player add power but they aid recovery time; fatigue is a major issue for baseball players (and other athletes). Bonds' performance grew to Ruthian levels at an age when most players' numbers drop.
There have been other great players who had a big HR season early in their careers and never matched it, like Reggie Jackson; McGwire's best HR total after '87 was 42 until his numbers "mysteriously" jumped from '96-'99.
anymous reggie
bonds got so good during those years you couldnt pitch to him all the people who took steriods how many of them were as good as barry bonds and as dominant none is the answer. bonds still was better in 2000 than griffey even if he was healthy sosa and mcgwire werent as good as bonds and they used PED overated bonds was great with or without it. griffey was natuaral granted and shuld get credit but bonds was still a lengendary player PED made him a little better still top 5 players all time steriods or not.
Reggie:
Bonds was a great player before steroids but the years that he "got so good...you couldn't pitch to him" are precisely the years that he was chemically enhanced, according to the book Game of Shadows.
Bonds was not a top five player all-time before he took steroids.
Anyway, I think that you are missing my larger point. What I am saying is that all of these steroid cheaters should not be voted into the HoF as a matter of principle, regardless of what their pre or post-steroids stats were. I understand that you may disagree with me on that score anyway, but I'm not sure if you are clear on what I am saying. I think that the PED scandal has done such damage to the integrity of the game, to the health of youngsters who idolize these players and to the sanctity of the record book that the players who did this should pay the ultimate price: they were trying to gain baseball immortality and that is precisely what they should be denied.
anymous reggie
a matter of principle so you come from the moral side of things. your right they were trying to gain baseball immmortality so your saying you give it to them in a sense to allow them to sit in hall of fame knowing they cheated.
a hard point to argue aginst your point but my school of thought of course has been if you was before you should get in they was already hall of famer that wasnt bonds or clemens goal they were trying to be best ever jason giambi was trying to get in hall of fame so was mcgwire and sosa they had no cance at being best ever or among top 5 i think in 98 bonds was ranked 32 all time. he probably steriod free would be top 20. most people if you go off numbers would rank him top 3 with ruth and mays but he chated according to game of shadows. clemens by brian mcnamee even thoguh mcnamee has a checkered i believe him clemens used it was funny how clemens was trying so hard in congress to act like he didnt do it bringing his wife and stuff.
Reggie:
We don't know for sure when Bonds, Clemens and the others started cheating; maybe they had HoF numbers beforehand, maybe not, but to me they ceased being HoFers once they started cheating.
I also can't see how the HoF can induct those guys and still leave Rose out. At a minimum, Rose has to go in before any of the steroid cheaters do; his offense is completely separate from his playing career and had nothing to do with the numbers that earned him induction in the first place.
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