Ken Griffey Jr.
| Ken Griffey Jr. | |
|---|---|
| File:Baseball ken griffey jr 2004.jpg | |
| Cincinnati Reds – No. 3 | |
| Center Field | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| debut | |
| April 3, 1989, for the Seattle Mariners | |
| Career statistics (through 2006) | |
| Avg | .291 |
| HR | 563 |
| RBI | 1608 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Former teams | |
| |
George Kenneth Griffey, Jr. (born November 21, 1969 in Donora, Pennsylvania) is an American professional baseball player with the Cincinnati Reds of the MLB. Ken Griffey, Jr., son of Cincinnati-legend Ken Griffey, Sr., is considered as one of the greatest players of his era.
Youth and early career
Ken Griffey was born near Pittsburgh in the Steel Valley town of Donora. Griffey shares not only the same birthday, but also the same birthplace as Hall of Famer Stan Musial (Bill James, in his Historical Baseball Abstract, called Griffey Jr. "the second-best left-hitting center fielder ever born on November 21 in Donora, Pennsylvania"). His family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father, Ken Griffey, Sr. played for the Cincinnati Reds when he was five. The younger Griffey played baseball at Moeller High School, a Catholic school in Cincinnati better known for its football program. While he was in high school, he drew raves from Major League scouts for his batting swing, widely regarded as the best of his generation, and effortless fielding prowess. In fact, Griffey's teammates would supposedly play closer to the lines in order for Griffey to take advantage of (and display) his great range in center field.
In 1987 Griffey was selected with the first overall pick of that year's amateur draft by the Seattle Mariners. As a big leaguer, he was well on the way to the Rookie of the Year award but was thwarted when he slipped in the shower and broke a bone in his right hand in late July, 1989. While with the Mariners, Junior, as he is often called, established himself as one of baseball's premier players, and during the '90s, Griffey was considered one of the best players of the time. Before injuries cut into his production, he was a top run producer and the best center fielder in the big leagues. Griffey hit for a high average, batting over .300 for seven of the years of the '90s, and hit with power as well, slugging 422 home runs during the decade.
Additionally, his defense in center field breeched no rivals during that decade. Thanks to his impressive range, Griffey frequently made spectacular diving plays, and he often dazzled fans by making over-the-shoulder basket catches (a la Willie Mays' "the Catch" in the 1954 World Series) and by robbing opposing hitters of home runs at the wall — leaping up and pulling them back into the field of play. He was featured on the Wheaties cereal box and, because of his general likability and lack of legal problems, was an effective pitchman. Griffey also had his own signature sneaker line from Nike, Inc.
Because of his all-around excellent play, he was a perennial participant in the All-Star Game, particularly during the 1990s although less so during the early '00s because of injuries. Junior has led his league multiple times in hitting categories and was awarded Gold Gloves for his defensive excellence from 1990 to 1999. Griffey also became one of a very small number to have played on the same team as his father, Ken Griffey Sr in 1990 and 1991. In 1997, he won the American League Most Valuable Player award, hitting .304, with 56 home runs and 147 runs batted in.
Perhaps the single most memorable moment of Griffey's career with the Mariners came during the 1995 American League Division Series (ALDS) against the New York Yankees. After falling behind in the series 0-2, they came back to take the next two games and create a must-win Game Five. In the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 5, Griffey scored from first base on an Edgar Martinez double, giving the Mariners the win and seeing them through to the American League Championship Series (ALCS). Although the Mariners lost the ALCS to now-Mariners manager Mike Hargrove's Indians, the moment is one of the most memorable in Mariners history, and the series has been credited with "saving baseball in Seattle", given speculation that the Mariners might move. A video game for Super NES, "Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run" commemorates the moment.
In 1999, he ranked Number 93 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. This list was compiled during the 1998 season, counting only statistics through 1997. It was argued by some that, had the voting been done two or three years later, he would have been ranked several places higher: at age 29 (going on 30), he was easily the youngest player on the list. That same year, Griffey was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. However, when TSN updated their list for a new book in 2005, despite having surpassed 400 and 500 home runs, Griffey remained at Number 93. He is currently tied for 10th place on the all-time home runs list with 563, fifteen ahead of Mike Schmidt and tied with Reggie Jackson. He has the third-most of any active player, behind only Barry Bonds, who has 734, and Sammy Sosa who has 588.
Departure from Seattle
Despite Griffey's elite performances and seemingly bright future in Seattle, he nonetheless became disenchanted with playing for the Mariners. Publicly, he expressed frustration over what he believed was a lack of commitment to winning on the part of Seattle management.[citation needed]
After the 1999 season, Griffey was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Mike Cameron, Brett Tomko, Antonio Pérez, and Jake Meyer. Initially, the future looked extremely bright for him in Cincinnati, where the Reds had just come within one game of a playoff berth. It was the city in which he had grown up, and Griffey was reportedly very pleased to be playing on his father's former team — on the open market, Griffey could have made several million dollars more than the contract offered by the small-market Reds. However, his contract apparently includes backloaded payments which will be paid until 2024[1].
Injury-plagued tenure in Cincinnati
The 2000 season began what has generally been seen by the media as a decline in Griffey's superstar status. Although his statistics during this season were respectable, they were far below his previous level of play: in 145 games, Griffey hit .271 with 40 home runs, but his .942 on-base plus slugging was his lowest mark in five years. Griffey's request for his old jersey number also served as a distraction. [citation needed] Griffey wore his father's #30, not #24 like he did on Seattle. #24 was already retired in honor of Tony Perez and it was not brought out of retirement for Griffey. Additionally, from 2001 through 2004, Griffey was plagued by a seemingly endless string of injuries, including season-ending injuries in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Worse yet for Griffey, the cumulative effects of the injuries lowered his bat speed, resulting in less power and fewer home runs (he slugged only .426 before succumbing to injury in 2002, his lowest output in seven years). Some speculate that Griffey's myriad injuries are a result of a decade of playing on the Kingdome's artificial turf (Griffey missed nearly all of the 1995 regular season due to a hand injury) , which players claim is essentially like playing the game on asphalt. Others suggest that Griffey's lack of commitment to physical fitness while he was in his twenties (relative to other Major Leaguers like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, both of whom played effectively well into their forties) opened him up to injury problems as he got older. Whatever the causes, injuries forced Griffey to miss 260 out of 486 games from 2002 through 2004, diminishing both his skills and his star reputation. Consequently, he is not nearly the ubiquitous presence he once was on cereal boxes, television commercials, and the All-Star Game.
In 2004, Griffey avoided major injury during the first half of the season, and on June 20 became the 20th player to hit 500 career home runs. His 500th home run came, fittingly, on Father's Day in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, with his father Ken Sr. in the stands; the homer also tied Ken Jr. with his father for career hits with 2,143. However, the injury bug bit again just before the All-Star break, when Griffey, Jr. suffered a partial hamstring tear, knocking him out of the All-Star Game and putting him on the disabled list yet again. He did get his 500th home run ball from a fan who was also there for Father's Day with his dad. The fan received many rewards from Griffey Jr.
Griffey finished the 2004 season on the disabled list after suffering a complete rupture of his right hamstring in San Francisco on August 4. The play in question occurred at now AT&T Park in a game against the San Francisco Giants. Griffey was starting in right field for the first time in his 16-year Major League career when he raced toward the gap to try to cut off a ball before it got to the wall. He slid as he got to the ball, but in the process hyperextended his right leg. He later came out of the game, complaining of "tightness" in the hamstring exacerbated by chilly conditions in San Francisco. But there was far more to it than anyone realized at the time.
Shortly after this injury, the Reds' team physician, Timothy Kremchek, devised an experimental surgery dubbed "The Junior Operation" that would use three titanium screws to reattach Griffey's hamstring. For several weeks, Griffey's right leg was in a sling that kept the leg at a 90-degree angle, and he was not able to move the leg until late October. After an intense rehabilitation period, he returned for the 2005 season. In April, he hit only .244 with only one homer (on April 30) and nine RBI.[2]
Starting May 1, the 2005 season saw the resurgence of a healthy Griffey. The fluid swing, which depends heavily on excellent lower body strength, returned to its original form, now that Griffey's hamstring and calf problems appear behind him. Junior's 35 home runs were his highest since his first year with the Reds as Griffey slowly moved up the career home run list. He ended the season tied with Mickey Mantle, after having passed Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Willie McCovey, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews, and Mel Ott in 2005.
Early in September, he strained a tendon in his left foot (an injury unrelated to his past hamstring and calf problems), and was listed as day-to-day for several weeks. On September 22, with the Reds out of playoff contention, the team decided to bench him for the rest of the season so he could immediately have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and a separate operation to repair scars from his 2004 hamstring operation. Still, his 128 games in 2005 were the most he has played since 2000. Griffey's resurgence was recognized when he was named National League Comeback Player of the Year. He played in the World Baseball Classic for the American team that offseason.
If his health remains intact, Junior could reach 600 home runs sometime in the 2007 season, at age 37. Had the chronic injuries of 2001-2004 not limited his astronomical progress, the question would have been when, not if, Griffey would surpass Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs.
Griffey and his wife Melissa have 3 children: George Kenneth III ("Trey"), daughter Taryn Kennedy, and adopted son Tevin Kendall. Griffey currently wears the number 3 for his children. When Trey was born, then-Mariners' G.M. Woody Woodward sent him a player's contract dated 2012. Griffey switched his uniform number in 2006, from 30 to 3, to honor his three kids.
Griffey played in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the United States, where he was one of the team's biggest contributors, notching three home runs during the event.
During the second game of the 2006 regular season, Griffey hit home run #537 which overtook Mickey Mantle's 12th all-time position on the home run list. He returned on May 11 from an injury he suffered to his knee on April 12 to hit a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Washington Nationals. On Mother's Day, May 14, 2006, Griffey was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation. On June 5, Jr. tied Fred McGriff's record by hitting a homerun in his 43rd different ballpark, at the St. Louis Cardinals' Busch Stadium. On June 19, Griffey hit career home run 548, tying him with Mike Schmidt, and then six days later passed Schmidt with 549. On June 27, he hit his 550th career home run against the Kansas City Royals.
On September 25, 2006 Griffey hit his 27th home run of the season off of Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Scott Eyre to tie Reggie Jackson for tenth spot on the all time home run list. Both Griffey Jr. and Jackson have hit 563 career swats.
Griffey's injuries continued in the 2006 offseason. While on holiday in the Bahamas with his family he broke his wrist. He said he was wrestling with his daughter and two younger sons when the oldest jumped in and knocked him off balance, he landed awkwardly on his left hand. Griffey has said his hand feels fine and he expects to be ready to go for spring training.[3]
Currently there is much talk of the Reds manager Jerry Narron either moving Griffey to right field or asking him to move voluntarily. Ryan Freel, who can play multiple outfield and infield positions, would likely become the Reds' starting center fielder. Narron said that “I’ve got to do everything I can do to put our best club out there. My feeling is that with Ryan Freel out there, it gives us strong defense up the middle.” [4]
Career Stats
Yr Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB K AVG OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GIDP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1989 19 SEA AL 127 455 61 120 23 0 16 61 16 7 44 83 .264 .329 .420 191 1 4 8 2 4 1990 20 SEA AL 155 597 91 179 28 7 22 80 16 11 63 81 .300 .366 .481 287 0 4 12 2 12 1991 21 SEA AL 154 548 76 179 42 1 22 100 18 6 71 82 .327 .399 .527 289 4 9 21 1 10 1992 22 SEA AL 142 565 83 174 39 4 27 103 10 5 44 67 .308 .361 .535 302 0 3 15 5 15 1993 23 SEA AL 156 582 113 180 38 3 45 109 17 9 96 91 .309 .408 .617 359 0 7 25 6 14 1994 24 SEA AL 111 433 94 140 24 4 40 90 11 3 56 73 .323 .402 .674 292 0 2 19 2 9 1995 25 SEA AL 72 260 52 67 7 0 17 42 4 2 52 53 .258 .379 .481 125 0 2 6 0 4 1996 26 SEA AL 140 545 125 165 26 2 49 140 16 1 78 104 .303 .392 .628 342 1 7 13 7 7 1997 27 SEA AL 157 608 125 185 34 3 56 147 15 4 76 121 .304 .382 .646 393 0 12 23 8 12 1998 28 SEA AL 161 633 120 180 33 3 56 146 20 5 76 121 .284 .365 .611 387 0 4 11 7 14 1999 29 SEA AL 160 606 123 173 26 3 48 134 24 7 91 108 .285 .384 .576 349 0 2 17 7 8 2000 30 CIN NL 145 520 100 141 22 3 40 118 6 4 94 117 .271 .387 .556 289 0 8 17 9 7 2001 31 CIN NL 111 364 57 104 20 2 22 65 2 0 44 72 .286 .365 .533 194 1 4 6 4 8 2002 32 CIN NL 70 197 17 52 8 0 8 23 1 2 28 39 .264 .358 .426 84 0 4 6 3 6 2003 33 CIN NL 53 166 34 41 12 1 13 26 1 0 27 44 .247 .370 .566 94 1 1 5 6 3 2004 34 CIN NL 83 300 49 76 18 0 20 60 1 0 44 67 .253 .351 .513 154 0 2 3 2 8 2005 35 CIN NL 128 491 85 148 30 0 35 92 0 1 54 93 .301 .369 .576 283 0 7 3 3 9 2006 36 CIN NL 108 428 62 108 19 0 27 72 0 0 39 78 .252 .316 2.486 208 0 3 6 2 13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTALS 2233 8298 1467 2412 449 36 563 1608 178 67 1077 1494 .291 .374 .557 4622 8 85 216 76 163 18 Seasons
Stats as of December 12, 2006
Famous quotes
"And when he comes to Cincinnati, I'll take Barry Bonds out. I fly my mom in because Barry loves the way she cooks macaroni and cheese and fried chicken. That's the kind of relationship we have. It's not just about baseball."[citation needed]
"Ken Griffey, Jr. is the best talent in our generation." - David Cone and Alex Rodriguez describing Griffey, Jr.[citation needed]
Griffey in Popular Culture
Griffey has starred in four Nintendo videogames: 1994's Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball and 1996's Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as the Nintendo 64 games Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey, Jr. in 1998, and Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest in 1999. He has also appeared on the GameBoy, in 1997 (a portable version of his 1994 game, with authentic rosters as they were on Opening Day 1997) and 1999's Slugfest, a portable version of the Nintendo 64 game.
Griffey also had a memorable guest turn on The Simpsons, in the third-season episode Homer at the Bat, along with fellow stars José Canseco, Wade Boggs, Darryl Strawberry, Don Mattingly, Roger Clemens, Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, and Mike Scioscia. Of all the major league players who guest starred in that episode, Griffey and Clemens are the only players still currently active; in the episode, Clemens mistakes Homer Simpson for Griffey at one point.
Griffey also has had a candy bar name after him called the Ken Griffey Jr. Bar. Unfortunately, he is allergic to chocolate so their manufacture soon ceased.
Griffey was mentioned in an episode of "Scrubs". A paramedic said she bought her son Griffey's card, and he carried it with him wherever he went.
Griffey also had an appearance in "Love Hurts", an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, in which he insults Will Smith at a local carnival. In 1994, he was featured in the major motion picture Little Big League, directed by Andrew Scheinman. In the 2001 baseball movie, Summer Catch, Griffey makes a brief cameo appearance at the very end of the movie, showcasing him hitting a home run at the now defunct Riverfront Stadium.
Griffey has appeared in some games in the Backyard Baseball series.
Griffey is a paintball fan and can often be found playing with his wife and children at paintball facilities around Orlando,Florida, his off-season home.
Griffey's dwindling talent is referenced in The Game's new album Doctor's Advocate. On the song "Too Much," he brags about his own exceptional rapping talent, "Nate ridin with me, Snoop ridin with me. All you other niggaz used to be good like Ken Griffey."
See also
- MLB players who have hit 30 or more home runs before the All-Star break
- 50 home run club
- 500 home run club
- Top 500 home run hitters of all time
- List of second generation MLB players
- List of MLB individual streaks
External links
- Ken's Klubhouse - Official Griffey Website
- Template:Espn mlb
- Career statistics from Baseball Reference
- Major league players from Pennsylvania
- 1969 births
- Living people
- African American baseball players
- Major league center fielders
- Sportspeople from Pittsburgh
- People from Pennsylvania
- People from Cincinnati
- People from Orlando, Florida
- Cincinnati Reds players
- Seattle Mariners players
- American League All-Stars
- National League All-Stars
- Gold Glove Award winners
- American League home run champions
- American League RBI champions
- 500 home run club
- 2006 World Baseball Classic players of the United States
- Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVPs
- Baseball families