His ability to immediately hit Major League pitching along with his instant mastering of his position in the field were achieved with an abnormal ease that astonished even the stalwart baseball fans, normally numb to the ballyhoo that has consistently proved fleeting for so many that have faded into realms of baseball obscurity, their careers defined by unfulfilled potential.
Unlike many of the enigmatic seasons put up by a litany of questionable players throughout the steroid era, it was never questioned when Jr. hit 56 home runs in back to back seasons. His talent spoke for itself, his prowess evident in the perfection of his technique, not the size of his forearms.
With the sweetest home run stroke since Ted Williams, everyone knew that if “The Kid” could stay out of the trainer’s room he would easily take his place among the game’s greatest legends.
At age 29 he was already selected to the Sporting News’ 100 greatest players list and that was BEFORE the back-to-back 50-plus home run seasons.
A figure of Mantle-esque skill and unfortunately a penchant for similar physical tragedy, Griffey was the quintessential complete baseball talent. A five-tool player, he was arguably the best all around athlete of the 1990s, his combination of hitting and fielding acumen unparalleled by his peers.
Like Mantle, injuries also hampered Jr. early on in his career. A freak shower accident -– resulting in a broken hand — limited Griffey to 127 games in 1989, and undoubtedly cost him the Rookie of the Year award.
This event was eerily similar to Mantle stepping in the exposed drain in the ’51 series against the Giants, tearing his knee to shreds in the accident.
Both freak occurrences would prove to foreshadow future events that demonstrated a painful pattern of injuries that would always be a strangulation to the excessive talent both possessed.
The hype surrounding Mantle and latter Griffey was also very similar. Their entrances into the league are another point at which these figures seem connected over the lineage of the fabric of baseball time. Although the sources and circumstance for each man were markedly different the resulting pressure was incredibly similar.
Mantle wore the yoke of replacing the irreverent Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio. This was a daunting task in itself, disregarding that the setting was America’s largest city and he was a member of the most successful franchise in the history of American sports in the third consecutive year of a five-year title run.
Article comments
1 - Douglas Mays
Right on!! Yeah, I remember that bone crunching crash into the outfield wall. And his smile crossing the plate and being mobbed by team members in getting past the Yankees.
A true, pure human. It is good that there are Ken Griffeys out there to polish the tarnish the sport has collected.
His move to Cincy was cool. We miss him here in Seattle, but it was the magnet to go home and play for the team he grew up on. That is pure in intention, no? Well, I have Cincy roots in my family history anyway. My other favorite team...
Kenny rocks!
DM
2 - Tony
Good point on the Cinncy move. I know he took a lot less then he could have made else where to go home, and you're right, that is another example of the pure intentions behind this great ball player.
Thanks for the comments and I'm really glad you enjoyed the piece. It's important to remember, especially for the very young baseball fans, that there are still people like Griff out there playing ball.
3 - Russ Evenhuis
Favorite Jr memory: Smiling under the pile at home plate after scoring from first on an Edgar Martinez double in Game 5 against the Yankees in 1995.
Worst Jr memory: Listening to his first press conference in Cinncinnati on the radio. I put my Griffey jersey in storage after that.
4 - Douglas Mays
Edgar Martinez! Another positive example of those polishing the tarnish off of baseball's negative influences! Becoming a Hall of Fame candidate, they say...
Yeah, when Griffey burned the bases from first and made it home in game 5! Is that the beauty of the game, or what!? His smile gleeming from under a pile of teammates is...priceless.
Those press conferences are a tough gig to deal with, no matter who you are...
best,
DM
5 - Tan The Man
"Immediately it was evident that his talent was unique."
-- And even that sounds understated.
6 - Thomas Doan
when i worked for a photo company in Seattle, the photographer for the Mariners and Seahawks at the time, was a guy name Corky Trewin. Well, during that time Griffey was just an up and coming player for Seattle and he happened to make the cover of SI..The Natural. So my boss knew the guy at the magazine distribution company in Seattle, so I got about 20 copies or so of the Natural mag and asked corky to have Griffey autograph them for me..Low and behold, I only got 3 back and I think Griffey took the rest. Anyway, I have 3 copise of that SI mag with his autograph, in very good condition, in a protective cover.
And I searched the internet and they don't exist..Can you please tell me the value of them?
Thanks
Thomas Doan
Federal Way, Washington
7 - Douglas Mays
Thomas. That is way mass cool! Autograph 'green' magazine? With Ken Griffey Jr! I'm sure it has handsome value. You can probably get what you want for it. Put one on EBay when he hits his 600th home run. Put it out for $600. a buck for each home run. It will happen this season.
Anyway, collectors items are cool.
DM
8 - Jason
Great piece, I grew up and still live in Seattle and had the privilege of watching Griffey Jr. play from day one, a guy I knew at school who collected cards told me "watch this young guy we drafted #1 last year, he's going to be a really good ball player" so I starting watching him during that spring training and haven’t looked away yet :)
Every word you say about him is in your piece is absolutely true… if your not from Seattle and didn’t have the chance to see him play everyday in his prime, it may be hard to understand how exciting it really was to watch him develop, his talent is truly a gift from god, it seemed like every day he had a clutch hit, made a catch or hit a moon shot that put your jaw on the floor, I wanted to thank you for reminding everyone how special he really IS (not was) and that he still shined brighter than any other player even at a time when players were going to extremes to try to equal him, I cant wait for his to return to Seattle around the trade deadline or when he signs as a free agent at the end of the year, "The house that Griffey built" hasn’t felt the same without him :) thank you and take care, J
9 - Justin
Junior was a great player and a great person. The people of Seattle will never forget what he did, both on the field and for the community. Thanks Ken, for being such a positive part of my childhood.
10 - markydenow
How does the blogger know that Griffey never used PEDs? Griffey hit a freakishly high # of homers, got injured as often as fragile steroid users are alleged to, and was considered a deeply private, moody guy by some teammates.
Griffey was a great player, but remains somewhat overrated in my opinion. He won multiple gold gloves, but his defensive stats were never in the range of guys like Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter, Jim Edmonds..you know, the really good CFs. He played really deep, which allowed him to snag some homers but allowed many sigles to fall in infront of him.
As a hitter, he displyed great power, but his averages were nothing great for the high scoring 90s, and he never drew the large # of walks that top hitters like Bonds, Bagwell, and Frank Thomas did. He was often the 3rd best hitter on his team (after A-Rod and Edgar Mrtinez), and his team didn't win anything.
In fact, I would argue that Seattle replaced Griffey with a superior defensive outfielder (Mike Cameron), and improved drastically when he left. Griff was no mantle, he was more like Dale Murphy or Duke Snider. Fine player, obvious HOFer, but not the best playuer of his era, not even close.
That was Barry Lamar Bonds, who walked up to 151 times in the 1990s, stole up to 52 bases, hit .336 in an awful htter's park, and won 3 MVPs to the Kid's 1.
And Bonds was just getting started...
11 - markydenow
How does the blogger know that Griffey never used PEDs? Griffey hit a freakishly high # of homers, got injured as often as fragile steroid users are alleged to, and was considered a deeply private, moody guy by some teammates.
Griffey was a great player, but remains somewhat overrated in my opinion. He won multiple gold gloves, but his defensive stats were never in the range of guys like Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter, Jim Edmonds..you know, the really good CFs. He played really deep, which allowed him to snag some homers but allowed many sigles to fall in infront of him.
As a hitter, he displyed great power, but his averages were nothing great for the high scoring 90s, and he never drew the large # of walks that top hitters like Bonds, Bagwell, and Frank Thomas did. He was often the 3rd best hitter on his team (after A-Rod and Edgar Mrtinez), and his team didn't win anything.
In fact, I would argue that Seattle replaced Griffey with a superior defensive outfielder (Mike Cameron), and improved drastically when he left. Griff was no mantle, he was more like Dale Murphy or Duke Snider. Fine player, obvious HOFer, but not the best playuer of his era, not even close.
That was Barry Lamar Bonds, who walked up to 151 times in the 1990s, stole up to 52 bases, hit .336 in an awful htter's park, and won 3 MVPs to the Kid's 1.
And Bonds was just getting started...
12 - markydenow
Sorry for the double post. But while I'm on the subject, Mantle won a huge # of rings, didn't he? Bonds pushed some so-so teams into the playoffs multiple times, and came within a wisker's breadth of winning a World Series (his 2002 playoff performance was possibly the greatest of all time), while Griffey NEVER made the Series with a hugely tlented series of Mariners teams, and the Reds declined precipitously after they signed him.
Also, look at Griffey's baserunning. He never stole 30 bases, even in his prime (Bonds had over 500), and Junior grounded into double plays far more frequently than Bonds.
Onc again, a fine player but a tad overrated by people who are perhaps sneakily looking to criticize Barry Bonds.
13 - Tony
You make some interesting points. I'll respond point by point.
1. How do I know Griffey never used PED?
Well, I guess anyone could have used PED's. Nolan Ryan's close friend and coauthor of his book Tom House was one of the first admitted steroid users (and he played in the 70's) so who is to say Ryan didn't juice?
You have too examine the evidence available. While Griffey was often injured this is a far cry from the physical steroid break down seen by players such as Canseco or Juan Gonzalez.
He never had odd state jumps, his phyical attributes never changed like bonds, and he's never been implicated by anyone.
2. The reference to his batting average.
The "high souring" 90's were, first all, based in power numbers, and secondly, were the product of steroids in most cases. The point is that Griff put up these numbers without enhancement (assuming you believe this).
His is a career .290 hitter with 2568 hits. Highly respectable for a power hitter.
Batting average, in itself, is a highly over rated stat. Griff posts a career .374 OBP and a career .927 OPS. These stats say far more about his hitting prowless.
3. Griffey is no Mantle.
While this point is entirely arguable compare the life time stats.
Griffey: .290/594/1707 .374 .927
Mantle: .298/536/1509 .421 .978
Now obviously Mantle's sabermetric stats are better but going by traditional stats they are rather close.
The point of this comparision was to draw a parallel between two amazingly talented players whose potential was never truely seen over a full career.
As for the championships; Mantle came up in 1951. This was the third year of a five year consecutive world series streak.
While Edgar, Tino, Jay Buhner, and later A-rod along with Randy Johnson were great they hardly compare to the players Mantle played with on the Yankees.
From a hitters standpoint you had Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Mize for a little bit, Joe Collins, Hank Bauer, the list goes on.
On their pitching staff they had, over the course, Vic Rashi, Allie Reynoalds, Johhny Sain, White Ford, Bob Turley, and on and on.
That doesn't even get into the 60's and the M&M boys days. Griffey never had that level of protection in the lineup nor did he have the pitching to win games. You're comparing some of the greatest teams of all time a team that lost to the Indians the one year they made a run. Hard to blaim that on Griffey.
4. Griffey couldn't steal bases.
When a guy hits 600 homeruns and very few singles you can't expect his steal numbers to be that prolific. The real stat to look at here is his sucess rate of 80%. When he did use his speed, he did it wisely.
5. Griffey was not the best player of his era.
This is a totally subjective and relative statement. What constitutes the "best" player?
Was Sandy Koufax not the "best" or one of the best pitchers of his era because he only had a couple good seasons?
Again, the assetion that he is arguably the best of his era was based on the pure talent he possessed. The numbers were skewed by injuries, which again is the point.
You could bust on Mantle because finished with a sub .300 average for his career but when you look at his years like 1956 when he won the triple crown its easy to see that he was far better then that.
I respect your arugment on Bonds and, in certain ways, you can make a number of arugments for different players in the 90;s. On pure, untainted, as of yet unquestioned, talent I'm sticking with Griff.
14 - alex
i think ken griffy jr is amazingly asome