After 22 seasons and 630 home runs, it's over - Ken Griffey Jr. has announced his retirement. Here are some links that start evaluating Griffey's place in the game's history:
- Tom Singer and Doug Miller of MLB.com note that Griffey and the 1995 Mariners may have "saved baseball in the Emerald City and basically built Safeco Field."
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says fans will remember Griffey for being clean. Junior was never linked to performance enhancing drugs.
- Scott Miller of CBS Sports says Griffey had two lives in Seattle: the "very first baseball all-timer Seattle could call its own" and the elder statesman.
- Danny Knobler of CBS Sports points out that Griffey retired 75 years to the day after Babe Ruth did.
- Tim Lincecum tells Steve Kroner of the San Francisco Chronicle that Junior was "the epitome of Seattle baseball."
- Jay Bruce grew up idolizing Griffey and eventually became his teammate, as MLB.com's Mark Sheldon reports.
- Yahoo's Tim Brown says Griffey "had no peers" on the baseball diamond.
- ESPN.com's Rob Neyer says "maybe [Griffey] wasn't as good as he could have been. But he was better than almost everyone else."
Baseball loves Ken Griffey Jr. Safeco, the house The Kid Built. Junior is probably the best all around talent the game has ever seen
“The House The Kid Built”, you heard it hear first 🙂
Talent … maybe. Player … absolutely not.What could have been with a better attitude and better health. As is he will be one of the greats. No question – he could have been THE GREAT if things had turned out slightly differently. Neyer’s quote is spot on.
“Talent … maybe.” ? are you retarded? better attititude?? i hate to write a comment like this, but seriously?
wow congrats that is the stupidest comment I have seen on here…maybe you’re thinking about milton bradley? Griffey is one of the greatest players to ever play baseball.
One of my Seattle peers actually has very poor things to say about the kid. He seems to have some deep animosity over the way Griffey left Seattle for Cinci that haven’t healed…
look on the bright side, if griffey and aroid didn’t leave seattle when they did, then the mariners may have never signed ichiro.
Neyer’s comment is about right. Griffey is his generation’s Mickey Mantle. One of the inner circle all time greats, but you can’t help but wonder if he couldn’t have been one of the two or three greatest ever.
Watching Jr. in the early days is why I love baseball. You could see how much he loved to play. When you see him rob the HR and run back in smiling (NOT pounding his chest yelling pissed off at everybody) or you see him score a game winning run and be under the pile smiling, it is definitely a joy to watch.
It also must be a great moment for his father to watch his son, not only follow in his footsteps, but surpass…
I’m so glad he was never linked in any way to roids.
Enjoy the H.O.F. Ken! You earned it!
“When you see him rob the HR and run back in smiling (NOT pounding his chest yelling pissed off at everybody)”
I really dislike this topic/argument. Two seperate players can play the same way, yet one gets labeled as loving playing a kids game, while the other can get labeled as not being a professional and showing respect for the game. 1 guy can play hard-nosed and he gets labeled as being ‘old school’ and not buddy-buddy with his opponents like the modern players, while another guy can be labeled as taking the game too seriously.
Just leave it as Junior is an all-time great plauer, at the plate and in the field.
I disagree but that’s fine…
When Ken grabbed that ball, his reaction was more like “OH MY GOD YESS!!!” pure joy.
I’m talking about guys who hit walk offs then have lame choreographed dances. Or NBA players who pull down their tops to show “they have heart”…it’s all B.S.
I appreciate sportsmanship.
And I don’t know how people can claim what is pure joy and what is BS. People have different reactions to the same play, while you can claim Griffey was pure joy, I’m sure the guy who hit the ball could say stop smiling and get your butt in the dugout.
Jared Allen does a choreographed thing after each one of his sacks, does that mean he doesnt have any ‘pure joy’ after ever sack?
Again, everyone likes Griffey so his smile is pure joy, if we dont like a player then his smile is disrespectful because someone would say “Bob Gibson never smiled on the field, ever” or whatever.
I don’t think you get what I’m saying. It’s cool though. You are free to have your opinion as am I.
Peace
i know i am going to open a can of worms and it might just be paranoia due to the steroid era but I cant see how Jr did what he did clean.
just seeing his body type progress over the years as well as the injuries makes for compelling arguments for ‘roid usage. (they are the same arguments used against Bonds)
don’t get me wrong I am not saying Bonds and Griffey are in the same boat (Bonds obviously abused steroids) but you have to at least question it in the back of your mind.
i have absolutely no evidence to support this, and if he did do it clean it is sad that he did it in this era.
remember, everyone thought Arod was the clean savior of ‘the record’ at one point.
Right now the entire city of Seattle omniloathes you.
I want to think the Kid was clean and will until proven otherwise… which makes me wonder when will Canseco be broke and write a new book that says Griffey was a juicer. I think Griffey was a rare talent. There are players you can point to throughout history who just had a feel for the game that is rarely found. Players like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, etc just had a talent that few will ever have. I think Griffey had that same talent. He should have been Aaron’s successor, but the years of injuries just made it not be.
joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/03/01/cheating-and-c…
“but Mays does not deny that he may have used amphetamines as a player. In the book, his quote is as follows:
“My problem was if I could stay on the field. I would go to the doctor and would say to the doctor, ‘Hey, I need something to keep me going. Could you give me some sort of vitamin?’ I don’t know what they put in there, and I never asked a question about anything.”
Well … there you go. I don’t think there’s much question based on that quote that Mays used amphetamines in his day. Shoot, just about every player did. Pete Rose did. Hank Aaron admitted trying it.”
So lets not act like players were clean until 2000 or something, there’s been performance enhancing stuff around for decades.
Did I ever say otherwise? Considering the comments about how long “leaded coffee” was in the clubhouses I believe that athletes have been trying to gain some advantage, chemical or otherwise, since the beginning of competitive play. Hell Don Sutton is a hall of famer and was considered a notorious cheater.
Well you mentioned how certain guys had rare talent that other guys just dont have, and really we have no clue if that is true or not.
While there are some things in history that will always be a mystery I do believe there are and were some players who did have a rare talent at baseball. I do not believe all greats were cheats but I’m certainly aware there are some.
see this is my argument with steroids too. we do not know who took what, if anything. but one thing i do know is i could take all the steroids in the world and i wouldnt be playing for the yankees. heck, i probably wouldnt be playing for a single A team. All steroids, HGH, amphetamines, etc do is ENHANCE a players ability. it doesnt create it out of thin air. while i dont think big mac or bonds would have obliterated the HR records like they did, I am pretty sure they would still be considered some of the best players ever.
I do not see why we cant just call it the steroid era and be done with it and let the players get in to the hall and the record books.
I am sick of baseball trying to pretend they are holier than thou. its never been more apparent than with this whole galaraga incedent
Griffey’s injuries came from playing the game hard. Breaking his wrist trying to make catches at the wall. I believe he also broke his ankle doing the same thing.
Ken never had the big, bulky body of a roid user(ie, Bonds), he was one of the leaner MLB players. He had the perfect swing and was the definition of 5 tools if ever there was one. He had more talent than Bonds and if he had NOT played as hard(and therefore avoid some of the injuries) he would have 800 career HRs…
You, obviously need to do some research as to what drugs give certain effects on the body. I truly thinkg the kid was clean, but this comment of yours is not valid. get out of the media and do some research of your own dude, your better, and your comments are usually better than this.
It’s a shame he couldn’t go towards Barry Bond’s homerun record.
in my mind, its still aaron’s record.
why? evolution.
It’s nither. It’s always has been Babe Ruth’s He was the one that set the standard and Aaron and Bonds just hit more than him. But Bonds is a steroid cheat and doesn’t deserve any record he holds.
Wannabe purist… Any time performance enhancers are brought up, majority of those that do, do not know what they are talking about. Performance enhancers have ALWAYS been in sports that involved money. Do some research concerning your comment. A corked ball, was that not considered a performance enhancer at the time? It competely and totally was.