All Good Things Must Come to an End

Ken Griffey Jr.’s career may be over, but it was one hell of a ride. I remember the day that Griffey got traded to the Reds, the city was electric. I was just starting to get interested in baseball and I remember everyone saying that the Reds just got one of the best players in the game. I really had no idea who Ken Griffey Jr. was, but I soon found out. It looked like the Reds were going to be good for quite some time after getting Griffey, but as we all know that never happened. Griffey’s time in Cincinnati was plagued with injuries and he never became the player here that he was in Seattle, but he still won the hearts of millions.

Griffey soon became my favorite player and even though he was hurt a lot during his time in a Reds uniform, he was the face of the organization. Whether at home or on the road, Griffey received the loudest careers of any Reds player. He was a great person, considered one of the nicest guys in the game, and a great player. And in my opinion he had the best home run swing in the history of baseball. Seeing Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run was a thing of beauty and watching him play baseball was absolutely remarkable. Whenever I hear Marty Brennaman’s calls of Griffey’s 500th and 600th career home runs I still get chills.

Griffey got his career started in Cincinnati at my Alma Matter, Archbishop Moeller High School. Moeller has always been known for being a football powerhouse, but when Griffey was a student it was all about baseball. Scouts were coming from all over the country to see the Moeller baseball team, not the football team. I’m not sure if this story is true or not, but it would not surprise me if it is. Moeller use to play some of their games at Gower Park in Sharonville, OH and across the street from Gower is the Sharonville rec-center. Apparently at one of Moeller’s games Griffey hit a home run into the rec-center pool across the street. The pool is not exactly close to the field, so that must have been an absolute bomb. But that was the kind of player Griffey was and he became one of the most anticipated rookies in the history of baseball.

Griffey was taken No. 1 overall by the Seattle Mariners in the 1987 draft and the rest is history. He went on to hit 630 career home runs, 5th on the all-time list. In my eyes he is 4th because Barry Bonds cheated and his numbers should not even count. He played in 2,671 games and was a .284 lifetime hitter. He drove in 1,836 runs, won 10 Gold Gloves (one of the greatest defensive outfielders ever), 13-time All-Star, 1992 All-Star Game MVP, 1997 AL MVP, and in 1999 became of member of the All-Century. Griffey managed to do all of this without the help of steroids. Not to mention he and Ken Griffey Sr. became the first father-son combo to homer in the same game.

Griffey played at the height of the steroid era and he was never once accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs. What Griffey did was pure talent and during that time that’s pretty special. While guys like Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa were taking steroids to enhance their games, Griffey just kept on playing using nothing, but his God given talent. Even when Sosa and McGwire were chasing after the home run record, Griffey was right behind them and they had an advantage. Griffey was so good that he was still better than some of the guys who took steroids. Now, if that’s not greatness then I don’t know what is. I think that Griffey’s legacy will be that he did it the right way, when others in his time didn’t.

I have never been to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, but I think that I just might have to make the trip in 5 years to see Griffey being inducted. He is without a doubt a first ballot Hall a Famer and he should be a unanimous selection. If one of the baseball writers does not vote for him they shouldn’t be allowed to vote anymore. If I were compiling a team of the nine greatest baseball players to ever play, Ken Griffey Jr. would be playing centerfield.

Griffey, you made your family, the city of Cincinnati, Moeller High School, and baseball fans around the world very proud. You showed the world how baseball was supposed to be played and will go down as one of the greatest baseball players ever. Hope to see you stay in the game the rest of your life because the game just isn’t the same without you. Thanks for the memories Griffey and helping me to fall in love with the Cincinnati Reds and the game of baseball.