Throughout the 90's, Ken Griffey Jr. was referred to in the realm of sports as 'The Kid.'
The golden boy in baseball. Hitting towering home runs with the cleanest stroke in the majors. Climbing the wall in center field to come up with eye-popping catches was almost expected of him. Winning homerun derby's with ease and his hat flipped backwards was a joy to watch. Junior was the best of his time.
Was? Meaning he isn't anymore?
The 1998 season seemed to be the one that burried Junior's image of being the greatest. The home run race involving muscle heads Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa took center stage in Major League Baseball. With the league's focus swirling around McGwire and Sosa, Junior took a back seat to all of the hype.
Following the 1999 season, Seattle traded Junior back to his roots in Cincinnati. Let me assure you, as an avid Reds fan and being from Cincy, Reds fans couldn't be more optimistic. However, as the first season passed by, then the second, and third, that optimism turned into a mix of disappointment and criticism as Junior delt with a series of injuries. Baseball fans began to forget about Griffey as he was helplessly sitting on the IR.
Oh, yeah, let's not forget about Barry. At the turn of the millenium, Bonds demanded baseball's attention with his record-setting homerun season and unbelievable numbers. Yet Bonds is still Bonds - having problems in the clubhouse, steroid accusations, and being an overall jackass to the media. Unless you're from San Franciso, it's pretty hard to love Barry.
As of late, Bonds is under an extreme amount of criticism for allegedly using steroids. So is McGwire and Sosa. The debate goes on whether or not these players should be allowed into Cooperstown.
Yet, everyone seems to ignore the fact that Ken Griffey Junior has quietly broke into the top 10 homerun hitters of all time. He's done it while dealing with season-ending injuries, not to mention doing it while everyone's heads were turned to McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds. He's also done it, (GASP!), without the help of 'roids (as far as we know). There is no doubt that one day Griffey will earn his spot in the Hall and rightfully so.
Junior still is the best of his generation, as well as the best of those who do it without any help from the juice. Baseball needs to give Griffey the credit where the credit is well overdue.
Page 2 on espn.com had an article about this topic as well. Here it is:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=pearlman/070222
2 comments:
if Griffey had never gotten injured, he might still be a stud. It's one of those situations that is sad because his career is tarnished because of all those stints on the DL. Well, maybe tarnished isnt the right word, but you know what i mean.
It is definately sad that Griffey had to have a career filled with injuries. I don't know if Griffey would have been the best of all time had he not been injured, but I do believe that he had the talent to do so. He was both one of the top 3 home run hitters and top 3 defensive outfielders when he was in Seattle. It is most sad for the fans because I am sure that most of us would rather see Griffey breaking the all time home run record instead of Bonds.
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