Seattle Mariners, Ken Griffey Jr.: The Kid Retires a Man

Ken Griffey Jr. entered major league baseball, in 1989. The son of former major league ball player, Ken Griffey, the 19 year old was referred to simply as, the kid. Now, after 22 years in the league, Griffey Jr.'s youthful appearance has remained, but his body has aged, and after a career laced with injuries, the kid, now a man, has retired.

In a time when many of his peers were enhancing their performance, and bodies, Griffey Jr. played the game free of synthetic assistance. When his body gave out, Griffey Jr. patiently waited for it to heal on its own, and then worked to get himself back on the field. While homerun records were being broken, Jr. seemed disinterested. Griffey Jr. never came close to the single season homerun record. His highest single season homerun total was, 56, which he accomplished in back to back years, 1997, and 1998. When you look at Griffey Jr.'s stats, 630 home runs in 9801 at bats, it's hard not to wonder what might have been had he stayed healthy.

What's more tragic then the lost playing time, is Ken Griffey Jr. never played in a World Series. Spending most of his career in Seattle, and Cincinnati, Griffey Jr. never bolted for greener pastures. He stayed on teams ill-equipped to make legitimate runs to a World Series. He stayed, and simply played the game of baseball to the best of his abilities.

In an era of the selfish athlete, Ken Griffey Jr. was a refreshing change, a man who cared more about the team, then any individual award he received, and the awards were many. During his career, Griffey Jr. was awarded, the ROY, MVP in 1997, silver sluggers, gold gloves, along with several all-star appearances. As impressive as his awards are, they never seemed to impress the man who was receiving them.

As players were giving themselves an extra advantage, to be able to hit the ball further, or recover from injuries quicker, Ken Griffey Jr. played the game as it was meant to be played. As if from an earlier era, Griffey Jr. showed us an example of a world class athlete. During his career, which spanned over 2 decades, Griffey Jr. was never an embarrassment to his team, or sport.

Ken Griffey Jr. was a fun player to watch, his talent at the plate, and on the field, was immense. When his career is discussed, someone will most likely bring up, what might have been, stating he could have reached 700 home runs, and 3,000 hits. Though, I suspect the number Ken Griffey Jr. is most disappointed in, is 0 world series.

　

Sources:

http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=115135
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/griffke02.shtml
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=2148