Tuesday, June 10, 2008

GRIFFEY, GRIFFEY, GRIFFEY!

Through all the steroid fuss, through Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jose Canseco, there has been Griffey.

Ken Griffey, Jr. has never had a drop of bad media in relation to steroid allegations. He has always played the game the right way, and if it weren't for a plethora of injuries over the last eight years, The Kid could be challenging Barry Bonds for the most coveted and most controversial record in the game.

If Griffey owned that record, there would be no asterisk. Unfortunately, this is why you play the games, and injuries are a part of baseball.

Still, it's great to see The Kid reach the 600 home run milestone. Throughout the 90's with the Mariners, Griffey received the hype that Alex Rodriguez has now. At the time, he was the quickest to many home run milestones (300, 350, 400, 450), now he places second on those lists, surpassed only by A-Rod.

There are other lists that Griffey tops in my opinion, that are more important that quickest to 300 home runs.

1) Sweetest swing in baseball. There's only one swing I've seen come remotely close to as perfect and as beautiful as Griffey's, and that's John Olerud. Both were prolific offensive machines in their prime, both batting from the left side, and both know how to play the game.
2) Most respected player in the game. I can't say Griffey is atop the list, but he belongs up there with the best of them. When he finally made his return to Seattle in '07, the standing ovation he got was only rivaled by the one Mike Piazza received when he returned to New York. Sosa wasn't treated like that when he went back to Chicago. Bonds never got royal treatment when he played as a Giant in Pittsburgh, and the list can go on.


Griffey flies under the radar because of everything else going on in the game, but the list of his accolades are ridiculously long. Here's to Griffey, here's to a few more healthy years, and here's to one of the best players of this generation.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was hoping you'd write about Griffey. Definitely the sweetest swing in the game, I was talking to a friend about him and we both brought up his swing at the same time.

Its unfortunate that Griffey hitting 600 isn't as talked about as others that hit 500. If you have to take steriods to get your name in every new headline, then I'm glad Griffey's name is kept out of them. Class act all the way and not only has the sweetest swing, but the sweetest smile with that backwards cap. That'll probably be his HOF bust.

Travis Miller said...

hahaha that's cute. do you have a little crush?


i do ;)

Anonymous said...

a bigger crush than you do!