Ken Griffey Jr.: Difference between revisions

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	Griffey, Jr.'s career began with the ] in ]. He won the American League ] in ], hitting .304, with 56 ]s and 147 ]. He signed a long-term contract with the Cincinnati Reds following the 1999 season. He has been injury-prone since joining the Reds. Ken Griffey, Sr. has been one of the team's coaches. During Griffey Jr.'s tenure with the Seattle Mariners, he established himself over the years as one of baseball's premier players, with the potential of being considered one of the greatest players ever. He was a multi-dimensional player during a time when more and more players usually excelled at either hitting or fielding, but rarely both. Griffey could hit with high average, batting over .300 for seven of the ten years of the 1990s, and hit with power as well, by hitting 422 home runs during the decade. His abilities in centerfield arguably were paralleled by no one. Griffey often made over the shoulder catches, the kind that ] immortalized during the 1954 ], with a play simply known as ]. For these reasons, Ken Griffey, Jr. was one of baseball's most respected and well liked players during the 1990s, as one could routinely see his picture on cereal boxes and television commercials, and he was a mainstay of the ] during the decade.		Griffey, Jr.'s career began with the ] in ]. He won the American League ] in ], hitting .304, with 56 ]s and 147 ]. He signed a long-term contract with the Cincinnati Reds following the 1999 season. He has been injury-prone since joining the Reds. Ken Griffey, Sr. has been one of the team's coaches. During Griffey Jr.'s tenure with the Seattle Mariners, he established himself over the years as one of baseball's premier players, with the potential of being considered one of the greatest players ever. He was a multi-dimensional player during a time when more and more players usually excelled at either hitting or fielding, but rarely both. Griffey could hit with high average, batting over .300 for seven of the ten years of the 1990s, and hit with power as well, by hitting 422 home runs during the decade. His abilities in centerfield arguably were paralleled by no one. Griffey often made over the shoulder catches, the kind that ] immortalized during the 1954 ], with a play simply known as ]. For these reasons, Ken Griffey, Jr. was one of baseball's most respected and well liked players during the 1990s, as one could routinely see his picture on cereal boxes and television commercials, and he was a mainstay of the ] during the decade.

	Despite Griffey, Jr.'s fantastic performance, and seemingly bright future in Seattle, he nonetheless became disenchanted with playing for the Mariners. Publicly, he expressed frustration over what he believed a lack of commitment to winning from the management of the Mariners. Also, there was speculation that Griffey was very unhappy with Seattle's new ], in which it was much more difficult to maintain the level of power he had while playing in the ].		Despite Griffey, Jr.'s fantastic performance, and seemingly bright future in Seattle, he nonetheless became disenchanted with playing for the Mariners. Publicly, he expressed frustration over what he believed a lack of commitment to winning from the management of the Mariners. Also, there was speculation that Griffey was very unhappy with Seattle's new ], in which it was much more difficult to maintain the level of power he had while playing in the ]. It's been reported that Griffey Jr., among other Mariners players, requested the architects of Safeco Field bring the fences closer to home plate, however much to the players' chagrin, the architects designed a park with a deep center field. This, combined with Safeco being at sea level, and Seattle's generally dense, moisture laden atmosphere, help create a "pitcher friendly" ball park. One time in the summer of 1999, it was reported that Ken Griffey Jr. hit a ball that would've been a home run in the Kingdome, but turned into a long fly-out to center in Safeco. Griffey Jr. then stormed angrily to the Mariner dugout telephone, called the Mariner's general manager, and demanded to be traded that day. Although Griffey Jr. has always denied his concern with baseball records, his behavior seemed to indicate in 1999 that he definitely had his ambitions set towards breaking ]'s all time home run record.

			Griffey Jr. ultimately got his wish, and started the 2000 season with his father's former team, the ]. The beginning of the 2000 season looked extremely bright for him - he was given an extremely warm welcome by the fans of Cincinatti, and Griffey Jr. was reportedly very pleased to be playing on his father's former team. On the open market, Griffey Jr. could have made several million dollars more than the contract offered by the small market and notoriously penurious Reds, thus showing how much he wanted to play for them. However, the 2000 season marked what has become the long, steady, and painful decline of Griffey's Jr's superstar status. Although his statistics during this season were respectable, they were far below his previous level of play, by hitting .271 with 40 home runs, and playing 145 games. From the 2001 season onwards, Griffey Jr. has been plagued by various injuries, and the last 3 years have seen season ending injuries. Many speculate the injuries are a result of a decade of playing on the Kingdome's artificial turf, which players claim is like playing the game on asphalt. Whatever their causes, injuries have forced Griffey Jr. to play in only 206 out of 486 games in the last three years. Consequently, he is not nearly the ubiquitous presence he once was on cereal boxes, television commercials, and the All-Star game.

	In ], Griffey, Jr. avoided major injury during the first half of the season and on ] became the 20th player to reach 500 career home runs. However, the injury bug struck again just before the ] break; he suffered a partial hamstring tear, knocking him out of the All-Star Game and putting him on the disabled list.		In ], Griffey, Jr. avoided major injury during the first half of the season and on ] became the 20th player to reach 500 career home runs. However, the injury bug struck again just before the ] break; he suffered a partial hamstring tear, knocking him out of the All-Star Game and putting him on the disabled list.

Revision as of 22:03, 4 December 2004

File:Baseball ken griffey jr 2004.jpg

Ken Griffey, Jr. in 2004

George Kenneth Griffey, Jr. (born November 21, 1969 in Donora, Pennsylvania) is an American Major League Baseball player. He was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father, Ken Griffey, Sr., played most of his best years with the Cincinnati Reds. The younger Griffey played at Moeller High School, a Catholic school in Cincinnati better known for its football program. As a Major League Baseball player he has compiled superior hitting statistics, and was been awarded a Gold Glove for defensive excellence in 10 consecutive seasons, from 1990 to 1999, while playing center field. Griffey, Jr. played on the same team as his father with the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991.

File:Griffey artwork.jpg

Ken Griffey Jr. painted on a wall in downtown Seattle, 1994. The tick marks indicate how many home runs he'd hit up to that point.

Griffey, Jr.'s career began with the Seattle Mariners in 1989. He won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1997, hitting .304, with 56 home runs and 147 runs batted in. He signed a long-term contract with the Cincinnati Reds following the 1999 season. He has been injury-prone since joining the Reds. Ken Griffey, Sr. has been one of the team's coaches. During Griffey Jr.'s tenure with the Seattle Mariners, he established himself over the years as one of baseball's premier players, with the potential of being considered one of the greatest players ever. He was a multi-dimensional player during a time when more and more players usually excelled at either hitting or fielding, but rarely both. Griffey could hit with high average, batting over .300 for seven of the ten years of the 1990s, and hit with power as well, by hitting 422 home runs during the decade. His abilities in centerfield arguably were paralleled by no one. Griffey often made over the shoulder catches, the kind that Willie Mays immortalized during the 1954 World Series, with a play simply known as the Catch. For these reasons, Ken Griffey, Jr. was one of baseball's most respected and well liked players during the 1990s, as one could routinely see his picture on cereal boxes and television commercials, and he was a mainstay of the All Star Game during the decade.

Despite Griffey, Jr.'s fantastic performance, and seemingly bright future in Seattle, he nonetheless became disenchanted with playing for the Mariners. Publicly, he expressed frustration over what he believed a lack of commitment to winning from the management of the Mariners. Also, there was speculation that Griffey was very unhappy with Seattle's new Safeco_Field, in which it was much more difficult to maintain the level of power he had while playing in the Kingdome. It's been reported that Griffey Jr., among other Mariners players, requested the architects of Safeco Field bring the fences closer to home plate, however much to the players' chagrin, the architects designed a park with a deep center field. This, combined with Safeco being at sea level, and Seattle's generally dense, moisture laden atmosphere, help create a "pitcher friendly" ball park. One time in the summer of 1999, it was reported that Ken Griffey Jr. hit a ball that would've been a home run in the Kingdome, but turned into a long fly-out to center in Safeco. Griffey Jr. then stormed angrily to the Mariner dugout telephone, called the Mariner's general manager, and demanded to be traded that day. Although Griffey Jr. has always denied his concern with baseball records, his behavior seemed to indicate in 1999 that he definitely had his ambitions set towards breaking Hank Aaron's all time home run record.

Griffey Jr. ultimately got his wish, and started the 2000 season with his father's former team, the Cincinatti Reds. The beginning of the 2000 season looked extremely bright for him - he was given an extremely warm welcome by the fans of Cincinatti, and Griffey Jr. was reportedly very pleased to be playing on his father's former team. On the open market, Griffey Jr. could have made several million dollars more than the contract offered by the small market and notoriously penurious Reds, thus showing how much he wanted to play for them. However, the 2000 season marked what has become the long, steady, and painful decline of Griffey's Jr's superstar status. Although his statistics during this season were respectable, they were far below his previous level of play, by hitting .271 with 40 home runs, and playing 145 games. From the 2001 season onwards, Griffey Jr. has been plagued by various injuries, and the last 3 years have seen season ending injuries. Many speculate the injuries are a result of a decade of playing on the Kingdome's artificial turf, which players claim is like playing the game on asphalt. Whatever their causes, injuries have forced Griffey Jr. to play in only 206 out of 486 games in the last three years. Consequently, he is not nearly the ubiquitous presence he once was on cereal boxes, television commercials, and the All-Star game.

In 2004, Griffey, Jr. avoided major injury during the first half of the season and on June 20 became the 20th player to reach 500 career home runs. However, the injury bug struck again just before the All-Star break; he suffered a partial hamstring tear, knocking him out of the All-Star Game and putting him on the disabled list.

Ken Griffey Jr. finished the 2004 season on the disabled list. He suffered a complete rupture of his right hamstring in San Francisco on August 11. The play in question occurred at SBC Park in a game against the San Francisco Giants. Griffey was starting in right field for the first time in his 16-year major league career when he raced toward the gap to try to cut off a ball before it got to the wall. He slid and did so, but in the process hyperextended his right leg. He later came out of the game, complaining of "tightness" in the hamstring exacerbated by chilly conditions in San Francisco. But there was far more to it than anyone realized at the time.

External link

Ken Griffey, Jr.'s career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com

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