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Ken Griffey Jr.

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File:Baseball ken griffey jr 2004.jpg
Ken Griffey, Jr. in 2004
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.

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.

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.

In 2004, Griffey, Jr. had escaped major injury during the first half of the season. On June 20, he 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.

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