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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. During Griffey Jr's tenunre with the Seattle Mariners, he established himself over the years as one of baseballs 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 1990's, 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 baseballs most respected and well liked players during the 1990's, 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.
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.
See also
External link
- Ken Griffey, Jr.'s career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
- 1990 American League All-Stars
- 1991 American League All-Stars
- 1992 American League All-Stars
- 1993 American League All-Stars
- 1994 American League All-Stars
- 1995 American League All-Stars
- 1996 American League All-Stars
- 1997 American League All-Stars
- 1998 American League All-Stars
- 1999 American League All-Stars
- 2000 National League All-Stars
- 2004 National League All-Stars
- Baseball players
- Cincinnati Reds players
- Seattle Mariners players
- 1969 births