The sports world is agog about the retirement news of Ken Griffey Jr.
One might say he's been retired for 11 seasons already.
Why are most people enamoured about this guy? A 22 year "career" with only one decent year in the last 11. Can we say O.J. with San Francisco? Jerry Rice with the Raiders/Broncos/Seahawks/deargodwhywon'tyougoawayanddie? Maybe Dale Murphy with the Rockies?
Certain Hall of Famer? Where? At the Mayo clinic? Dale Murphy had more MVP's, more home run titles, and was the dominant player of his era. Griffey was never the man. Never.
Tom Singer of MLB.com says that "Griffey built Safeco Field" - yeah, he heard the Union had Blue Cross.
Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com says "Griffey will always remembered for being clean." - of course, if those wounds get dirty, they'll get infected. Nasty business.
Tim Lincecum told the San Francisco Chronicle that Junior "was the epitome of Seattle baseball." - What? Fragile? Overrated? Never a winner?
Yahoo's Tim Brown said "Griffey has no peers on the baseball diamond." - True. Mostly because he was never there. Now if we're talking the training room........
I realize he was on "the card." And he smiled. People like that. Great. But he was just another ball player who had a few good years and then played another 11 YEARS in obscurity, hanging on to a career that had long left him.
This just in.... the press conference for the retirement announcement has been postponed due to Ken tripping and breaking his foot on the way to the podium.
20 comments:
"Griffey was never the man. Never."
My 9-13 year old self vehemently disagrees with you. If you watched baseball from 1995-1999 and you weren't enamored with Griffey, then I don't know what to tell you. And I was a HUGE Braves fan at that time, given my Crime Dog/Mad Dog fandom.
I agree that he didn't do much after leaving Seattle, and that a lot of his HOF argument lies in his early career and the expectations that it set. But Griffey circa 1995-1999 was special. And even though he did hang around too long, it was worth it for those occasional glimpses of awesome. Griffey is the guy whose swing kids emulate. Griffey, at his peak, was as good as Mays and Aaron (Fangraphs has a nice post today pointing this out). Griffey was special, and he's the guy I'm going to tell my kids about when I'm old.
Ooooohhhh.
"No he didn't"
Dale Murphy's final numbers are not close to Griffey Jr's. Even if you ignore the counting stats completely because of the extra games Griffey played, Griffey Jr's OPS is 92 points higher than Murphy's. Murphy's OPS is good, Griffey's is great. However, for better or for worse, the HoF is big on longevity and the stats Griffey amassed over his longer than Murphy career clearly qualify him for the HoF in a way that they only marginally qualify Murphy.
Awards like MVP are a bit misleading because they are effected by the other players in the league and on the winner's team. It always seems easier for a player with little other star players on his team to win a MVP than it is for one with star players. Additionally, I think MVP voting trends have changed over the years, because great players on bad teams hardly get serious consideration anymore the way they used to.
First, I don't think your post is serious. You just want us to bite, right?
Second, Junior was probably one of the most dangerous hitters of the mid and later 90's along with Frank Thomas. Oh and he had a glove too.
Sure his later career was plagued by injuries and poor production, but in his prime he was better than most.
More importantly, he brought a generation of kids (including myself) into baseball whether it was playing or just watching it.
Just another ballplayer?
Griffey ended his career with 630 home runs, fifth-highest in MLB history, 10 Gold Gloves, one Most Valuable Player Award...
Just a short stretch of good luck right?
I agree with you on Griffey. He was a good player, but not the best of his era. I can think of many other players I would rather have on my team. I was sickened when my Reds signed him. He almost single handedly destroyed the Reds. He was not a class person or a class player.
careful James... the death squads are out....
I agree with Harold.
Also, Griffey EASILY had the best video games in the SNES era, and some would argue N64, too. His games were always more fun than All-Star baseball, even if not as realistic. I still play those games today.
Griffey was a great player and fun to watch in the 1990s. He didn't do much for me in the 21st century.
Nice ice girl.
okay, so far we've discovered that James isn't afraid of the hate, Harold gets a little excited sometimes, Griffey was on some cool video games, and Matt, much like myself, likes pretty girls.
Spiffing.
I have an autographed Griffey baseball that I think I am going to go burn after reading this post. That guy was a bum...
Or the opposite of everything I just said.
so would you make the same argument about my favorite player George Brett?? Who is a first ballot Hall of Famer, only man to win the batting title in 3 different decades, over 3000 hits but stuck around about four seasons too long? Griffey will be missed not because he can still hit the long ball but because of what he meant to the sport for keeping a dirty game pure!
I would have to say I agree with you Captain. He was a good player but not the greatest. He was not the soft, cudly guy you think he was. He was self-centered and selfish. I met him a few times and he very arrogant and egotistical. While he may not have done steroids he wasn't that squeaky clean. He was not reason '95 happened. He was the face of the franchise that did stay and gave us Safeco Field. It would have been better if he would have rode off last year into the sunset instead of going out like this. Even though I never saw him play, only highlights, Willie Mays was still a better ball player than Ken. I'm sure I'll get lamb basted for this comment.
I'm liking this Mariner1 guy.....
One of the better players of all time, but NO ONE is Willie Mays.
Except Bryce "Ejection" Harper.
I can't wait for Dale Murphy to make the Hall, so I can write my "Dale was nothing" post.
The guy couldn't even throw the ball to second base. They had to change his position.
Sometimes I think the amount of hero worship for professional athletes is pretty bizarre. Some of the comments on this post reflect that.
So you're saying he didn't have a good season after '99?
I'll bite...
2000: 40 HRs, 188 RBIs, 942 OPS
2005: 35 HRs, 92 RBIs, 946 OPS
2007: 30 HRs, 93 RBIs, 869 OPS
Those are solid seasons.
C'monnnnn. Don't forget his sparkling defense (10 straight GGs).
You're just hatin' because you collected Jerome Walton and/or Dwight Smith in '89 and not Griffey.
To defend what I said about Griffey being as good as Mays and Aaron at his peak...I meant just that...at his peak. He had two years of around 10 WAR, which is really really damn good. Mays, who was definitely better, had 6 years of 10+ WAR (plus another 3 over 9).
So I'm not saying Griffey was like the best of all time. I'm just saying he wasn't some chump, especially pre-leaving Seattle.
And his video games were totally sweet.
Bottom line.... Jr. sucks, Capt. is a hater,SpastikMooss had a hard on for Jr. back in his younger days, G is black, TheBM is cool in my book,Hero thinks Jr. bought back the masses to baseball,James is a Reds fan,Harold gots to be high,Joe's a video game junkie, Matt loves the 90's, DFG trade me that Jr. ball??, Roy thinks Willie Mays Hayes is the best player of all time.... And the owl doesn't give a hoot about Dale...... And Luis Tiant is the man!!
He he... I'm glad you posted this and not me. Of course I already had my Griffey sucks moment a year and a half ago.
I'll just leave this here:
Five outfielders
off the top of my head that kick Griffey's ass sideways.
Aaron Ruth Clemente Williams Mantle
Oh wait, here's five more:
Musial Mays Bonds Rickey Cobb
Here's five more WITH RINGS
DiMaggio Jackson Winfield Snider Stargell
LOL
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