An Underappreciated Immortal: Ken Griffey Jr.
By Gary Armida
A 17 year old baseball fan has no idea how great Ken Griffey Jr. is. This young fan will look at Griffey as the guy who always gets injured every season. Junior, now 38, is entering his 20th season of major league baseball. In an era where the doped up athlete has reigned supreme, Griffey has put up his Hall of Fame statistics in an honorable and exciting fashion. While Griffey’s career has been impacted by injuries during recent years, the argument can be made that he is the best player of the last 20 years and one of the greatest of all time. While there are many immortal baseball players, Griffey’s career path is so closely aligned to one particular great. Griffey’s career is eerily similar to legend Mickey Mantle. The Mick is celebrated while Griffey seems like a mere afterthought. It is a shame when an immortal does not get his proper due because of his cheating contemporaries.
Griffey made his debut on April 3, 1989 as a 19 year old rookie. During the year, Griffey appeared in 128 games and hit 16 homeruns, driving in 61with a batting line of .264/.329/.420. Griffey finished third in the rookie of the year balloting, losing the award to Orioles rookie closer, Greg Olson. By comparison, Mantle made his debut on April 17, 1951 as a 19 year old rookie. Mantle appeared in 96 games hitting 13 homeruns, driving in 65 with a batting line of .267/.349/.443. During the next three seasons both Mantle and Griffey continued their upward development. Neither cracked the 30 homerun barrier, but their overall numbers continued to improve. Most importantly, their stature as the game’s best young player began to build. It was not until their fifth season that both had their first Hall of Fame season. At the age of 23, both players hit over 30 homeruns (Griffey 45, Mantle 37) and both slugged over .600. The next few seasons saw both players run off some of the best seasons baseball has ever seen. They were both the most exciting players in the game. Fans of all teams would stop when either was at bat to see that next moment. They were the best players of their generation. As history shows us, Mantle had a multitude of injuries (both self-inflicted and a result of the game) that stopped him from compiling even better statistics. Even with those injuries, Mantle amassed 536 homeruns and 1509 RBI. Griffey, even with many injuries, has far surpassed those numbers. He enters the 2008 season just seven homeruns shy of hitting 600 career homeruns.
Now that Griffey’s excellence has been established, let’s take a closer look at his career. In 1994, a year cut short by a work stoppage, Griffey hit 40 homeruns in just 111 games. His OPS of 1.076 was his career high. Unfortunately, Griffey lost 
most of the 1995 season due to the first injury of his career. He broke his wrist crashing into the wall. For the next five seasons, Junior reeled off perhaps the five most spectacular (and consecutive) seasons any baseball player has ever accomplished. In those five seasons he hit 49, 56, 56, 48, and 40 homeruns. He drove in 140, 147, 146, 134, and 118 runs. He also scored over 100 runs in each of those five seasons. In three of those five seasons, he slugged over .600. In short, one would be hard pressed to find a player who had a better five year run than Griffey. Going into his age 31 season, Griffey was on pace to break Hank Aaron’s homerun record.
The 2001 season saw Griffey get injured early. He only played in 38 games during the first half of the season. However, Griffey returned for the second half and continued to produce at the rate of his previous five seasons. In just 364 at bats, Griffey had 22 homeruns and 65 RBI. Project that over a full season and he is closing in on another 40 homerun season. The next three seasons were disastrous for Griffey as he never played in more than 83 games due to a multitude of injuries. His production really didn’t slow, but he was unable to stay on the field. The greatest player of his generation was now the butt of Sportscenter anchor jokes, when they would muse when Griffey would get hurt again. For the past three seasons, Griffey has managed over 400 at bats in each season. Consequently, his homerun totals have been higher (35, 27, 30), but his slugging percentage has dipped below .500 the past two seasons.
While he is still producing, Griffey has slowed down due to age. In an era where players seemingly got better as they aged, it has become rare for this generation of fans to see a player actually regress a bit due to age. In fact, in 2007, Griffey was moved to right field in order to save the wear and tear on his body. Because he is slowing down (albeit slightly), his greatness is lost on the younger generation. They did not get to see “The Kid” wearing his hat backwards hitting moon shots during the homerun derby. They did not get to see him dashing around the bases to score the game winning run to beat the Yankees in the 1995 ALDS. His incredible, highlight reel catches are lost on today’s generation. But, the one constant is the prettiest swing in baseball. Junior still owns that title.
So, Griffey is a legend. He is the greatest player of the past 20 years (sorry ARod). With just seven more homeruns, he will join the 600 homerun club. The injuries cost him a shot at the all-time record, but he is still sixth all-time in career homeruns. Amazingly, he stood out in an era when many of the game’s stars were using performance enhancers to compile their statistics.
This season, Griffey will move up two spots to 18th on the all-time RBI list. If Sammy Sosa does not play this season, Griffey will surpass him for fifth all-time on the homerun list. These are amazing numbers for an amazing player. Sadly, Griffey has been underappreciated due to the tremendous statistics of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire. The fact that he played the game the right way makes his accomplishments even more special. Players like Griffey need to be celebrated. Sadly, those fans who pine for the “good old days” are the ones that are ignoring our clean, honest players. Griffey should be a walking legend. Every place he plays in should be giving him standing ovations just for showing up. His time in the game is running short. At best, he has three more seasons (assuming he comes back to the American League to be a designated hitter). It is time for baseball to renew its love affair with the honest, clean Griffey.
Comments
By Doug Hill on March 4th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Perfection FCP, well done. Griffey was my generation, as I had just turned 8 years old when he made his debut. This is the age when a kid really becomes obsessed with the game and “The Kid” was the perfect role model. He played the game with passion and intensity, all while showing that signature smile. He truly looked like he was having fun playing the “game” of baseball and it was not a business as some athletes refer to it. It is how I would have conducted myself had I ever made it to the show. He does have the most pretty swing of all time and I do celebrate Griffey as the greatest player I have seen in my lifetime. Thanks for writing a great article on a great player that needs more recognition.
By Gary J Armida Sr on March 4th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Outstanding article! I’ve said it many times before…if Ken Griffey, Jr. was healthy his entire career, he would have hands down gone on to become the greatest player in the history of baseball. It’s a shame we’ll never be able to prove that would have happened. Griffey never had the folk hero status that Mantle and Mays had, but nobody has ever had a sweeter swing and a better set of the five tools.
By nyisles16 on March 6th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Nice read.. I love to watch Griffey and his sweet swing.. I still to this day think that it was awesome he got to play in a game with his dad – how many of us would love to have that happen? He is truly a class act..
By garmida on March 6th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Thanks everyone for the kind words on this. This one was a pleasure and very easy to write. I have never really heard anyone not like Jr.
Isles, you are so right about him playing with his Dad. I can’t imagine taking a major league field with mine. I did get to take a softball field with my Dad and brother two years ago for a season. I loved every Sunday that we had.
By Adam on June 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Griffey was amazing when healthy. He gave back to the game so much. When i think of a positive role model Griffey comes straight to mind. Griffey is as humble as they come. A true great that never got caught up with himself even when he was on top of the world. Griffey has sacrificed so much to play for Cincy… Had he been somewhere else he surely would have better numbers, but that is what i love so much about Griffey. He was wanted to play the game for HIS TEAM…. It isnt a business to Griffey. Its all about the love of the game. I put Griffey in a category with Bobby Jones, Roberto Clemente, Thierry Henry, Frank Gifford, Arnold Palmer, Oscar Robinson, and Greg Maddux just to name a few.
God bless you Ken Griffey Jr.
By garmida on June 3rd, 2008 at 4:36 am
Well said, Adam. That’s a great tribute to a great baseball player. Number 600 is coming soon!
By george on June 10th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Just stumbled on thie article with a google search, Thanks is all I have to say. I feel like a wide eyed 8 yr old again. I think I’ll start wearing my hat flipped back again.
By garmida on June 10th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Thanks George for the kind words. I actually wrote a new one today
By yonder on July 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
this men is the best baseball player in the history after of its father he is impressive many happinesses by this so good job that do greetings yonder
By matt on July 14th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Great article i grew up idolizing Griffey. I played his position and wore his number. It is a shame he couldn’t stay healthy or he would hold the home run title.