He is ranked #5 on the all-time home run list with an astonishing number of 630. He was a human highlight reel in center field for years. He made his Major League debut in 1989 known as “The Kid” or “Junior”, and ended as one of the greatest baseball players in history. That man is Ken Griffey Jr.
Ken started out his career being selected by the Seattle Mariners 1st overall in the 1987 MLB Draft where he played for about ten years. He played the next eight and half seasons with the Cincinnati Reds before spending the second half of the 2008 season with the Chicago White Sox as a result of a trade. He returned to the Mariners in 2009, contributing to baseball’s most-improved team.
Griffey is most likely to become a member of the promised land of baseball players, The Hall of Fame as a first-ballot player. Griffey returned this season after the Mariners received the award of the Most Improved team and because the Mariners made serious roster moves in the off season to improve their chances of making the playoffs. But Griffey’s optimistic visions never came true as the Mariners this season are dead last in the AL West and are 11 games below .500.
That possibly was a factor in Griffey’s decision to retire. Some say that without all of the injuries in Griffey’s career, he may have gotten to challenge the home run king Hank Aaron with 756. I must say though, Griffey retired in a better fashion. Even though he hadn’t played in about a week, his last hit in MLB came as a walk-off single against the Blue Jays.
He also ended his career as a Mariner, the place where it all started, the legacy that is the career of the great, Ken Griffey Jr.
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Photo Credit: http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/griffey-mariners.jpg
although many believe hank aaron is the true homerun leader, barry bonds is the leader.
good for him man. this guy is great and deserves to be in the hof
Having lived in Seattle from 1991- 1998 I have a few clarifications to add.
Ken Griffey, Jr. was known affectionately in town, also in print by the Seattle PI and Times, as “Junior”, not “The Kid”. It should be noted that he started in 1989 in the outfield along side his father (the very famous), Ken Griffey.
Also, He played many seasons in Seattle before going to Cincy (where his father had made HIS name). As a matter of fact, Junior was the series MVP on the 1995 team that ousted the Yankees from the play-offs in the first round before losing to Cleveland in the AL Championship series.
A further note- Junior was a major reason that Seattle built their new Safeco Park for the Mariners in the late 90’s early 2k’s. He was on a team that featured Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Omar Vizquel, and Alex Rodriguez.
Wow it seems like I missed a few things…thanks for clearing that up