There was a time when all of Baseball seemed to be eyeing a young CF in Seattle, they called him "The Kid" they called him "Junior" they even called him the "Best Player in the Game", so what happend?, what could make a player who was once regarded as the best in the game, who we once thought would be the man to break the all-time Home Run record, and who had the sweetest, smoothest, most natural swing in the game of Baseball into a joke, a hasbeen, a topic of polls in which people guess how long it will take for your first major injury of the season?.
at the begining of his career Ken Griffey Jr. was destined to be a star, son of Yankees and Reds great Ken Griffey, Junior had all the talent and all the ability for a hall of fame career, he even became the first player to play alongside his father in a major league game, and is the only player to hit a Home Run in the same game as his father, in the early '90s Ken Griffey Jr. was probably the only reason people went to the hitter friendly, less then fan friendly Kingdome, people came, not only to watch him hit, but to watch him play the field as well, an excellent defender on top of his natural ability to hit, Junior was an all around great player, in the 1993 Home Run Derby at Camden Yards, Griffey put on a show, becoming the first player to ever hit a ball off of the warehouse behind the RF wall, a monster shot, a year later Griffey would challenge Roger Maris by hitting an A.L. high 40 Home Runs in a 111 games of the Mariners 112 games, with 50 games left to play in the '94 season, it all came to an end with the longest strike in Baseball History, in 1995, what may have been the break heard 'round the world, Ken Griffey Jr. would suffer his first major injury of his career, breaking his wrist slamming into the wall in Right/Center at the Kingdome, a break that was so loud you could hear the bone snap over the screaming crowd, by late august Griffey would return with pins in his wrist to help lead the Mariners to there first division title in team History, taking the team all the way to the A.L.C.S agianst another improbable team, the Cleveland Indians, the Mariners would lose the series.
with that behind them, and the wrist healed, Griffey would put together a run of four consecutive seasons where he would not hit less than 48 Home Runs over the 4 seasons, a star not even 30 yet, in the prime of his career would end up being traded to the Cincinnati Reds in late February 2000, slowly the wheels would start to come off, the Kid would return home to Cincinnati, to play on the home field, in front of the home crowd, Griffey would sign a $117,000,000 dollar contract to play at home, in his first and what would be his only healthy season as a Red so far, Griffey played in 145 games and hit 40 Home Runs, low numbers compared to what he had been putting up in the four previous seasons, then things would really go bad, in 2001 on opening day Griffey would tare his hamstring which would cost him much of the '01 season, he would reaggrivate the injury in 2002, and last year a seperated shoulder would hamper Griffey for much of the season, since hitting 40 HR in 2000 Griffey has only hit 43 HR over the past three seasons.
Griffey enters this sean with 481 Home Runs, if health is on his side then he should hit number 500 this season, can Ken Griffey Jr. be great again?, yes, if he can stay healthy, something which now is the time to start, there have been rumors floating around about a possible return to Seattle, maybe that could get his career back on track, for that we will have to wait and see.
but the main question was, what happend?, the answer is, there is no answer, the only thing anyone knows for sure is that since leaving Seattle for his home town team in Cincinnati it has been one disaster after another for Ken Griffey's son, maybe it's a run of bad luck for Baseballs one time golden child, maybe the ability is no longer there, maybe he is a hasbeen at 34, or maybe it's true what they say, you really can't go home again.
at the begining of his career Ken Griffey Jr. was destined to be a star, son of Yankees and Reds great Ken Griffey, Junior had all the talent and all the ability for a hall of fame career, he even became the first player to play alongside his father in a major league game, and is the only player to hit a Home Run in the same game as his father, in the early '90s Ken Griffey Jr. was probably the only reason people went to the hitter friendly, less then fan friendly Kingdome, people came, not only to watch him hit, but to watch him play the field as well, an excellent defender on top of his natural ability to hit, Junior was an all around great player, in the 1993 Home Run Derby at Camden Yards, Griffey put on a show, becoming the first player to ever hit a ball off of the warehouse behind the RF wall, a monster shot, a year later Griffey would challenge Roger Maris by hitting an A.L. high 40 Home Runs in a 111 games of the Mariners 112 games, with 50 games left to play in the '94 season, it all came to an end with the longest strike in Baseball History, in 1995, what may have been the break heard 'round the world, Ken Griffey Jr. would suffer his first major injury of his career, breaking his wrist slamming into the wall in Right/Center at the Kingdome, a break that was so loud you could hear the bone snap over the screaming crowd, by late august Griffey would return with pins in his wrist to help lead the Mariners to there first division title in team History, taking the team all the way to the A.L.C.S agianst another improbable team, the Cleveland Indians, the Mariners would lose the series.
with that behind them, and the wrist healed, Griffey would put together a run of four consecutive seasons where he would not hit less than 48 Home Runs over the 4 seasons, a star not even 30 yet, in the prime of his career would end up being traded to the Cincinnati Reds in late February 2000, slowly the wheels would start to come off, the Kid would return home to Cincinnati, to play on the home field, in front of the home crowd, Griffey would sign a $117,000,000 dollar contract to play at home, in his first and what would be his only healthy season as a Red so far, Griffey played in 145 games and hit 40 Home Runs, low numbers compared to what he had been putting up in the four previous seasons, then things would really go bad, in 2001 on opening day Griffey would tare his hamstring which would cost him much of the '01 season, he would reaggrivate the injury in 2002, and last year a seperated shoulder would hamper Griffey for much of the season, since hitting 40 HR in 2000 Griffey has only hit 43 HR over the past three seasons.
Griffey enters this sean with 481 Home Runs, if health is on his side then he should hit number 500 this season, can Ken Griffey Jr. be great again?, yes, if he can stay healthy, something which now is the time to start, there have been rumors floating around about a possible return to Seattle, maybe that could get his career back on track, for that we will have to wait and see.
but the main question was, what happend?, the answer is, there is no answer, the only thing anyone knows for sure is that since leaving Seattle for his home town team in Cincinnati it has been one disaster after another for Ken Griffey's son, maybe it's a run of bad luck for Baseballs one time golden child, maybe the ability is no longer there, maybe he is a hasbeen at 34, or maybe it's true what they say, you really can't go home again.
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