Ken Griffey Jr.: An All Time Great

In sports, there have been many once in a lifetime athletes that people get to witness during the time they play. There are many people who will never be able to witness these legendary players in their life such as with Michael Jordan or Babe Ruth. There are also people caught in between where they were able to witness an all-time great player at the end of their career. These people are fortunate to have witnessed those players play but unfortunate to not witness them at their best. Ken Griffy Jr. is a Hall of Fame baseball player who was one of those once in a lifetime players during the 90’s that a whole generation got to witness. Now you might be wondering why I am writing about Ken Griffey Jr. when was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2016. The reason is that he is on the cover of a video game called MLB the Show 17, which just released this past week, and he has not played for several years. It seems to be a good time to discuss his career and my experience with watching him play.

I am 25-years-old and I did not become interested in baseball until I was 13, which was in 2005 and towards the end of his career. I grew up as a Chicago White Sox and they were the team he played for half a season in 2008, which is the only experience I had of seeing him play. This means I am a part of the group that is caught in between where I got to witness an alltime great player not at their best. This is right around the time I became interested in the whole MLB and not just my favorite team. Most of what I know about Ken Griffey Jr. is from his statistics and what other people tell me about him such as my Dad. From what I have heard from my Dad, he was a great player and one of the best players in baseball during the 90’s. This made me wish I had been able to witness him play when he was his best but it is cool I was able to see him play even though he was not very good. I could tell that he was once a great player when I did see him play on the White Sox. This is from what I saw on the TV with how players and the announcers reacted to him

The best way to tell that he was one of the best players in baseball history is his statistics and where those statistics rank all time. He played 22 seasons from 1989-2010 in which he played for the Seattle Mariners for 13 years, the Cincinnati Reds for 8 and a half years, and half a year with the Chicago White Sox. He had a great career with 630 Home Runs ranking 6th all time, 1836 Runs Batted In ranking 15th all time, 2781 hits, 524 Doubles. 1312 walks, and 1662 runs scored. Other career statistics that are impressive as well is a .284 Batting Average, a .370 On Base Percentage, and a .538 Slugging Percentage.

These are all impressive numbers but he only had 11 seasons playing 140-plus games, which makes it more impressive he could put up so many numbers. He also had many achievements in his career with 13 All-Star selections, 10 Gold Glove awards, 7 Silver Slugger awards, and one MVP award. He was consistently in the top 10 at the end of season with top 10 finishes in Slugging Percentage 10 times, in Home Runs 9 times, in Total Bases 9 times, in Runs Batted 8 times, and in Runs scored 7 times. This would also be the sad part that he faced so many injury problems in his career, which means he would have gotten more if he had been healthier.

From looking at the numbers, he was one of the best position players in the 90’s and he had an incredible career. I, like many other people around my age, did not get to experience Ken Griffey Jr. when he was at his best. He is one of those players that people witness and then share with future generations like myself. It makes me wish I could have seen him play but it is cool to hear people talk about the memories they had of him. Everyone I talk to who watched baseball in the 90’s will mention Ken Griffey Jr. as one of the top players of that time. They say he was a great five tool player who could hit for average, hit for power, run the bases well, throw the ball, and had good fielding. Players like that are the most exciting to watch because they can do everything and can impact a game in many ways. It would have been great to see him play because players like him do not come around often. Hearing about him play makes me realize I must experience and appreciate great players playing now so I can tell future generations such as how my Dad did with me.