He unfolds it carefully, first the coat, then the undershirt, then the pants. Actually, the tour could have started in the driveway, home to Vass' Ford Fusion with a vanity plate saying "GRIFFEY.". But as the GM, you separate yourself from that. By the end of the 1990 campaign, Griffey had been named to his first All-Star Game, won his first Gold Glove Award in center field and hit .300 with 22 homers and 80 RBI. It ended up becoming a choice between retirement or playing for the Braves or the Mariners after Armstrong called again with an offer for Griffey to return to Seattle. However, he said the franchise would love to see things work out so that Griffey could retire in a Mariners uniform. He's staring at his screen when he casually mentions that he has two of Ken Griffey's suits in there, unopened. The route wasnt a straight line, but Griffey ended his career in the right place. That's also exactly when card collecting began to morph from a hobby into a business. "Griffey was a cultural phenomenon, beyond just being a great player," Cracknell says. A trip to Cooperstown has something for baseball fans and everyone else. Just inside the door, on the floor, lies a giant carpet with a photo of Griffey in a Reds uniform. And, crucially, it was much closer to Florida. Dodgers' Dustin May headed for elbow surgery, Yankees vs. Orioles odds, picks, predictions, bets, MLB trends: Acua's overlooked improvement, Ranking the top 20 MLB trade deadline candidates, Ohtani, Rendon leave early in Angels' loss to Padres, Dodgers' May (elbow) likely to miss rest of 2023 season, Trout fractures hamate, likely to miss 4-6 weeks, Cardinals' Wainwright heading to IL with 7.66 ERA, Padres designate veteran slugger Cruz for assignment. The whole thing was over in two minutes, and it took the company 48 hours to tear everything apart, clean it and replace destroyed equipment. "Uh, Michelle, if we're going to live together at your house, I feel like I should tell you something about me," he told her. He's happy to talk about the healing that happened out there. He points back at a chest on the ground behind him, full of stuff that either needs to be logged or has been logged but doesn't quite yet rate enough to be on display. Griffin had just been traded to the Reds from the Seattle Mariners and was on his way back home to Cincinnati when he got the news that his son was leaving baseball forever. When asked how he felt about his son's decision, Ken Griffey Sr. replied, "I don't have an opinion on it. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Goldberg was excited about the prospect of seeing Griffey honored in Seattle and brought the development to his client. He said, They really want to do that for me? Ken Griffey Jr. was expected to be great. He was like, 'I ain't fighting this no more. The result was an assault on the record books with seven 40-plus home run seasons in eight years interrupted only by a broken wrist that cost him half of the 1995 campaign. And on the last day of the season, the whole team hoisted Junior and Ichiro on their shoulders and did a lap around the stadium.. ZackO February 12, 2009 With the recent revelation that Alex Rodriguez is an admitted "performance enhancer" user, it has got me thinking about how prevalent steroid usage was in the. When I go back and look at my notes, I laugh, Bowden said. Meanwhile, inside the Anaheim Marriott, another team on the fringe of the Griffey talks but considered a longshot with Cincinnati in the mix was now firmly in play. Starting with the 2001 season (when Griffey, Jr. was only 31 years old), the next six seasons saw Griffey, Jr. miss considerable time with nagging injuries. When he got out, he had to move out of his house as his divorce was finalized. He's asked me for a lot more advice than he's ever asked before.". Griffey immediately signed a nine-year deal worth $116 million to remain in his hometown for what appeared to be the rest of his career. Ken Griffey, Jr., in full George Kenneth Griffey, Jr., (born November 21, 1969, Donora, Pennsylvania, U.S.), American professional baseball player who was one of the iconic athletes of the 1990s and ranked among the best power hitters and defensive outfielders of all time. Goldberg assured Griffey that this was a real request from the Mariners. From 2001-04, Griffey played in average of less than 80 games per year, battling hamstring tears, knee and ankle tendon ruptures and a dislocated shoulder. I got someone a little younger and a little better,'" Griffey Jr. said. Thinking that retirement would let him move to the Mariners, Sr. chose that option before learning that there was a 60-day waiting period before a retired player could sign with a new team. Is it where you grew up and your dad became a star baseball player? I knew we were going to make a deal and go to the podium, Bowden said. So Griffey, Jr.grew up in a culture where it was seen as okay to take certain pills or do certain things to gain an edge. It might be too weird. Oct 25, 2021. Contrary to the popular story line, Griffey, Jr. was actually a pretty durable player for the first eleven years of his career. Jim Bowden was sitting in the back of a limousine heading to the Anaheim Marriott Hotel on December 10, 1999. You can talk about the '76 batting race, the two World Series I played in and the All-Star Games I played in. Still, that doesn't mean there weren't a few guys who made it As difficult of a discussion as it was, it was one that had to take place. Vass spent the rest of high school collecting and hanging out with collectors. For the next two weeks, Vass was by himself in the woods. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. They have three children together: Kenyon, Kourtney, and Keaton. "My mailmen are pissed at me on a regular basis," he says. There was something different and special about Griffey for Vass and millions of other young collectors. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Wednesday marks 30 years since baseball saw one of those swings for the first time, as Ken Griffey Jr. stepped up against the Athletics in his MLB debut. Even though he won't say it himself, Vass is something of the Griffey godfather. When was Ken Griffey Jr.'s Major League Baseball released? How many All-Star Games did Ken Griffey Jr. play? So Griffey, Jr. grew up around the game. In the end, the Mariners got center fielder Mike Cameron -- who, incidentally, shares the same name as Griffeys high school baseball coach -- right-hander Brett Tomko, Minor League right-hander Jake Meyer and Minor League infielder Antonio Perez. Long story short: They brought him up, he sat, and he didnt play a lot, but he got credited for Major League service time. In all, this project. From that point forward, Griffey Jr. had no desire to play for the Yankees. However, superstar Ken Griffey Jr. never had a desire to play for the Yankees -- even though his dad played for them. Even then, though, it wasn't entirely easy. "It really did.". 6-keys: media/spln/mlb/reg/free/stories, at Those three guys don't have huge muscles, and thus they couldn't have taken steroidsor so the argument goes. The owner had some tremendous pressure. Griffey went 1-for-5 in his first game against his former team. Cincinnati wasnt going to be able to shell out something in the neighborhood of $150 million for an extension to retain Junior after his current deal expired the next year, Bowden was told. He came back to his dad's house feeling like a new middle-aged man. I don't know how else to say it.". I'm using him as an example to demonstrate just how big the cloud of suspicion is within baseball. He shakes his head and laughs because The Thing He Does In The Basement just got 10% more odd -- and beautiful. But Griffey wasnt going to sign on the dotted line just yet. The time in Cincinnati was what it was, Goldberg said. Twenty-two seasons, 630 home runs and a sea of accolades later, the kid dubbed The Natural delivered everything his skills and makeup promised. Griffey was "finally home" when he arrived in Cincinnati in 2000. We didnt think [Griffey] wanted to go anywhere but Cincinnati, said Jim Duquette, who was in the front office with the Mets and on the verge of becoming assistant general manager at the time. From the day the Seattle Mariners made him the first pick in the 1987 MLB Draft, Ken Griffey Jr. was expected to be great. Ken Griffey Jr. may never stop hating the Yankees - New York Post Its like Willie Mays being traded in his prime, or Hank Aaron being traded in his prime, said Duquette, whose Mets were a close second in acquiring Griffey. He wanted to be a manager or coach one day so he could influence young players and help them improve their games. In November 2017, it was reported that Griffey had filed for divorce from his wife Kim. I mean, I know what I did there, but they really want to do that?. Ill never forget it, Goldberg said. A half-hour later, the suits are still laying there, deflated, when Vass walks toward the basement door, over the carpet with his picture of Ken Griffey Jr. on it, past the table he made with Ken Griffey Jr.'s swing carved into it and the Ken Griffey Jr. soda machine, and he says farewell. The game has a Major League Baseball license but no Major League Baseball Players Association license, therefore it contains actual stadiums and teams but no real players (except Ken Griffey Jr.). It's impossible to discuss even 20% of the items packed into the room. As good as Senior was (.296/.359/.431,. too.". "Of course, I don't think she understood the gravity of it until I went to display it.". His voice had trailed off a bit a minute ago, but there's a steadiness that comes over him once he's anchored in the chair. Ken Griffey Jr. - Wikipedia Fortunately, once he was picked up by the Mariners, he and Jr. got off the mark pretty quickly. Ken Griffey Jr.s famous distaste of the Yankees re-emerged Sunday during the airing of a documentary about the Hall of Fame slugger. He is the first member of the Mariners' organization to be enshrined in Cooperstown. "You know what, though? They wouldn't be in the lineup together again, but there were plenty more years together in uniform. Ken Griffey Jr. and Brian McCann face-off at BP as Team USA watches. This beautiful ballpark, Safeco Field, is truly the House that Ken Griffey Jr. Built. Junior, you brought so much joy to all of us during your career here in Seattle. He motions to come in and then points toward the bottom of the front stairs, and the official tour of one of the world's largest, life-changing collections of sports memorabilia begins. February 11, 2000. He was injured in his rookie season, but in 1990 he won his first Gold Glove Award, had a batting average of .300, and played in the All-Star Game. Like Vass, during difficult times in his life, Posner has turned toward collecting Griffeys as a way to find his footing. "Okay, this actually is a little creepy," Vass says, with a laugh. In 2014, he became only the second player in MLB history to hit 400 homers while playing only in American League ballparks (the other one was Ted Williams). All Rights Reserved. But Vass explained what Griffey had meant to him during the roughest patches of his life, that the collection was massive and sometimes all-consuming, that it was his version of meditating, or going to the gym, or fixing up old cars, or gardening. Major League history is filled with prodigious bloodlines. Just during Posner's time at college, Griffey had ripped off one of the great four-year runs in MLB history, with 209 home runs, 567 RBIs and four Gold Gloves in center field. The game was developed by Nintendo's internal team known as the Entertainment Analysis and Development department and published by Nintendo under their Treehouse brand. The documentary showed Griffey Jr. signing autographs before the Seattle Mariners' 1995 American League Division Series against the Yankees. Birthdate. "This stuff just makes me happy," he says. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. In a rare instance of a premier player being traded in the prime of his career, the Seattle Mariners dealt superstar center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. to the . Griffey told for MLB Network a version of the reason he refused to . What Happened to Ken Griffey Jr.? - Sportsmanist I was devastated, Bowden said. 2023 MLB Home Run Derby: Who is the slugger to beat in Seattle? But after a typical Griffey season where he hit 40 home runs and drove in 118 runs in 2000, injuries took their toll on the seemingly indestructible center fielder. Ken Griffey Jr.: More than just a great player. His aggressive approach at the plate led many to call him "Kenny Baseball". They wanted to plan ahead, get out front.. It was a really special time in Reds history.. He stops talking for a beat. Its one of my favorite stories because even though we didnt get him, Ive told Mets fans the Mets side of the story a couple of different times, and people are fascinated by it, Duquette said. He hangs the tannish jacket over the back of the stool he always sits on, then plops down the white undershirt on top of it, then finally the pants. Long before Tim Raines and Tim Raines, Jr. accomplished it in Oct. 2001, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sr. did it for the Mariners on Aug. 31, 1990. Ken Griffey Jr. Stats | ESPN They basically said, Look, we really hope youll sign this extension, but if you cant, can you let us know now so we can explore trading you? Because they didnt want to get into a position where they could lose both Griffey and Alex for just some [Draft] compensation.
