Griffey Retires: End of an era (to me at least).

[sbfinley]

I hate to start another thread about current baseball news, we already have one on the blown call, but I think this man deserves it.

I am 26 and grew up loving baseball. I've been to hundreds of games and sadly never saw him live. I feel like the last superstar of my youth has retired. His last decade may have been rough but at his prime he was one of the best ever.

And he was clean. Best of luck Jr.

[LEIDEMEG]

I am right there with you on the end of the last few great ones from my youth. I was 15 when his upper deck rookies came out, still remember it like it was yesterday.

Great player, who should have gotten standing ovations one last time on every road trip he went on, but it doesnt always work out that way.

Thanks for the memories and doing it clean

[chris6net]

I am a few years older than you and a die hard Mets fan and I remember going to a game with the Reds vs Mets (possible his first) at Shea with my father and it wnt 12 innings and of course Griffey hit the game winning Homerun. What a shame with his injuries and since I didn,t follow his American League career but can see his stats he was one of the great ones. Unfortunately he did not lead a team to the World Series.

[M's_Fan]

Growing up in Seattle, he was the childhood idol of myself and every other kid on the block. We would play ball in the street in my neighborhood for hours on summer nights, trying to imitate his swing.

I was there when he hit back to back home runs with his Dad. I was there in the Kingdome in 1995 when he slid face first into first base to end the division series against the Yankees (which many have said was the greatest division series of all time).

He not only was the greatest player of my generation, he was a family man who left money on the table to play for a team closer to his family.

Thanks Griffey for the memories.

[prewarsports]

I am a Seattle Mariners fan for life, and have been since I was 1 years old and the team started in 1977. I used to go to the Kingdome in the 1980's with about 2000 others and it was like a ghost town. Without Griffey there is no team in Seattle today and despite how the team has performed over the last 7 years, they are one of the top Baseball cities in America and we owe it ALL to Griffey.

I also feel Griffey is the biggest casualty of the steroids era. When McGwire and Sosa and Bonds were jacking out 60-70 Home Runs a year and cheating, Griffey was barely mentioned in the National press while hitting 50+ Home Runs a year. In his prime he was rated as the best all around ballplayer ever, and he should be in that discussion. Probably only Mays was a better All Around player and due to injuries Griffey has been severely taken for grantid during the last decade.

Rhys Yeakley
Mariners Fan since '77

[ethicsprof]

one of my all time favs.
still have a ball signed by his father from many years ago.

best,
barry

[tedzan]

As an American League fan, I was disappointed when Griffey switched to the National League in 2000. My
Grandson, Ron, was a huge Griffey fan and collected all his cards. In 1994, Ron was 8 years old, I bought
him Griffey's UpperDeck rookie card. Gee, was really excited. In 2000, I suggested to Ron, that he sell his
high-priced Griffey cards, because I told him that Griffey will not be as strong a player in Cinci as he was
in Seattle. Ronnie made a bet with me that Griffey would be as good (if not better).

I pointed out to Ron, that in the post-WWII era, I can think of only one player that has changed Leagues,
and succeeded equally in both....Frank Robinson. For whatever reasons, it is a very tough change to make.
Here's Griffey's Seattle stats vs his Cinci stats......

Seattle.......396 HR......1200 RBI (1989-1999)

Cinci..........250 HR........755 RBI (2000-2010)



TED Z

[barrysloate]

Was it the change of leagues, or the rash of injuries, that derailed Griffey's career?

[3-2-count]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Was it the change of leagues, or the rash of injuries, that derailed Griffey's career?

I'd say it was the rash of injuries. From the years 1992 thru 2000 there wasn't many better when you combine his offensive stats with his glove.

[53Browns]

I grew up in Cincinnati where his Dad played with the Big Red Machine. I was lucky enough to enjoy seeing him play live many times at Riverfront Stadium when he came back to the Reds. He was on the downside of his career when he came back (injuries), but I did get to see him hit some out of the park. Something to tell the kids about some day.

[tedzan]

Regarding your........

"Was it the change of leagues, or the rash of injuries, that derailed Griffey's career?"

I would say both.

Consider this....besides Frank Robinson, can you name any other BB player that has succeeded in both
Leagues since WWII ?
There have been several pitchers (Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, etc.), but not too many players (if any).


TED Z

[glynparson]

Dave Winfield. There may be others I am just drawing a blank. Of course there's also McGwire but he didn't play all that long in the NL and he was aided in his production.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Any excellent to great player would have done fine in both leagues, had he been in that situation, in my opinion. Griffey's problem was injuries. The best player of the 90s, hands down.

[barrysloate]

Of course a hitter has to deal with many things switching leagues, most prominently a slew of pitchers he has never faced before. Some have succeeded, some haven't. I have no idea of the percentages.

[M's_Fan]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Was it the change of leagues, or the rash of injuries, that derailed Griffey's career?

It was both. Griffey never really took care of his body, stretching before games and so forth (at least earlier in his career), and he became susceptible to injury. But if he was in the American League he would have had more at bats at least as a DH than in the NL where if you can't run down fly balls as an outfielder, you ride the pine.

At some point in his career, regardless of the league he was in, he should have converted to first base.

[jbsports33]

Still remember opening those fresh new upperdeck packs, he will be missed

good luck KGJ

Jimmy

[barrysloate]

Here's a little stat about Griffey:

In his last four years with Seattle, 1996-99, he played 620 games for an average of 155 per season.

In his first five years with Cincinnati, 2000-04, he played 462 games for an average of 92 per season.

Obviously injuries decimated his career.

[tesitzes24]

Like most of the people that posted above that are around my age (27), I would say that Griffey was not only my favorite player, but probably was solely responsible for getting me started collecting cards. When I was 8-15 years old, when most kids start collecting cards, he was the best player in baseball IMO.

I wish I had gotten a chance to see him play more, in person or on TV. I am from the midwest, and really, the only time I got to see Griffey was SportsCenter highlights. I saw him quite a few times when at Cardinals games when he was with the Reds, but by then, he wasn't the player he was in the 90s.

When I saw yesterday that he retired, it was kind of like I was all of a sudden old at the age of 27. I think he is the best player of his generation for sure considering the numbers, and he put up those numbers without the use of PEDs and did it off of some juiced pitchers. Thanks for the memories Griffey, and thank you for doing it clean.

[jp1216]

Griffey got me back into collecting during the high school/college years. He was fun to watch. His '89 UD card was 'the card' for about 10 years. I remember back in '99 PSA 10s were selling on eBay for over $2000!!! Crazy.

Fondest memory was taking the family to a Indians/Reds game a few years ago and watching him chase HR #500. He hit #499 and the kids loved it. Missed #500 in the 9th inning by about 10 feet.

[B O'Brien]

I went to see JR and SR at a card show in Nashville back in the 1990 (ish) when he had the flat top and giant Griffey chain. It was a good day. I had to crack my 1989 Upper Deck factory set to get a card auto'd.
It sure was fun trying to catch like him!

Bob

[martyogelvie]

I saw Griffey Jr play at the old Kingdome in '94....

he was one of a kind.

[FUBAR]

Griffey was one of my favorite players... i remember back in the day, i cracked 4 boxes trying to get his rookie card but never pulled one. I finally bought one a few years back.

I found out later from a guy, who used to work at the card store i bought from, that they knew how the distribution went within the box so you could open one pack, then figure out where the Griffey was. Then they would put extra packs back into the box and re-shrink wrap it. No wonder they didn't stick around long!

[baseball tourist]

Great player and good to talk to as well.

Met him at the 1991 All Star Game in Toronto and was able to chat with him for approx 20 mins. We are almost the same age and looking back on it now, I believe he midly enjoyed the non-baseball, peer to peer nature of the chat (I was clerking in a in-Hotel men's tie and shirt store that Griff ran into to escape from the press for a while.).

As luck would have it, my fiancee and I attended the game last month in Seattle, in which Ken got his last hit - a pinch hit, game winning, bottom of the ninth, rbi single.

He beat my Jays with the hit (wasn't the first time...but will be the last...and that's good, but still a bit sad.).

chris

[Sixtofan]

Consider this....besides Frank Robinson, can you name any other BB player that has succeeded in both
Leagues since WWII ?

I could only think of a few:
Vladimir Guerrero had tremendous success in both leagues
Ted Simmons
Gary Sheffield

[barrysloate]

Dave Winfield was cited earlier.

[sox1903wschamp]

Originally Posted by FUBAR

Griffey was one of my favorite players... i remember back in the day, i cracked 4 boxes trying to get his rookie card but never pulled one. I finally bought one a few years back.

I found out later from a guy, who used to work at the card store i bought from, that they knew how the distribution went within the box so you could open one pack, then figure out where the Griffey was. Then they would put extra packs back into the box and re-shrink wrap it. No wonder they didn't stick around long!

Way too much of this went on during the height of the hobby in the early 90's.

[sgbernard]

From both a collector side and a baseball fan side, I'm a big fan of the Kid. Of course, I was pulling open those '89 UD packs to find his card: all I came up with was a Ricky Jordan RC, which at the time was not so bad. Uh....

But more importantly, in his prime years, Griffey had the most beautiful and fluid swing I have ever seen live, by far. It got a bit more compact in his later years; earlier, it was really the smoothest thing I've ever seen. Poetry in baseball.

[FUBAR]

trust me it still happens today, except now its jerseys and autos they pull out. check out hotpacksecrets.com and it will make you shake your head and be happy you dont collect shinies!!!

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by M's_Fan

Growing up in Seattle, he was the childhood idol of myself and every other kid on the block. We would play ball in the street in my neighborhood for hours on summer nights, trying to imitate his swing.

I was there when he hit back to back home runs with his Dad. I was there in the Kingdome in 1995 when he slid face first into first base to end the division series against the Yankees (which many have said was the greatest division series of all time).

but I've never been to Seattle. It happened in Anaheim on Sept 14, 1990

[M's_Fan]

Originally Posted by thekingofclout

but I've never been to Seattle. It happened in Anaheim on Sept 14, 1990

My memory serves me poorly, as you are definitely correct, and I wasn't there in Anaheim. I was there on their first game together, but they only hit back to back singles. That must have been cool to see those back to back HR's in person!