Griffey Jr.

Some where in the dead of night, in either North or South Dakota, maybe Wisconsin or Minnesota, or possible Wyoming the sports world was rocked at the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr., or just Jr., or the kid. He's known by all three names. Jr. was selected to the top 50 players of the last century and was as close defensively to Willie Mays, as any other center fielder. He had the arm, speed, power, average, and leaping ability of a handful throughout baseball history. He ended his career with 630 home runs.

The announcer was discussing how good would Jr. have been without injuries. My first thought was how good would he been on steriods. Jr. was steriod free in an era of Juice. He played the game right because he was taught right by his father and The Big Red Machine. Jr. had sat in major league dug outs since the age of two and played catch with the likes of Rose, Foster, Bench, etc. I have a poster of Jr. and Sr. playing for Seattle in Jr's early days. His rookie card was more valuable in the 90's than present day. A little of his gleem left when he departed Seattle. Leaving to be close to your family is sound judgement but he now longer wore the crown of a king that stayed in his kingdom. My favorite saying is, "You start the season, you finish the season," but we will wave that requirement for Jr. He gave baseball his all and we are all better for watching Jr. place a cleat in the fence to climb where even the, Say Hey Kid, dare not fly.