Ken Griffey, Jr. is tired. Despite his and the Mariners’ vehement denials this afternoon, rumors have been swirling this week that the Kid has been sleeping in the clubhouse. After an 0-for-3 tonight in which he saw just 12 pitches, he also appears to be sleeping at the plate and is now batting .200/.264/.225 through 87 plate appearances this year. His days are numbered.
For Yankee fans — this one, in particular — Griffey was a big thorn in the side of the team for the better part of the 1990s until one day, he wasn’t. To start the 2000 season, Griffey woke up in Cincinnati shrouded in irrelevancy, and he hasn’t been the same since. He’ll be toasted by the baseball literati when he retires later this year (or perhaps month), and he’ll be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, untouched by the stain of scandal. But he just missed being the greatest. Those nagging injuries have limited to an average of 102 games a year since leaving Seattle, and today, his 630 home runs are often forgotten.
As Griffey nears the end, I can’t help but think of the days of his torture. In his career, Griffey faced the Yankees 572 times in 133 games and hit .311/.392/.595 with 36 home runs and 102 RBIs. He destroyed the Yankees in the 1995 ALDS when he hit .391/.444/1.043 with 5 home runs in as many games. In many respects, that ALDS was the pinnacle of Griffey’s career. On the grandest stage in baseball, when the Mariners and Seattle as a town needed it most, the Kid came through, and much to my chagrin, he earned that smile.
For Griffey, that series spelled redemption in a personal way too. He absolutely hated the Yankees. His disgust stemmed from an incident when his dad was playing in the Bronx in which Billy Martin would chase children out of the clubhouse, and he always believed that George Steinbrenner did not treat his father well. Griffey got it out on the field and seemingly vowed never to play in New York.
Yet, for all of the Kid’s bluster over the Bronx, Griffey and the Yankees were subject to numerous rumors as the years wore on. After three disappointing years with the Reds, Griffey found himself the object of trade rumors. The Reds wanted more payroll flexibility, and the team explored trading him. Griffey said he would go to the Yankees or the Braves, and Griffey’s grudge, said Jack Curry in 2002, had faded. Bob Nightengale seemed to enjoy dreams of an outfield that would have featured Bernie Williams, Hideki Matsui and Ken Griffey, Jr.
But Griff’s next trip to the Bronx wouldn’t come in 2003 via a trade. In fact, Griffey didn’t set foot in Yankee Stadium again until 2008 when he came with the Reds and then later the White Sox. Even in the twilight of his career, he still managed to hit .348/.423/.522 with one final Yankee Stadium home run that year.
This year, the Mariners come to town at the end of June, and Ken Griffey’s place on the team isn’t that secure to expect him to stop by for one final visit to the Bronx. Even if we never see him again with that menacing lefty stance, taking aim at the short right field porch, I’ll always remember the Kid for 1995. It seems like a generation ago that Griffey plagued the Yankees, and his final days on the field are ticking by.
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