Ken Griffey, Jr.

George Kenneth Griffey, Jr. (born November 21, 1969 in the Pittsburgh suburb of Donora, Pennsylvania) is an American Major League Baseball player. Ken Griffey Jr. shares not only the same birthday, but also the same birth place as Hall of Famer Stan Musial.

Youth and early career

He was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father, Ken Griffey, Sr. played for the Cincinnati Reds. The younger Griffey played baseball at Moeller High School, a Catholic school in Cincinnati better known for its football program. When he was in high school, he drew raves from Major League scouts for his batting swing, widely regarded as the best of his generation, and effortless fielding prowess.

As a Major League Baseball player he has often led the majors in major hitting statistics, and was awarded a Gold Glove Award for defensive excellence in 10 consecutive seasons, from 1990 to 1999, while playing center field for the Seattle Mariners. Griffey, Jr. played on the same team as his father with the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991.

Griffey's career began with the Seattle Mariners in 1989. He won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1997, hitting .304, with 56 home runs and 147 runs batted in.

During Griffey's tenure with the Seattle Mariners, he established himself over the years as one of baseball's premier players, with the potential of being considered one of the greatest players ever. He was a multi-dimensional player during a time when more and more players usually excelled at either hitting or fielding, but rarely both. Griffey could hit with high average, batting over .300 for seven of the ten years of the 1990s, and hit with power as well, by hitting 422 home runs during the decade. His abilities in centerfield arguably were paralleled by no one. Griffey often made over the shoulder catches, the kind that Willie Mays immortalized during the 1954 World Series, with a play simply known as the Catch. For these reasons, Ken Griffey, Jr. was one of baseball's most respected and well liked players during the 1990s, as one could routinely see his picture on cereal boxes and television commercials, and he was a mainstay of the All-Star Game during the decade.

In 1999, he ranked Number 93 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. This list was compiled during the 1998 season, counting only statistics through 1997. Had the voting been done after 1998, he would have ranked higher. At 29 going on 30, he was easily the youngest player on the list. That same year, he was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Departure from Seattle

Despite Griffey's elite performances, and seemingly bright future in Seattle, he nonetheless became disenchanted with playing for the Mariners. Publicly, he expressed frustration over what he believed was a lack of commitment to winning from the management of the Mariners.

Also, there was speculation that Griffey was very unhappy with Seattle's new Safeco Field, in which it was much more difficult to maintain the level of power he had while playing in the Kingdome. It's been reported that Griffey, among other Mariners players, requested the architects of Safeco Field bring the fences closer to home plate. However, much to the players' chagrin, the architects designed a park with a deep center field. This, combined with Safeco being at sea level, and Seattle's generally dense, moisture-laden atmosphere, helped create a "pitcher friendly" ball park. In the summer of 1999, it was reported that Griffey hit a ball that would likely have been a home run in the Kingdome, but turned into a long fly-out to center in Safeco. Griffey then stormed angrily to the Mariner dugout telephone, called the Mariners' general manager, and demanded to be traded that day. Although Griffey has always denied his concern with baseball records, that year it appeared that he had his ambitions set towards breaking Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

Griffey ultimately got his wish, and following the 1999 season, he was traded to father's former team, the Cincinnati Reds, for Mike Cameron, Brett Tomko, and Antonio Perez. Initially, the future looked extremely bright for him there. It was the city in which he had grown up, and Griffey was reportedly very pleased to be playing on his father's former team -- on the open market, Griffey could have made several million dollars more than the contract offered by the small market and notoriously penurious Reds. However, his contract apparently includes backloaded payments which will be paid until 2024 [1].

Injury-plagued tenure in Cincinnati

The 2000 season began what has generally been seen by the media as a decline in Griffey's superstar status. Although his statistics during this season were respectable, they were far below his previous level of play, hitting .271 with 40 home runs, and playing 145 games. From 2001 through 2004, Griffey was plagued by various injuries, and the last three of those years saw season-ending injuries. Many speculate the injuries are a result of a decade of playing on the Kingdome's artificial turf, which players claim is like playing the game on asphalt. Whatever their causes, injuries forced Griffey to miss 260 out of 486 games from 2002 through 2004. Consequently, he is not nearly the ubiquitous presence he once was on cereal boxes, television commercials, and the All-Star Game.

In 2004, Griffey avoided major injury during the first half of the season and on June 20 became the 20th player to reach 500 career home runs. The 500th home run came on Father's Day in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, with his father Ken Sr. in the stands, a hit that also tied him with his father for career hits with 2,143. However, the injury bug struck again just before the All-Star break; he suffered a partial hamstring tear, knocking him out of the All-Star Game and putting him on the disabled list. He did get his 500th home run ball from a fan who was also there for Father's Day with his dad. The fan received many awards from Griffey Jr.

Griffey finished the 2004 season on the disabled list after suffering a complete rupture of his right hamstring in San Francisco on August 11. The play in question occurred at SBC Park in a game against the San Francisco Giants. Griffey was starting in right field for the first time in his 16-year Major League career when he raced toward the gap to try to cut off a ball before it got to the wall. He slid as he got to the ball, but in the process hyperextended his right leg. He later came out of the game, complaining of "tightness" in the hamstring exacerbated by chilly conditions in San Francisco. But there was far more to it than anyone realized at the time.

Shortly after this injury, the Reds' team physician, Timothy Kremchek, devised an experimental surgery dubbed "The Junior Operation" that would use three titanium screws to reattach Griffey's hamstring. For several weeks, Griffey's right leg was in a sling that kept the leg at a 90-degree angle, and he was not able to move the leg until late October. After an intense rehabilitation period, he returned for the 2005 season. In April, he hit only .244 with only one homer (on April 30) and nine RBI. [2]

Starting May 1, the 2005 season saw the resurgence of a healthy Griffey. The fluid swing, which depends heavily on excellent lower body strength, returned to its original form, now that Griffey's hamstring and calf problems appear behind him. Junior's 35 home runs were his highest since his first year with the Reds as Griffey slowly moved up the career home run list. He ended the season tied with Mickey Mantle, after having passed Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Willie McCovey, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews, and Mel Ott in 2005.

Early in September, he strained a tendon in his left foot (an injury unrelated to his past hamstring and calf problems), and was listed as day-to-day for several weeks. On September 22, with the Reds out of playoff contention, the team decided to bench him for the rest of the season so he could immediately have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and a separate operation to repair scars from his 2004 hamstring operation. Still, his 128 games in 2005 were the most he has played since 2000. Griffey's resurgence was recognized when he was named National League Comeback Player of the Year.

If his health remains intact, Junior could reach 600 home runs sometime in the 2007 season, at age 37. Had the chronic injuries of 2001-2004 not limited his astronomical progress, the discussion could currently be when, not if, Griffey would surpass Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs.

Griffey and his wife Melissa have 3 children: George Kenneth III ("Trey"), daughter Taryn Kennedy, and adopted son Tevin Kendall. When Trey was born, then-Mariners' G.M. Woody Woodward sent him a player's contract dated 2012.