Congratulations to
Ken Griffey Jr. on his near-unanimous election to the Hall of Fame. (Kudos to Mike Piazza, as well, for his well-deserved enshrinement) To the three voters who left the Kid off their ballots for any reason, may your fates be to live in Gary, Indiana where your lives will consist of cleaning John Kruk's underwear, watching nothing on TV but Larry Cullpepper Dr. Pepper commercials, and listening to Black Eyed Peas songs on repeat. May you dine on nothing but bags of digs and may you live in a neighborhood where Donald Trump is the president of your homeowners association.
Ok, enough ranting. The voters this year had the enviable task of making history by checking the box next to Junior's name after an amazing career that saw him become the face of MLB to many and inspire many a youngster (like myself) to consider baseball as my favorite sport. Griffey played the game with passion, joy, all-out effort, and nearly unmatched talent, all of which encompass what I think many of us mean when we refer to someone playing "the right way." Though he was a superstar, Ken wasn't selfish, or a prima donna--hell, he didn't even become one of those sluggers that sold out to hit a homer or strike out every at-bat.
It's fitting that his record-setting career was capped off with a record-setting voting percentage of 99.3. Here's to Ken Griffey Jr., the defining player of my generation! I can't wait to see his plaque in person, and who knows, maybe I'll make another trek eastward to Cooperstown this summer.
In honor of #24, here's 10 of the best Griffey cards I have in my PC:
The rookies:
The Refractors:
The relics:
The autograph:
The insert that got it right a couple decades ago:
I had a feeling there would be some jacka$$ voters who'd leave Griffey off of their ballots. These guys should have their voter rights stripped due to irresponsible voting. At the bare minimum they should have to justify why they didn't vote for him.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I don't like about Griffey was his luck, with injuries that is. Can you imagine the numbers he would have put up if he had stayed healthy that last what, decade that he played. I always liked him, even before his short stint with the Sox. He absolutely loved to play, those are the players that I like. It wasn't the money or the notoriety, he just loved to play.
ReplyDeleteHow in the world those 3 voters left him off their ballot is beyond me.
Oh for sure, once he got to Cincy he tailed off very quickly because of that bad luck with his health. I love that he's at least practically universally loved by people who collected in the 90s especially.
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