MLB Tribune

Ken Griffey Jr Not a Kid Anymore

by Scooter on 02/16/2010 in MLB News

I remember when Ken Griffey Jr. first came up when he was a kid among men. He started his MLB career at the young age of 20. He broke in with the Seattle Mariners in 1989 and played in 127 games with 16 HR and 61 RBI and batted .264. Does the Kid have anything left in his bat?

Last year, he was one of the worst designated hitters in baseball – hitting .214 with a .735 OPS, the worst numbers of his career – while playing an injury-shortened 114 games.

Ken Griffey Jr was expected to break Hank Aaron’s home run record, but injuries hurt his chances. He missed a lot of games in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. In those years he missed time, he averaged only 77.8 games played. If he was to average 35 home runs per year during those injury years, he would have had 725 home runs for his career. Yes I know Barry Bonds holds the record, but that record should be accompanied with an asterisk (*).

I still own three Upper Deck rookie cards. I hope that one day they will be worth a lot more, but I doubt it, they way over produced baseball cards in those days.

The Kid is 40 and it makes me feel old as I was 27 when he first came up. Where does the time go?

He had a Hall of Fame career based on the number below;

Games 2638, AB: 9703, Runs 1656, Hits 2763, 2B 522, 3B 38, HR 630, RBI 1829, BB 1762, SB 182, AVG .285, SLG .541, OPS .912

He is a first ballot Hall of Famer for sure!