Ken Griffey Jr. Retires, My Childhood Gets That Much Further Away

Ken Griffey Jr. announced this evening that he has retired. This brings to a close one of the best careers in major league baseball history.

I remember when he was a rookie. Everyone was so hyped over this 19 year old kid. The Kid, that’s what we called him. He had this bright, energetic smile that could light up a room. And don’t forget about that 1989 Upper Deck rookie card that every 10 year old dreamed about.

He was on the cover of magazines and, for once, the hype was justified. After his rookie year, he ripped off 11 straight years as an All Star.

In 1997 he batted .304 with 56 HRs and 147 RBI, which was arguably his best season, because he nearly duplicated those numbers in 1998.

He was everyone’s favorite player and never disappointed. He played center field with an amazing amount of skill and energy and brought to the plate the sweetest swing most of us had ever seen.

Quite honestly, he was the closest thing my generation could possibly come to watching Willie Mays in action.

I’d prefer not to talk about his Cincinnati years because, being a Reds fan myself, it actually hurts a little. I couldn’t contain my excitement when he signed with my hometown team.

He constantly got hurt, to the point where I never really felt like he was giving 100%. Our hero had, overnight, become old and rickety.  It happens to the best of them.

It was too much.

The end of his career ended like many careers that are immortalized in Cooperstown. He will absolutely, no doubt be a first ballot Hall of Famer — barring some “report” that says he did steroids, or a failed drug test.

If he did do steroids, he did a really s**tty job of it. The last 10 years of his career were completely marred by injuries.

I would be a little surprised if he did do steroids, but the cynic in me says that nothing will surprise me when it comes to the Steroid Era (which we are still not completely out of, by the way).  It is sad that I even have to mention steroids at all in an article about Griffey.

His 630 career home runs are the fifth best of all time. Surprisingly, he only won one MVP award in his career.

Nevertheless, with this announcement, one more link to my baseball childhood has been broken. It is a sad day, no matter how inevitable it had become.

WE RAISE OUR GLASSES TO THE SWEETEST SWING OF ALL TIME!

Here is a video of his final career home run: