Ken Griffey Jr. Hits #600
Monday, June 09, 2008
I, like many others, have a man crush on Ken Griffey Jr. There's a lot of things that go into this crush, but the two main ones are that I'm left-handed (and still try to emulate his swing in Softball) and he presumably never cheated.
Griffey nailed a 3-1 Mark Hendrickson pitch tonight for his 600th, and just like his swing, the celebration was cool, calm and just right. Here's the video if you missed it....
It's a shame he did it in front of so little people, but a classy move by Marlins fans to cheer for a curtain call. We'll probably never know who did what in the Steroid Era of Baseball but I think we can safely say that Ken Griffy Jr. did it the right way.
Congrats Griffey. No asterisk needed here. 600.
12 Comments:
Haha great call. Didn't even plan that.
I agree completely. He couldn't hae been classier about it.
And yes, the guy who batted after him was definitely swinging for the fences on that pitch.
haha yeah that was Brandon Phillips who swang at the end of the clip. Whats funny is that he actually hit a homer later in the game.
If only Griffey could have stayed healthy, this would have been # 700 and he would be chasing the cheater Bonds. That would be so great to see, but oh well. I'm happy for Junior.
Steve Phillips just said that the Boston Red Sox were the team to beat in the National League. I guess that is why he isn't a GM anymore - he wasn't sure which teams were in his league.
Steve Phillips >>>>> Barry Larkin
If you're a former MLB All-Star or college baseball coach with lockjaw, you too can do Super Regional games for ESPN.
/end rant
Congratulations, Griffey.
Steve Phillips also said the Tigers had the best lineup in baseball history. Yup.
And yes, big ups to Griffey for 600.
Not to be a negative force here, but why is everyone so sure that Griffey never used performance-enhancing drugs? I'm not saying that he did, and he certainly hasn't shown up in any grand jury testimony or the Mitchell report, but everyone likes to fall all over themselves to talk about how Griffey "did it right." Given how rampant drug use was in baseball and how inadequate the testing was, we'll probably never know who did and who didn't. I'm not trying to take anything away from his achievement -- I've had a man crush on Junior Griffey for years as well. I just find it interesting that everyone is very quick to clear him, when it is very hard to prove a negative...
Griffey has aged like the rest of us. He's thicker through the middle and has lost a step. The steroid boys didn't. Junior also never got overly musclebound. That's why I don't think he ever used steroids.
He's still got a sweet swing and is a class act. I'm thrilled for him.
Great story and replay later in the game about the guy who caught the ball. He was extremely prepared. As soon as he caught it with his glove, he pulled another baseball out of his pocket and rolled it away from him. As everyone chased that ball he got the hell out of there. Brilliant.
On the same note as the coach, his body broke down on him constantly which happens to a lot of the PE drug abusers. I'm not saying that Griff is dirty, but I don't think that we can give him a free pass and say that he did it the right way. We don't know that.
There is no right way. There are ways you prefer, which is fine, but there is no right way.
The best part about it....check out 'the swing that followed 600' right as the clip ends.