My thoughts on Ken Griffey Jr.

Well before I begin, let me start by saying that Ken Griffey Jr. is my favorite baseball player of all time, I’ve always thought highly of him and always will.  Since baseball is still feeling the effects of the “steroid era” all the attention is focused on everyone who seems to be doing it and it’s some of the biggest names in baseball in the last few years I mean look at the names like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, I mean I think everyone remembers how they brought so much attention to the game back in 1998.  Then we can talk about other names like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, I can name alot more but there is no need.  I mean you read the sport magazines, sports section of the newspaper and sports programming that all you here……….well maybe sprinkle in Michael Vick and some guy name Brett Favre who’s making his 10th return to the NFL, but I’ll talk about that later in another post, but back to the subject which is Ken Griffey Jr. who currently has 623 home runs, which ranks him 5th all time behind Bonds, Aaron, Ruth and Mays but since making his debut in 1989 he became a instant fan favorite playing along side his father Ken Griffey Sr.  His first 11 seasons with the Mariners were a hall of fame career before leaving for Cincinnati in 2000 because his time in Seattle he hit 398 home runs, had over 1750 hits, selected t0 10 all star games and if that’s not enough he was the best defensive center fielder we’ve seen in a long time collecting 10 gold glove awards.  Then we had the years in Cincinnati where his tenure there he was plagued by injuries during most of the time he spent there from 2000 to 2008, but before the trade deadline in 2008 he was traded to the White Sox where it didn’t make much impact because he was aging and on the decline.  This season he signed with the Mariners where his career has come full circle in which could be his final year, something he hasn’t decided yet but if he does let me be one the people to say thank you for everything and all the memories because he always had fun playing the game and he was always respected by not his peers but the fans and tome he’s one of the best ever, something he’ll never say because he’s always paying homage to the older generation. Now let’s talk about what could of been because basically he lost about a total of 3 seasons while being injured in Cincinnati, also he’s probably the only player in this era that I would be willing to bet anything that he’s stayed clean and the past few years as he got older his body slowed down also like it used to be before the steroids made its way to the game.  But my rant through all of this is that no one ever gives him his props for not only being a good ambassador of the game and role model to kids growing up and let’s add all the charitable work he’s done over the years and continue to do but shows that there are still honest athletes in the world because during his 20 years in professional baseball you never heard of him doing crazy stuff that would not only embarass himself, but his family, team and sports in general, I think as a society we tend to harp on the negative aspects of everything and never focus on what positive things that go on because I’m a follower of Sports Center and pretty much anything on ESPN and they always talk about the negative but they need to have a special or something on him because I know they’ll wait to he retire before giving him his due respect but he needs it now while he’s playing.  To close this out I wish I could be one of the people who could attend the final game in Seattle because I know that would be one of those moments that you’ll never forget, so to Ken Griffey Jr, my favorite player of all time I say thank you for all the years of entertainment you provided and can’t wait until you’re elected to the hall of fame.

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Baseball’s Trade Deadline and Steroid News

Today’s big news in baseball today is the trade deadline where contenders can add players to improve to make a run for a championship and teams whose not can trade good players in exchange for prospects so they can build for the future or save money in these economic times as we saw Boston add a top player in Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for 3 players that included pitcher Justin Masterson, the Sox also traded Adam LaRouche to the Atlanta Braves for Casey Kotchman, LaRouche is returning to the Braves for a second time.  Also at the deadline the Padres sent all star and former Cy Young winner Jake Peavy, who is currently injured to the Chicago White Sox and the Padres received 4 young pitching prospects.  The Detroit Tigers added Jared Washburn from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for 2 pitching prospects, also Toronto sent third basemen Scott Rolen back to the National League to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for 3 players.  In other trade news the Nationals sent first basemen Nick Johnson to the Marlins, Minnesota added Orlando Cabrera from the A’s and the Yankees added infielder Jerry Hairston from the Reds.  Also in baseball news which is something I think all baseball fans are tired of is that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez names leaked from the infamous 2003 failed drug test list, which bothers me because Boston is my favorite team and Ortiz and Ramirez are 2 of my favorite players in baseball

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