Sad to see Junior go out like this, but it was time.
5. The Catch. It’s still painful to watch but a great example of how talented a centerfielder he was in his prime. In this grainy highlight video it’s about at 1:04.
4. Covering my bedroom walls with Griffey posters. Seriously it would have been pretty creepy stalker-ish if it wasn’t a 10 year old kid. My favorite was one that said “Bon Voyage” and showed him going yard. Couldn’t find that one online, but I think I had this one too.
3. Griffey and his “grotesquely swollen jaw” on The Simpsons.
2. Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball. Best video game ever. Apparently he didn’t want to pay for licensing rights so he’s the only player in the whole game with his real name. All the other players from 1993 are there, just with fake names. Montreal and Toronto were pretty good, but of course I’d always play with the M’s. Buhner and Tino Martinez were unstoppable. I know I played this game way too much because I learned pretty much every possible hit, defensive play, how to manipulate the other team’s players to make them run into outs, how to get out of a pickle, and how to squeeze bunt successfully every time.
Also awesome about this game was:
- How your fielders could run 4 times as fast as any baserunner… until they came up to bat.
- How your pitchers started to huff and puff when they got tired.
- How you could dive your outfielders into the wall and knock them out.
- How some players would break their bat over their knees when they struck out while others would just sigh and look dejected.
- The awesome music.
- Hitting a 575 ft. homer.
- How every game was a sellout.
- The postgame newspaper.
- Knocking over the catcher on a play at the plate, even though he never dropped the ball.
- How the players would argue every time they got out, even when they struck out swinging.
1. Scoring the winning run in the 1995 ALDS. What else could it be? Goosebumps!
Honorable mention:
- Back-to-back homers with dad
- Homeruns in 8 straight games
- The Ken Griffey, Jr chocolate bar
- His 1996 Nike-sponsored presidential campaign
- My 100+ Griffey baseball cards, still in a box in the closet
- Imitating his stance
- Seeing him at Sushiman in Issaquah (and Bryn’s mom freaking out)
- His 1997 MVP season
- And wanting to believe he did it all without ‘roids
Thanks, Junior! It’s been fun.
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Tags: baseball
