Ken Griffey Jr. by Vincent Rush
Arguably the greatest player of my generation, Ken Griffey Jr. retired today after 22 seasons.
I was 25 and playing softball when Griffey broke into the bigs, straight out of Moeller Highschool.
Sadly, injuries robbed his chance at the all time home run record.
While Jr. was often aloof and seemed to not really care for the media, I can never remember any controversy about "The Kid".
I was at a Cincinnati Reds game a few years ago and some business partners and I rented out "The Living Legends Suite" at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati the night the Reds played the New York Mets in the second game of the 2005 season. Our guest for the evening was Ken Griffey Sr.
During the evening, Father Griffey shared numerous stories about Junior growing up.
My good friend and Amway Double Diamond Larry Winters, asked Senior, when he knew Junior was going to be a star, Ken Griffey Senior laughed and replied, "When I couldn't strike him out any more!"
Ken Griffey Jr. was one of those rare baseball players that caused you to stop whatever you were doing and watch every moment of every at bat you could catch.
I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to watch Griffey play for the Cincinnati Reds.
Thanks for all the great years. You retire as the legitimate number 4 all time natural home run hitter.
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