Great American Ballpark stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio
There was no shortage of heroes to look up to growing up watching baseball in the 1990’s. I idolized Mo Vaughn, I adjusted my batting gloves like Nomar, and I watched Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chase down Roger Maris in awe. But there was one player that seemed above everyone else. He was a true star, he was larger than life, he had an aura about him that the other guys didn’t seem to have. They simply called him Junior.
Ken Griffey Jr. was the king of cool.
Griffey was the ultimate sports hero to any kid growing up in the 90s. He was a television advertisement star, and he even had his own Nintendo video game series to boot (and it was awesome). Anybody who was anybody pretended to be Ken Griffey Jr. in their back yard or on the Little League diamond. If you didn’t want to be Junior, nobody wanted you around.
And man, could he ever play. Junior didn’t just hit home runs, he did it with style, he did it with flair. He took the home run derby each summer to places it will never go again. He electrified the event with his smile, that backwards hat, and most importantly, the type of swing you dream about.
Oh mercy, what a sweet swing it was.
Griffey could’ve been the all-time home run king. No, he should’ve been the all-time home run king. But The Kid broke down as he got older, like we all do. Injuries derailed his shot. Instead, the only player in Griffey’s generation that was as truly elite as he was, Barry Bonds, took that mantle. Bonds got better as he aged, but we know that didn’t happen naturally.
It turns out that some of those heroes we grew up loving weren’t who we thought they were. Bonds was juiced up, McGwire was juiced up, Sosa was juicing and corking. It became known as the steroid era. We look back on it differently now than we looked at it then.
But Griffey was above the fray. He has never been linked to steroids, bat corking, HGH, andro, anything. He finished his career with 630 home runs. He won 10 gold gloves. He was the complete player.
Griffey is just as we remember him, and that’s what makes him truly special. He is a ballplayer most deserving of a near unanimous selection into baseball immortality.
Three writers, for some reason, didn’t think Junior deserved that honor. Maybe they’re stubborn, maybe they thought their vote could better be spent on a player other writers were overlooking, or maybe they’ve become too hardened over the years and refuse to give anybody the glory of a unanimous selection.
We grow up to realize that sometimes your sports heroes aren’t what they were cracked up to be.
But sometimes, and it seems increasingly rare, you’re reminded why the kid in you fell in love with sports all those years ago.
Players like Ken Griffey Jr.
Matt McCarthy is the sports anchor for the Cape Cod Morning News on Classical 107.5 WFCC. He is also a news anchor/report for 99.9 The Q, Cape Country 104, and Ocean 104.7. He can also be heard on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston.
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