Griffey Retires: End of an era (to me at least).

[tedzan]

As an American League fan, I was disappointed when Griffey switched to the National League in 2000. My
Grandson, Ron, was a huge Griffey fan and collected all his cards. In 1994, Ron was 8 years old, I bought
him Griffey's UpperDeck rookie card. Gee, was really excited. In 2000, I suggested to Ron, that he sell his
high-priced Griffey cards, because I told him that Griffey will not be as strong a player in Cinci as he was
in Seattle. Ronnie made a bet with me that Griffey would be as good (if not better).

I pointed out to Ron, that in the post-WWII era, I can think of only one player that has changed Leagues,
and succeeded equally in both....Frank Robinson. For whatever reasons, it is a very tough change to make.
Here's Griffey's Seattle stats vs his Cinci stats......

Seattle.......396 HR......1200 RBI (1989-1999)

Cinci..........250 HR........755 RBI (2000-2010)



TED Z

[barrysloate]

Was it the change of leagues, or the rash of injuries, that derailed Griffey's career?

[3-2-count]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Was it the change of leagues, or the rash of injuries, that derailed Griffey's career?

I'd say it was the rash of injuries. From the years 1992 thru 2000 there wasn't many better when you combine his offensive stats with his glove.

[53Browns]

I grew up in Cincinnati where his Dad played with the Big Red Machine. I was lucky enough to enjoy seeing him play live many times at Riverfront Stadium when he came back to the Reds. He was on the downside of his career when he came back (injuries), but I did get to see him hit some out of the park. Something to tell the kids about some day.

[tedzan]

Regarding your........

"Was it the change of leagues, or the rash of injuries, that derailed Griffey's career?"

I would say both.

Consider this....besides Frank Robinson, can you name any other BB player that has succeeded in both
Leagues since WWII ?
There have been several pitchers (Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, etc.), but not too many players (if any).


TED Z

[glynparson]

Dave Winfield. There may be others I am just drawing a blank. Of course there's also McGwire but he didn't play all that long in the NL and he was aided in his production.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Any excellent to great player would have done fine in both leagues, had he been in that situation, in my opinion. Griffey's problem was injuries. The best player of the 90s, hands down.

[B O'Brien]

I went to see JR and SR at a card show in Nashville back in the 1990 (ish) when he had the flat top and giant Griffey chain. It was a good day. I had to crack my 1989 Upper Deck factory set to get a card auto'd.
It sure was fun trying to catch like him!

Bob

[martyogelvie]

I saw Griffey Jr play at the old Kingdome in '94....

he was one of a kind.

[FUBAR]

Griffey was one of my favorite players... i remember back in the day, i cracked 4 boxes trying to get his rookie card but never pulled one. I finally bought one a few years back.

I found out later from a guy, who used to work at the card store i bought from, that they knew how the distribution went within the box so you could open one pack, then figure out where the Griffey was. Then they would put extra packs back into the box and re-shrink wrap it. No wonder they didn't stick around long!

[M's_Fan]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Was it the change of leagues, or the rash of injuries, that derailed Griffey's career?

It was both. Griffey never really took care of his body, stretching before games and so forth (at least earlier in his career), and he became susceptible to injury. But if he was in the American League he would have had more at bats at least as a DH than in the NL where if you can't run down fly balls as an outfielder, you ride the pine.

At some point in his career, regardless of the league he was in, he should have converted to first base.

[jbsports33]

Still remember opening those fresh new upperdeck packs, he will be missed

good luck KGJ

Jimmy

[barrysloate]

Here's a little stat about Griffey:

In his last four years with Seattle, 1996-99, he played 620 games for an average of 155 per season.

In his first five years with Cincinnati, 2000-04, he played 462 games for an average of 92 per season.

Obviously injuries decimated his career.

[tesitzes24]

Like most of the people that posted above that are around my age (27), I would say that Griffey was not only my favorite player, but probably was solely responsible for getting me started collecting cards. When I was 8-15 years old, when most kids start collecting cards, he was the best player in baseball IMO.

I wish I had gotten a chance to see him play more, in person or on TV. I am from the midwest, and really, the only time I got to see Griffey was SportsCenter highlights. I saw him quite a few times when at Cardinals games when he was with the Reds, but by then, he wasn't the player he was in the 90s.

When I saw yesterday that he retired, it was kind of like I was all of a sudden old at the age of 27. I think he is the best player of his generation for sure considering the numbers, and he put up those numbers without the use of PEDs and did it off of some juiced pitchers. Thanks for the memories Griffey, and thank you for doing it clean.

[jp1216]

Griffey got me back into collecting during the high school/college years. He was fun to watch. His '89 UD card was 'the card' for about 10 years. I remember back in '99 PSA 10s were selling on eBay for over $2000!!! Crazy.

Fondest memory was taking the family to a Indians/Reds game a few years ago and watching him chase HR #500. He hit #499 and the kids loved it. Missed #500 in the 9th inning by about 10 feet.