Kid A

In the early days of this site (way back in 2008!) I reflected on the day the Reds traded for Ken Griffey, Jr.

Regardless of how it worked out, the trade remains a really big deal. Players of Griffey’s caliber — and let’s not forget that he was the best player in the game in 1999/2000 — don’t come to Cincinnati to play baseball.

People like Willy Taveras and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named come to Cincinnati to play baseball.

The Reds were coming off a season in ’99 that saw them missing the playoffs by one freaking game (thank you, Steve Parris). Griffey was supposed to be the missing piece.

As we all know, things didn’t work out that way.

Even though his time in Cincinnati was marred with injuries, I was still glad he was a Cincinnati Red. The Kid had quite a few highlights in a Reds uniform — just not as many as we would’ve liked.

Junior hit his first home run as a Red on my birthday. That was pretty cool.

I don’t get to see many Reds games in person, but I somehow managed to witness not one, but two of Griffey’s catastrophic injuries.

The first was at an April game in Cincinnati — Griffey rounded third pretty hard (too hard), blowing out his knee.

The second was at a late-season game in Milwaukee — Griffey was sprinting to catch a ball towards the warning track, something gave out (I think it was his hamstring) and he didn’t get up.

The Reds were rarely in contention during Junior’s time with us, but each injury still stung. Not only because we’d miss seeing him in the lineup every day, but you just knew that every time Griffey got hurt, a little bit of his legacy went with him.

When Griffey arrived at the beginning of the 2000 season many believed that he would eventually be the Home Run King by the time he retired. That didn’t happen, and we knew pretty early on during his Reds’ tenure that that wasn’t going to happen.

I didn’t have the luxury of listening to Cincinnati sports radio too much, but I know that a lot of Reds fans grew tired of Griffey and his long list of injuries.

I’ll admit to getting frustrated each time he got hurt, but I never stopped liking the guy. The only thing that bothered me is that I knew I was probably never going to see the Ken Griffey, Jr. that we all thought we were going to see in Cincinnati. 

I’ve been blessed with a few things in my life: a beautiful wife, freakish height, and my legendary writing abilities. Thanks to heredity, a complete lack of coordination, and the fact that I’m legally blind in one eye, I was never going to make a lot of money as an athlete.

I was an okay basketball player (I was a legend on the intramural court, however), an average soccer player (until I had to try out for the team), and I was a horrible baseball player. Just terrible. I couldn’t catch, I couldn’t hit, and if any coach ever had the courage to put me on the mound, I promise you I wouldn’t be able to pitch, either.

Despite my complete lack of skill, it didn’t stop my love for the game of baseball. It will always be my favorite sport. To this day my All-Time Favorite Baseball Swings are:

1. Ken Griffey, Jr.
2. Will Clark

The list ends there.

You might notice that both of these guys are left-handers. I don’t know what it is about a left-hander’s swing, but these guys were pure poetry to watch at the plate.

Junior is leaving the game with little fan-fare, which is probably for the best. Let him step away quietly for now. Give us time to forget the last few years of his career. I’m sure the Mariners will throw him a huge party later this season, at which point we’ll remember the good times of Griffey’s career.

And there were plenty of ‘em.

So long, Kid. It was fun.