I went to my first MLB game shortly after my ninth birthday. It was the Mariners’ third game of the 1995 season and I had become interested in baseball the year before during the strike-shortened 1994 season. Going into the game, I was certainly aware of who Ken Griffey Jr. was, but I wasn’t really aware of just who Ken Griffey Jr. was.
A timeline of the best highlights from Ken Griffey Jr.‘s remarkable career
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Prior to that game, I thought every team had a player Ken Griffey Jr. Then, I sat and watched as grown men and women came unglued with joy as Griffey crushed a home run to deep right field and threw out a base runner at second base. They were all so in awe. The Mariners hit multiple home runs that day, but there was just something different about the reaction when Griffey did it.
That was the day I learned that Ken Griffey Jr. was not only a one-of-a-kind player, but that he was a generational talent. If you ask baseball fans their favorite Junior moment, you might get a dozen different answers. From crushing home runs with his silky smooth swing to flashing his gold glove weather. Griffey was so great and made it look so easy.
Griffey’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame is really just a perfect excuse to sit back and enjoy all of those classic Junior moments.
From his debut as a teenager to cementing his place among the baseball elite nearly 20 years later. Griffey produced a career unlike any other. He really was a transcendent motherf*****.
