There is no proof he was clean. Perkins actually thinks its 50/50 (Williams and myself put it at about 5% chance). But he never failed a test that we know of and hes never been connected to it. And the perception, which is the important thing here, is now going to be that the best natural player of our era is or was Ken Griffey Jr. The dominating public opinion put A-Rod as the best and Griffey sat at number two. But now with A-Rod coming clean the crown will get put on King Griffey Jr. I just wanted to reflect on an old favorite. I wanted to remember how good he was, think if he could have ever been dirty, and pretty much just hope that he wasn't. I think a little part inside of us serious baseball fans needs him to be clean right now.
I admit that I enjoy Junior getting some extra positive press. It makes me feel good remembering how ill Griffey was. Noone was cooler than Junior when we were kids. All of us 80's babies grew up trying to imitate his stance. And even today, noone pimps a home run like Ken Griffey Jr. In the 90's he won a gold glove every year and hit 40+ home runs 7 times, incredible. He was the face of the game during that decade. One of the most popular players of all time.
He could hang it up this year, we don't know yet. Last year was the first year Griffey wasn't a great hitter. Imagine if this cat didn't lose his legs? In 1999 he swiped 24 bags. In the years since he stole 17 combined. You gotta give him credit though. His greatness left when his defense and legs did, but he could still swing the bat a little, even up until recently. Griff hit 30 HR two seasons ago and 35 in 2005. Its not that often you see a guy with an injury plagued career hit over 600 home runs.
In his prime Griffey's game was speed, finesse, flexibility. He had all five tools and was as smooth as a ballet dancer. He wasn't the strongest hitter but he could generate some great bat speed. He couldn't have roided right? To say such a thing is baseball sacrilege. Yea, he hit 56HR in back to back years, but even then we didn't love him because of the power. We loved his attitude, his smile, and his squeaky clean swagger. As fans we loved seeing Griffey rob a home run as much as we loved seeing him hit one. We loved seeing the smile after a catch and the pimp walk after he golfed one 400 feet. Noone was smoother than junior. We wouldn't do well with it if anything ever came out.
Griff also got the benefit of the doubt in the public eye because he didn't have the steroid body. What does that prove though? As we found out with Palmeiro, who looks like a latino college professor, body type isn't a definitive indicator. You can juice and take all different kinds of cocktails of roids that will give you all different effects. Some are more mild than others, some are add bulk, some endurance, or strength. Roids like Primo, Winny, Deca etc are pretty mild compared to the HGH and Test stacks Victor Conte was prescribing. Just labeling someone as a steroid user is extremely vague in itself, so looking at a body type to clear or implicate a person is irresponsible.
We don't know, but we do hope. Only Griffey knows the truth. If he did juice, it would be a heavy burden to carry as the new Roy Hobbs. Baseball fans want it to be true. They, want someone to point to for an example of the last great one before steroids came in and messed with our heads. Its funny how haywire baseball goes when we have to rationalize a new big name testing positive. It really throws us off. Baseball is a numbers game, and thats not just a cliche. We judge everything and everyone on the numbers. Contracts, home runs, steals, 714, 61, 90 feet, etc. And when we find out someone messed with the legitimacy of our holy numbers, all hell breaks loose.
God, please let nothing ever come out about Junior Griffey. A-Rod pained me and I don't even like the man. I need Griffey to have been clean for my sanity as a baseball fan.
And if he decides to hang it up this year, he'll be missed by a whole generation of fans who look at him as one of the best to ever do it. Stay gold, Ponyboy...Stay gold.
(Do you think Griff was natural? Post in the comments section.)
-J.Wolfe
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I think he is all natural. He is the mays, aaron, Williams, Mantle, etc of our time. We would have had a few more of these but The Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguezes of the world wanted to cheat the game. these guys were def hall of famers w/out the juice. its just a shame we wont be able to compare them too the legends of the game b/c we now know they cheated.
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ReplyDeleteWow, was BTK listening in on my convo at Yangtze last night? I said the exact same thing last night about Griffey being the once in a generation player. Juice allowed about 10 guys to jump into that category until the roof caved in on the roiders. Griffey would have been the man, and now hopefully will be looked at as so.
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