On the occasion of the retirement of Ken Griffey, Jr.

I was just listening to Mike and Mike (not a fan, but not many options for free sports radio) and they mentioned that one of the reasons Bud and some others are going to be bugged by the whole perfect game fiasco is that Griffey’s retirement, which should be a moment of celebration of a lifetime achievement, will get overturned in the media cycle by first the perfect game stuff and now the endless hype for the NBA Finals.

One of the things that’s extremely tragic about Griffey’s career is that his historical significance has been overshadowed by two strikeouts on Bud’s part: the ruluctance to aggressively and proactively address steroids and the reluctance to implement some kind of instant replay after all of the missed calls in last year’s playoffs.

As a nonReds fan, I kind of remember Griffey the Nike icon in his early days and Griffey as an underachieving bad investment for a midmarket team in his later days. I wonder whether I’d have a different opinion if the Reds’ perspective and Reds’ media people had more presence in the national media cycle.

Thank you all so much for helping me to get a different perspective on things and allowing someone growing to respect your franchise and its storied history who is a Nats Fan but Reds curious to participate in your dialogue.

Very nice.

(But shouldn’t the bat be on the other shoulder?)

I expect to retire at the age of 40 with over $150 million in earnings. Anybody know what the Powerball is up to?

Gonna miss ya, George. I remember every time I drove between Cincinnati & Philadelphia and was on Interstate 70 and I’d pass by the sign that said “Donora”, I’d think to myself “Griffey was born there”.

And I remember attending, and then working for this Science Camp @ Moeller and thinking to myself “Junior used to walk these halls. Junior used to sit in these same seats in these same classrooms.”

But I’m glad to say I got to see KGJ play in person, on more than 1 occasion, and in 2008 during the last season of The House That Jeter Ruined, he took Kyle Farnsworth yard to RF on what looked like a frozen rope and probably took maybe 2 seconds to leave the field.

I’m gonna miss him, and wish him the best as he’ll now get to spend more time with his family in Orlando.

but 2011 will mark the first time in 38 years that a George Griffey is not on an MLB roster. That’s the longest streak for any first-name-last-name combination in the baseball history. Second is Cap Anson, who played in 26 consecutive seasons on his own, and Bob Miller, who had 26 seasons spread across two guys with that name from 1949-1974.

And now you know.

It is a sad time indeed.

Ok so he’s no Miles Davis…but he was a helluva a ballplayer.