ESPN MLB

Originally Published: June 20, 2004

Young man or old, Griffey's a delight

Ken Griffey Jr.'s career began with a bang, and despite past injury woes he appears now to be as strong as ever.

Email Print Share

By Tim Kurkjian
ESPN The Magazine

The signs appeared early and often that someday Ken Griffey Jr. would join the 500 Home Run Club.

	Griffey

He was the son of a former major leaguer, and he hails from Donora, Pa., home of Stan Musial. He hit his first major league home run as a 19-year-old; it came on April 10, 1989 off Eric King on the first pitch Griffey ever saw at the Kingdome.

He was the youngest player on an opening day roster in 1989, yet he led major league rookies in home runs that year with 16. His rookie numbers were most similar to those of ... Willie Mays. Griffey's second year, he became the third-youngest player ever to start in the All-Star Game. In his fourth season, when he reached 100 homers, he was the sixth youngest player to do so.

The real home run explosion began in 1993 when Griffey tied the major league record by hitting a home run in eight consecutive games. That was the first of his seven, 40-home run seasons--a feat accomplished only by Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. Griffey led the American League in home runs from 1997 through 1999, one of six players to lead a league three years in a row. During 1996-99, he averaged nearly 52 home runs a year.

Griffey was the youngest to hit 350 home runs, 400 and 450. At age 31, he was even money, it appeared, to be the one to break Hank Aaron's record for career home runs. Then a variety of injuries ruined three seasons, which produced only 43 home runs and derailed his run at Aaron. But now, his health has returned and he's back as a premier slugger.

Despite all his setbacks in recent years, Griffey, at age 34, became the sixth youngest player to hit 500 home runs, behind Jimmie Foxx, Mays, Sosa, Aaron and Ruth. Without the injuries, we likely would be celebrating his 600th home run, but there is still room for that.

If time is kind to Griffey, there will be more records to break and more clubs to join. If he hits a homer six years from now, he would join Ty Cobb and Rusty Staub as the only players to hit homers as teenagers and 40-year-olds. And someday, he could join Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson and Willie McCovey as those who hit home runs in four decades.

Griffey's career appears revived, and so does his chase of history.

Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and a regular contributor to Baseball Tonight. E-mail tim.kurkjian@espnmag.com.