I was watching MLB Network and they were naming the best players at each position in the 1990's, and to no surprise Ken Griffey Jr. was the center fielder they selected. So this got me thinking, what would his career statistics been, had he stayed healthy? So his worst years with injuries were 2001-2004 in which he never reached more than 364 AB's, compared to his career AB's per season of 513. I determined his H/AB, R/AB, 2B/AB, HR/AB, and his RBI/AB for those select years. And multiplied those numbers by 513. And this would've been his stats for the years 2001-2004:
Triple Slash H R 2B HR RBI
2001: .286/.365/.533 146 80 28 31 91
2002: .264/.358/.426 135 44 20 20 59
2003: .247/.370/.566 126 105 37 40 80
2004: .253/.351/.513 129 84 30 34 102
As I looked at his stats I noticed that in 1995, he suffered an injury, there was also a strike that year, but I don't think that would've affected his stats because they still managed to play 144 games and he could've achieved these stats I believe. Griffey's 1995 statistics were averages of the years 1993-1994 & 1996-2000. Which was when he was playing his best ball. In "The Kid's" 1994 season he hit 40 home runs and then hit 49 in 1996 and only 17 in 1995 so without injuries these stats would've been achievable:
1995: .296/.351/.513 128 114 29 47 126
With these improved seasons and a much improved career, I decided to see where he would rank in the all time records:
Career Hits
6th All Time - 3,483
Career Doubles
T-5th All Time (Biggio) - 668
Career Home Runs
3rd All TIme - 722
Career Runs Batted In
2nd All Time (3 behind Hank Aaron) - 2,294
This might not have been the most efficient way to do this but I think its a fairly reasonable way to determine his career numbers, had he stayed healthy. I think these numbers were achievable with all the talent he had. It would've been remarkable getting to see him do all of this and would've, in my opinion, made him the best player of all time. But that will never be known, just how good Ken Griffey Jr. could've been.
