Thanks #3

[Griffey012]

I started this thread to express my appreciation for Griffey in a Reds uni and throughout his career and to get other people to express their own and share some stories, memories, etc.

As a child I found myself torn between watching the M's and the Reds, then he came home and it was all perfect. Well far from perfect, but as I grew older I began to appreciate getting to watch him play when healthy, handle himself (minus the recent incident), touch many people's lives especially young kids, and be a proud and humble father. To me during the many seasons of losing he and Dunner teamed up to give me something to still watch and hope for during the season and the next. I feel like Griffey is part of what kept me attached to the Reds during some of the worst season, before Harang, Phillips, the young guns, and Krivsky and Castellini And the most recent Reds game I went to was the most awesome experience I've had at a game simply by watching the guy covering my walls as a child interact with us in right field.

As far as moving to Chicago I am thrilled and excited. I know his time was done here in Cincy and it is time to move on for him and the good of the ballclub, so I wish him the best and can't wait to root for him and the White Sox in the playoffs and hopefully the World Series as long as they don't meet the Reds there, and ultimately just want to say thanks.

[schmidty622]

You owe him nothing. He did nothing truly meaningful for the city while in Cincinnati.

[Carolina Red]

I wish you the best Junior. You came to play for the Reds for about 75 million less than what the Mets wanted to pay you all those years ago. Unfortunately Carl Lindner wouldn't spend any of his massive fortune to field a winner while you were in your prime. I hope the White Sox win it all this season and you can retire with a ring.:thumbup:

[Fon Duc Tow]

I'll wish Junior the best and wonder what might have been.

My hope is that the potential for a ring will reawaken the "kid" in Griffey we all remember, and he carries the White Sox to a World Series victory. I'll be cheering for him all the way too.

What if, Carl.

[schmidty622]

I hope Junior fails there too. Then it doesn't make Cincy look as bad.

[Blue]

You owe him nothing. He did nothing truly meaningful for the city while in Cincinnati.

Except, you know, choose to come here for less money on the hollow promise of building a contender around him.

[schmidty622]

What exactly did that do for the city or Reds baseball, in hindsight?

[HeatherC1212]

Can the insults to Junior be posted in another thread? The original poster started this as a nice personal gesture of thanks to KGJ and it seems inappropriate to be posting the negative stuff in this type of thread. Aren't there more than enough threads to post that stuff somewhere else? :thumbdown

That said, I want to thank Griffey for being a good man and a great ballplayer. I don't just look at his years in Cincy...I look at his career as a whole and it's sure been pretty awesome overall. I wish him all the best in Chicago and I hope he gets that chance at the postseason. I'm not important in any sense of the word but I am one fan who will miss seeing him at GABP and when I'm at my next game one week from today, I know it will be really weird and very bittersweet to not see him on the field or in the lineup. Best wishes Junior. :)

[Griffey012]

Can the insults to Junior be posted in another thread? The original poster started this as a nice personal gesture of thanks to KGJ and it seems inappropriate to be posting the negative stuff in this type of thread. Aren't there more than enough threads to post that stuff somewhere else? :thumbdown

That said, I want to thank Griffey for being a good man and a great ballplayer. I don't just look at his years in Cincy...I look at his career as a whole and it's sure been pretty awesome overall. I wish him all the best in Chicago and I hope he gets that chance at the postseason. I'm not important in any sense of the word but I am one fan who will miss seeing him at GABP and when I'm at my next game one week from today, I know it will be really weird and very bittersweet to not see him on the field or in the lineup. Best wishes Junior. :)

Well put, in the ORG i found a long thread of a similar topic, and the negativity was nowhere. Like you said, it should stay elsewhere like in another thread. Hopefully we can all agree that it is a new era and we can all get excited for that at least.

[Ghosts of 1990]

Thanks for the memories junior, good and bad. Glad I got to see you play.

Thanks for being good to my family and to me while we were at the games. Junior got to know us through the years. And sure, if he gets to a World Series I'd like to see him get a ring.

[mroby85]

What exactly did that do for the city or Reds baseball, in hindsight?

Do you like anyone? you're always ripping hamilton, you rip junior, you just seem to be a negative person in general. While i realize griffey's situation didn't work out like we all hoped it would, he came here for less money, and i think that deserves some appreciation to some extent. I'm not going to be all on his jock like some people are, because he truly didn't accomplish much here, but i do appreciate the thought, and the class that he showed by taking less to play here for the reds. There have been a lot worse players through here, it's just the expectations that he had which makes him seem like such a disappointment, but why blame a guy for having such a high ceiling of potential? He really wasn't overpaid if you look at the total #'s he put up, and the money that he was making.

[757690]

You owe him nothing. He did nothing truly meaningful for the city while in Cincinnati.

He gave the Reds a hometown discount, and then agreed to defer payment of that contract so that they could build a team around him. It is not his fault that Carl Linder lied to him and then pocked that money and refused to build a winner around him.

Griffey gave this city everything he had, unfortunately, the Reds got him at the end of his career after his years of hard play had worn down his body. When healthy, Griffey put up great numbers, he just wasn't healthy enough.

As a Red fans, I owe him the great joy of watching a legend play in my team's uniform for nine years.

[Ghosts of 1990]

2000 all in all was a fun year and a great year for Junior. that was the last time we saw the real junior IMO

[OSUredsFAN]

Yes, I would like to thank Griffey for the time he put here with the Reds. When healthy he produced. He got hurt, by playing the the right way. If he didn't hustle, he would get criticized for that, but if he would get hurt running out a routine grounder, he would get criticized for that too. It was a no win situation for Griffey and I don't get it.

Go SOX Go!!!!

[OSUredsFAN]

2000 all in all was a fun year and a great year for Junior. that was the last time we saw the real junior IMO

2005 was a great year for him too, looking at the numbers its very close to 2000.

[Ghosts of 1990]

2005 was a great year for him too, looking at the numbers its very close to 2000.

Yeah it was a great year that year. I think he got some consideration for CPOY and I know he got some MVP votes (24th in voting)

[TStuck]

You know, I don't get all the hatred either......In his 8+ years in Cincy KGJ had the following line:
BA OBP SLG OPS HR R RBI AB PA
.270 .379 .514 .893 210 533 502 3353 3904

Not exactly pedestrian numbers by my estimation. Yes there were injuries that robbed him of nearly 3 years and we can only imagine what if.......but that's life. KGJ played the hand he was dealt and worked hard to come back after each injury - nothing to be ashamed of there.
It wasn't Grif's fault that the ownership and management of this team failed to put together any realistically decent team around him. Yet when he said he wanted to play for a winner - so many always assumed he was talking about some other team rather than realizing he actually desired that winner to be Cincy (why else would he have vetoed at least 2 different earlier trades (to winning teams?)).
Junior will always be one of my favorite players. I wish him nothing but success and a championship with the ChiSox.:thumbup:

[FlightRick]

The mind boggles that some are treating this as a national holiday.

I mean, everybody's entitled to an opinion, but being demonstrably wrong is NOT AN OPINION. It's just being wrong, and nobody has to respect your right to be wrong. Acting like Junior was 8 years worth of being Part of the Problem is pretty much akin to insisting the sky is green, and expecting people to take you seriously.

I reflect back on some numbers I did towards the end of last season, when anti-Griffey sentiment was running high. I won't bother updating them through this season (and if you want to profess the opinion that THIS YEAR Junior finally regressed enough to be Part of the Problem, well fine, I'll grant that much), but I will regurgitate:

As a Red (through 2007), Junior batted .278, OBP'd .350, and SLG'd .525. As an "All Century Player" with the Mariners, those numbers were .291/.375/.560. So for seven years with the Reds -- when he was healthy, admittedly -- Junior was putting up numbers that were a total of 60 OPS points lower than an "All Century" player.

A drop off? Yes. A drop so precipitous that Junior should have been vilified? Not in a million years. Unless you, in all seriousness, believe what Stephen Colbert jokingly opinined back in June: that Griffey cheated himself and the fans by not taking steroids and letting age catch up to him naturally. "Sorry, Junior, but it says right there on the bottle that Side Effects may include the HALL OF FAME!"

One last stat: the one thing we all (not just the chicks) dig is something Junior did EXACTLY as well as a Red as he did as a Mariner. In his first 11 seasons, he hit a HR once every 14.7 ABs; as a Red (through 2007), he hit a HR.... ONCE EVERY 14.7 ABs!

I'll admit that there's plenty of reason to be disappointed with how the past 8 years worked out for the Reds, but I think a lot of that has to do with the bill of goods that was sold to both Junior and to the fans by previous ownership. Then, when previous ownership balked at making good on promises to surround Griffey with play-off caliber talent and when Griffey began to show signs of age and injury-prone-ness, things probably spiralled out of control a bit. But I don't see how any of that boomarangs back around onto Junior being The Reason for all this.

Maybe the guy didn't bring championship baseball to Cincinnati, but it sure wasn't for lack of effort, and no matter how hard the "sky is green" crowd insists, it also wasn't for lack of DEMONSTRABLE PRODUCTION. Some things, they just don't work out. Maybe my memories of Junior in a Reds uniform will be fewer than I'd have hoped 8 years ago... but there will be some. And there will certainly be no ill will on my part if he somehow gets to the playoffs and beyond while wearing a White Sox uniform.


Rick

[levydl]

Still the sweetest swing I've seen in person. Pretty sad day. At least I'll have a team to root for in the playoffs (I hope the White Sox make it). Thanks for the memories.

[Sean_CaseyRules]

Good luck Jr.! I've got two teams to root for now! I want Casey and Junior to both get a ring!

[Manut Bol]

Guys he hit number 600 in a Reds uniform. Long will Sammy Sosa be remembered as a Texas Ranger for his feat of hitting his 600th homerun.

Forget about the fact that Griffey hit 398 of them as a Mariner. It doesn't matter.

[ChatterRed]

Junior was not the problem. They should have never brought him here under the pretense that they were going to build a team around him. Lindner never did. Junior got hurt and got old, and now it is too late. Not Junior's fault.

It's just unfortunate.

I wish him the best, and hope he gets his ring.

It was a bittersweet tenure of Junior being here.

[Redeye fly]

Well put, in the ORG i found a long thread of a similar topic, and the negativity was nowhere. Like you said, it should stay elsewhere like in another thread. Hopefully we can all agree that it is a new era and we can all get excited for that at least.

I don't necessarily post a whole lot here, and was even away entirely for a while. But the ORG thread almost makes me want to contact any and every moderator and beg to get posting privileges there when compared to the idiocy and utter classlessness that some people showed in the Sun Deck. Nothing but class, maturity, and respect and appreciation for one of the all time greats.

I was glad to have Ken Griffey Jr. on my team for all these years. Yes, the injuries were devastating. The losses were heartbreaking. The vile and venom and criticisms over things that he could not control was mind boggling. But through it all he continued to work to come back, from one major injury after another, one loss after another, one thoughtless comment and insult after another, to play for his teammates, his coaches and manager, his organization, and the fans who did truly appreciate him... and heck even the ones who didn't.

Even if the bulk of his numbers came as a Mariner, he's still the first and right now only player to hit career home runs 400, 500, and 600 while wearing a Reds uniform.

It's funny, no actually it's downright sad and pathetic (and I seem to remember being called that for defending him) that in the last few days I've seen comments labeling Griffey as "classless" and a cancer, all based off of one or maybe a handful of incidents. Personally, I'll stick with guys who have first hand accounts and more to the point know the man, guys who played with him and guys who covered him like Hal McCoy, who had a very nice piece in the Dayton Daily News this morning, in which he called Griffey the classiest player he's come across in 36 years of covering the Reds. Whether you like Hal or not, he does have access to people and places that the vast majority of us don't, and in 36 years time he's seen a lot of players come and go. While some fans may be happy to see him go, I have to imagine there's a bunch of guys wearing Reds uniforms who were sorry to see him go... guys like Adam Dunn, Jay Bruce, Jeff Keppinger, and any and every Reds player who both respected Griffey as a player and teammate, and as a man.

I personally am sorry to see him go, even though anyone can see that the Griffey of 2008 is not the Griffey of 1998, and so there probably would not have been a place for him next year with the Reds. Sure, younger healthier legs in the field will be nice, and yes an improvement. But, for a part of me, he still is one of the greats in the game right now... even though no numbers in 2008 bear that out, and even though there's fewer times that we can watch him do something and say that. The only number from 2008 that comes to mind that screams greatness is 608... and yes that's a career number. But what a career. I just wish we could have seen him tie and pass Sosa as a Red.

Thanks for the memories Ken. I hope you win that missing ring in Chicago.

[Redleg39]

Guys he hit number 600 in a Reds uniform. Long will Sammy Sosa be remembered as a Texas Ranger for his feat of hitting his 600th homerun.

Forget about the fact that Griffey hit 398 of them as a Mariner. It doesn't matter.

IDK about Sosa. I think people will always remember him as a Cub because some people didn't even remember Sosa had 600 bombs until Junior hit his 600th.

[Ghosts of 1990]

Guys he hit number 600 in a Reds uniform. Long will Sammy Sosa be remembered as a Texas Ranger for his feat of hitting his 600th homerun.

Forget about the fact that Griffey hit 398 of them as a Mariner. It doesn't matter.

Dont know about that

[Road Pop]

Good luck Junior! I hope you get your ring. :thumbup:

Thanks for playing clean.

[improbus]

Some of my Junior memories:

-No one had more anticipated At Bats. GABP is full of parents with little kids who spend more time caring about Cotton Candy and Ice Cream, except when Junior was hitting. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched. Jr. created a buzz, which was rare in GABP.
-No one read a fly ball off the bat better than Junior. That is why he will be decent in CF in Chicago.
-I remember the felling when they signed Jr. I thought, "I can't believe that a Cincy team would actually have a player of that level..." (Remember, this was during the worst of the Bengals seasons)

[Jack Burton]

My opinion of the White Sox doesn't change a bit, I still couldn't care less how they do. Griffey's stay in Cincinnati was absolute failure, and now that he is gone it can only be considered good news for Reds fans. I guess we are seeing that some on this board are fans of the Cincinnati Reds and some are fans of KGJ.

[bounty37h]

He gave the Reds a hometown discount, and then agreed to defer payment of that contract so that they could build a team around him. It is not his fault that Carl Linder lied to him and then pocked that money and refused to build a winner around him.

Griffey gave this city everything he had, unfortunately, the Reds got him at the end of his career after his years of hard play had worn down his body. When healthy, Griffey put up great numbers, he just wasn't healthy enough.

As a Red fans, I owe him the great joy of watching a legend play in my team's uniform for nine years.

Here here!! Hear Hear? heer heer, whatever it is, you siad it right with those words my friend! I too am glad I saw Griff play in a Reds uni, and appreciate that I was able to watch one of the greatest players of our modern generation. Of course we al lwish it had been different, expectations were so high, and they crashed around us for many reasons-health (and at least hsi health were field issues, and also have to wonder if his injuries would have healed quicker if he had done steroids as other greats of his time did, and they got to play longer due to it), sorry ownership, etc....I hope your career wraps up with a ring in Chi, the other side of Chicago would make it that much sweeter too :)

[levydl]

I guess we are seeing that some on this board are fans of the Cincinnati Reds and some are fans of KGJ.

Huh? The White Sox don't play the Reds this year. They play in a different league than the Reds. They have a chance to make the playoffs without competing against the Reds. Since they have Jr., who I really liked when he played for the Reds, and since it won't affect the Reds at all, I'll root for the White Sox while I'm also rooting for my Reds. See how it works? You can actually like both at the same time here. It's not like he was traded to the Cubs.

[Griffey012]

My opinion of the White Sox doesn't change a bit, I still couldn't care less how they do. Griffey's stay in Cincinnati was absolute failure, and now that he is gone it can only be considered good news for Reds fans. I guess we are seeing that some on this board are fans of the Cincinnati Reds and some are fans of KGJ.

I am first and foremost a fan of the Reds, my favorite player has always been KGJ no matter the uniform. Since the Reds aren't gonna be winning it this year, I will definitely be rooting for the White Sox to win it. Just because I hope they make the playoffs and can get KGJ a ring doesn't make me any less of a Reds fan.

[bgwilly31]

Why are you guys thanking griffey like he reads this board? :confused:

[TStuck]

My opinion of the White Sox doesn't change a bit, I still couldn't care less how they do. Griffey's stay in Cincinnati was absolute failure, and now that he is gone it can only be considered good news for Reds fans. I guess we are seeing that some on this board are fans of the Cincinnati Reds and some are fans of KGJ.

You make it sound like these are mutually exclusive stances when, in fact, it's quite possible to be both. I'm still first and foremost a Reds fan, but I am glad to acknowledge the quality person and high calibre player and First Ballot HOFer that is KGJ. Jump in the Wayback Machine to 1999 and I'd do the trade to get KGJ again in a heartbeat. In the history of the game there have been countless great trades and signings that didn't realize their full potential due to injuries, bad teams, etc. This happened to be one. Doesn't make Junior less of a person or player.

[Jack Burton]

Why root for someone who was a hindrance to the team you love?

[Redeye fly]

And once again ignorance rears its ugly head.

Jack, you and a few others didn't like having Junior here. We get it already. Dead horse that the Griffey haters can't seem to stop beating. It didn't work out the way everyone hoped it would when he came here. We all are painfully aware of that.

That being said, Eric Milton was a hindrance. Joey Hamilton was a hindrance. Elizardo Ramirez was a hindrance. Jose Acevedo was a hindrance. Jeff Austin was a hindrance. Phil Dumatrait was a hindrance. Brian Moehler was a hindrance. Shawn Estes was a hindrance. Brian Reith was a hindrance. Rheal Cormier was a hindrance. Mike Stanton was a hindrance. Jimmy Anderson was a hindrance. Dave Williams was a hindrance. Rick White was a hindrance. Victor Santos was a hindrance. Josias Manzanillo was a hindrance. Juan Castro in the starting lineup was a hindrance. Javy Valentin in the starting lineup is most generally a hinderance. Paul Bako is a hindrance. Corey Patterson batting leadoff is a hindrance. Carl Lindner was a hindrance. John Allen was a hindrance. Bob Boone was a hindrance. JimBo was a hindrance. DanO was a bit of a hindrance. Dusty Baker is often in many ways a hindrance. So is Dick Pole... possibly Brook Jacoby... heck I'm sure a number of people think Mark Berry and whatever other third base coaches we've had during Griffey's time here.

The only hindrance Griffey has been is in the field for the past few years, and yes that has hurt. And at the plate this year, and in 2006. But even this year he was starting to come around, although who knows how long it would have lasted.

But with all the problems this team has had, from pitching, to defense (not just Griffey) to lazy ownership that didn't care, to the revolving door at the GM and manager positions, to poor drafting and player development in the minors, to never being able to figure out what direction to take, or at least never choosing the right direction to take.

Yet somehow, this all goes back to Griffey. The stats are there earlier in this thread. When healthy, which yes wasn't all that often, but when healthy Griffey overall was one of the more productive players in the lineup. That hardly qualifies as hindrance to me. A bit disappointing and a dropoff from his Seattle days? Sure... but hardly a hindrance.

[Griffey012]

Why root for someone who was a hindrance to the team you love?

Hey Jack, what are you gonna do for entertainment since Griffey is gone?

Find a White Sox board...?

[RedsFanInMobile]

And once again ignorance rears its ugly head.

Jack, you and a few others didn't like having Junior here. We get it already. Dead horse that the Griffey haters can't seem to stop beating. It didn't work out the way everyone hoped it would when he came here. We all are painfully aware of that.

That being said, Eric Milton was a hindrance. Joey Hamilton was a hindrance. Elizardo Ramirez was a hindrance. Jose Acevedo was a hindrance. Jeff Austin was a hindrance. Phil Dumatrait was a hindrance. Brian Moehler was a hindrance. Shawn Estes was a hindrance. Brian Reith was a hindrance. Rheal Cormier was a hindrance. Mike Stanton was a hindrance. Jimmy Anderson was a hindrance. Dave Williams was a hindrance. Rick White was a hindrance. Victor Santos was a hindrance. Josias Manzanillo was a hindrance. Juan Castro in the starting lineup was a hindrance. Javy Valentin in the starting lineup is most generally a hinderance. Paul Bako is a hindrance. Corey Patterson batting leadoff is a hindrance. Carl Lindner was a hindrance. John Allen was a hindrance. Bob Boone was a hindrance. JimBo was a hindrance. DanO was a bit of a hindrance. Dusty Baker is often in many ways a hindrance. So is Dick Pole... possibly Brook Jacoby... heck I'm sure a number of people think Mark Berry and whatever other third base coaches we've had during Griffey's time here.

The only hindrance Griffey has been is in the field for the past few years, and yes that has hurt. And at the plate this year, and in 2006. But even this year he was starting to come around, although who knows how long it would have lasted.

But with all the problems this team has had, from pitching, to defense (not just Griffey) to lazy ownership that didn't care, to the revolving door at the GM and manager positions, to poor drafting and player development in the minors, to never being able to figure out what direction to take, or at least never choosing the right direction to take.

Yet somehow, this all goes back to Griffey. The stats are there earlier in this thread. When healthy, which yes wasn't all that often, but when healthy Griffey overall was one of the more productive players in the lineup. That hardly qualifies as hindrance to me. A bit disappointing and a dropoff from his Seattle days? Sure... but hardly a hindrance.

:thumbup: Well said!

[OSUredsFAN]

And once again ignorance rears its ugly head.

Jack, you and a few others didn't like having Junior here. We get it already. Dead horse that the Griffey haters can't seem to stop beating. It didn't work out the way everyone hoped it would when he came here. We all are painfully aware of that.

That being said, Eric Milton was a hindrance. Joey Hamilton was a hindrance. Elizardo Ramirez was a hindrance. Jose Acevedo was a hindrance. Jeff Austin was a hindrance. Phil Dumatrait was a hindrance. Brian Moehler was a hindrance. Shawn Estes was a hindrance. Brian Reith was a hindrance. Rheal Cormier was a hindrance. Mike Stanton was a hindrance. Jimmy Anderson was a hindrance. Dave Williams was a hindrance. Rick White was a hindrance. Victor Santos was a hindrance. Josias Manzanillo was a hindrance. Juan Castro in the starting lineup was a hindrance. Javy Valentin in the starting lineup is most generally a hinderance. Paul Bako is a hindrance. Corey Patterson batting leadoff is a hindrance. Carl Lindner was a hindrance. John Allen was a hindrance. Bob Boone was a hindrance. JimBo was a hindrance. DanO was a bit of a hindrance. Dusty Baker is often in many ways a hindrance. So is Dick Pole... possibly Brook Jacoby... heck I'm sure a number of people think Mark Berry and whatever other third base coaches we've had during Griffey's time here.

The only hindrance Griffey has been is in the field for the past few years, and yes that has hurt. And at the plate this year, and in 2006. But even this year he was starting to come around, although who knows how long it would have lasted.

But with all the problems this team has had, from pitching, to defense (not just Griffey) to lazy ownership that didn't care, to the revolving door at the GM and manager positions, to poor drafting and player development in the minors, to never being able to figure out what direction to take, or at least never choosing the right direction to take.

Yet somehow, this all goes back to Griffey. The stats are there earlier in this thread. When healthy, which yes wasn't all that often, but when healthy Griffey overall was one of the more productive players in the lineup. That hardly qualifies as hindrance to me. A bit disappointing and a dropoff from his Seattle days? Sure... but hardly a hindrance.

Very well said!!!