i know it got overshadowed by galarraga getting ripped off but dude deserves his own thread.

nice article here about what might've been.

1989 Upper Deck Rookie Card. We'll always have Seattle, KGJ.

I'll take heat for this, but I always thought he was A. an early juicer and B. maybe not a very good guy

If no one, not a dealer, nor "pharmacist", nor work-out "buddy", nor ex-girlfriend, has come out to expose Griffey's juiced past, I think he's clean. Junior & Frank Thomas, one for his stats & what could have been, the other for his outspokenness about PED, have to be the big fish in the potential 'roid scandals pond. (Curt Schilling is prolly no. 3, same reason as Frank, plus being an asshole.) Yet, they remain unscathed.

He's a douche

Why? Because he said he'd retire before playing for the Yankees?

gold star for knowing your history about the douche!

i never knew this, but it is awesome if true.

i'm a little surprised with the hate in this thread already. nobody has ever accused griffey of using anything and his 2000s certainly would not have been as injury-plagued had he used. but in the 90s, dude was an absolute titan. he owned that decade. although, i've heard he was far too insular. if that's the worst to be said about a professional athlete, it's pretty good.

The Kid is one of my favorites of all time. I remember when he got flak for wearing his baseball cap backwards. Heaven forbid, a player actually having fun playing the game he loved. To me, he always seemed like a giddy teenager at heart.

Here's what Ichiro said... "To play with him is a treasure I will keep deep in my heart... I have played 19 years in professional baseball and I can say he was one of my best teammates and my best friend."

A class act all the way around, and anyone who disagrees can suck it...

Sadly, it's an offshoot of the steroid era. He's never tested positive but he also had his biggest home run years and, more importantly, his "most games played in" years right smack in the middle of the height of the steroid era (97-01). I, for one, don't think he used but I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it.

You're right about the 90's though. He was a beast. Also, very Lebron James-eque in that he had the hype machine going on him from the time he was probably 14 or so and he delivered from day 1 in the bigs.

The only negatives I've ever heard/read about him was that he was kind of a self entitled dick when he first got to the league despite having every advantage handed to him from the day he was born.


Still, maybe the best swing ever.

"It's like there's a party in my mouth, and everyone's invited."

good thread topic. gorgeous swing but i'll take will clark and/or george brett's over his. largest ass in the game since jesse barfield though.

But he'll most miss the tickle-fights.

Dude tried to kill him on pills when he was 17. Got down 237...

Also, if he's got an entitled rep, that would be even more reason for his supplier or trainer or mistress to out him as a 'roid-monster. I still say the fact he hasn't been outed, seven years after BALCO broke, four years after the Mitchell Report (LOL), & after countless self-serving Lupica columns (seriously, has that guy given back any of the money he made off his Mc Gwire/Sosa Great Chase book?), is ipso facto evidence of being clean.

lol

When he was akid, and his dad was playing for the Yanks, folklore has it that Steinbrenner wouldn't allow Jr. on the field during batting practice one game to hang and shag flies with his dad...

from his rookie year on, he vowed to take that to heart and would never play for the Yanks...

worked out well for us! We had Dan Pasqua for 3 years!!!

Absolutely - my favorite swing of all-time. It was a thing of beauty.