The other day I was reading an article about the Chicago White Sox recent loss to the Baltimore Orioles when I was dumbfounded by what I read. According to the Yahoo Sports article:

“The White Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the 14th after Orioles manager Dave Trembley ordered an intentional walk to pinch-hitter Ken Griffey Jr., even though it put the potential winning run in scoring position.

“The guy’s going into the Hall of Fame,” Trembley reasoned.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Dave Trembley intentionally walked Ken Griffey Jr. (who is currently hitting .246, 16 HR, 60 RBI) in order to pitch to Jermaine Dye (.296, 31HR, 81RBI) with bases loaded. Ignore the fact that the move paid off this time, and Dye popped out, also ignore the situational statistics, never mind that by walking Griffey it setup a force out at every base, and forget the fact that the Orioles ended up winning the game.

There are probably hundreds of different ways that Dave Trembley could have justified his decision. Yet, what was his rationale? “The guy’s going into the Hall of Fame”

I’m beginning to understand why the Orioles haven’t been to the post-season since 1997. If the Orioles manager is going to intentionally walk players who are past their prime because they are potential hall of famers, then there’s going to continue to be a LONG playoff drought in Baltimore. Well..there’s always the Ravens I guess.

If you grew up in the 1990s, your favorite player was probably Ken Griffey Jr., the kid who could do it all. He hit homers, made great plays in the fie, and most of all, loved baseball. Since being traded to Cincinnati, Griffey’s mystique has gone from “greatest ever” to “what if?” But this weekend, in his first return to Seattle, we all got a glimpse of the past. Griffey hit two homers yesterday (#583 and #584) and was greeted to standing ovations all weekend.

“It was more than I expected. A lot more than I expected,” Griffey said. “Awesome. If you had to put it in one word. It was something. To have that many people for that long cheering was pretty unbelievable.”

Most active players that return to a former team may get some nice cheers. Some may get booed. But Griffey? He received a three-day tribute. Is it possible to be the face of a franchise nearly ten years after you’ve been traded from that team? In the case of Griffey, it’s likely. After all, without him, baseball probably wouldn’t even exist in Seattle. That’s why he received a plaque that declared Safeco Field “The House that Griffey Built.”

The backwards hat, the sweet swing, and the likable personality. That’s why everybody fell in love with Griffey. In his first trip back to Seattle, The Kid even hinted that he may like to finish his career in Seattle. I’m all for that happening. I’m also all for Griffey being traded to a championship contender this year. He may be the best player to never appear in a World Series. I’d love to see that changed this year.

Yesterday marked the first game Ken Griffey Jr played in Seattle since his trade from the Mariners to the Reds in 2000.? Despite years of injury plagued seasons and struggles in Cincinnati, the Mariners faithful gave him a warm reception and welcoming before gametime.

Lost among this heart warming story is the beat down laid on the Mariners by the Reds in the game.? The score was 16-1.? David Ross and Brandon Phillips each went deep twice and Aaron Harang continued to be the most underrated pitcher in the National League, throwing eight innings without allowing an earned run.? Harang improved to 8-2 on the season, which is pretty remarkable considering how piss poor that Reds team is.

Growing up I was one of those who followed Griffey religiously.? It wasn’t so much that I liked the Mariners as a team (though Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez were both sick at the dish as well) but more that I was an enormous Griffey fan.? When he was traded to the Reds I thought the Mariners organization was making a huge mistake and essentially back stabbing their foundation.? Well, the Mariners have been pure shit since that trade, with the exception of 2001 when they had about as fluke of a year as you can have, and for the most part haven’t had a steady everyday center fielder.? Mike Cameron spent some time there as did Randy Winn but neither of them stuck.

While the Reds competing this season is about as likely as money growing on trees, it was nice to see them play well in Griffey’s return to Seattle.? You may not know it but he’s having a Ken Griffey Jr type season again and it’s wonderful to watch.? Say what you will about other players swings, it’s still Griffey that has the sweetest one of them all.

At least he isn’t Jeff Kent. Ken Griffey Jr. finally announced the reason behind his broken hand suffered in December. On a family vacation in the Bahamas, Griffey was wrestling with his kids on the family yacht, which I’d imagine is small and outdated. Griffey’s son came from behind him and knocked him over, with pops falling awkwardly on his hand.

“It was nothing that could violate my contract,” he said Friday after reporting early for training camp. “It was Dad being Dad.”

Dad’s usually don’t end up in casts after playing with their kids, but it seems Griffey is a pretty fragile guy. At least he didn’t pull a hamstring on the way down.

“He got me on an angle and there I went,” he said. “He got me low and lifted.”

Trey Griffey sounds like a pretty strong dude to be able to lift and knock over his 220 pound dad. Maybe the kid is still dissappointed that his dad was traded for Mike Cameron and Freddy Garcia years ago, so he’s taking it upon himself to make sure his dad is never healthy, leaving more time for the two to bond over pizza and video games.

If Griffey can maintain some good health (position change?), the Reds could be a team to watch this year. They were pretty solid last year and stayed in the Wild Card race all season. With the resigning of Aaron Harang, the Reds have a pretty good one-two punch with him and Bronson Arroyo.

It’s hard to have a conversation about baseball without reminiscing about the 1990s. All discussions I have about Major League Baseball 1990s start and end with Ken Griffey Jr., the best player I’ve ever seen. It’s pretty damn mind-boggling to think that Griffey is now 36 years old when just yesterday, he was “The Kid” that owned homerun derbies while wearing his hat backwards. Despite hitting 563 career homers, he’s been often injured the past few years and it’s gone a long way in derailing him from the top of baseball’s record books.

Griffey broke his left hand in an undisclosed home accident, which will require a hard cast for the next three weeks. Poor Jr. just can’t get a break. Since he joined the Reds before the 2000 season, Griffey has constantly battled injury. It’s been a losing battle for the most part; he’s missed 433 games because of injury. It’s a damn shame because while he owned in Seattle, he was simply never hurt (except for the time he broke his wrist making an incredible catch). He had his own shoes, his own video game, and his poster on every kid’s wall. But more importantly, we know that he was clean. He wasn’t juiced, he was fast, and he had the best swing I’ve ever seen.

What dissapoints me so much is what could have been. The home run chase that Barry Bonds is currently going through should have been Griffey’s. It should have been a celebration of one of the game’s legends, not some media circus about steroids and years of being a prick. A rough estimate in his Seattle days are around 40 homers a year. Griffey is about 125 homers off that average while he’s been in Cincinnati because of injury. If you add those 125 missing homers to Griffey’s 563, he’s entering this season with 688. 2007 would have been the year all baseball fans had been waiting for: the year that “The Kid” finally breaks 700 and chases down Ruth and Aaron. Instead, “The Kid” is nursing a sore hamstring while “The Prick” breaks baseball’s historic records.

What a damn shame.