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How Ken Griffey Jr. and the Cincinnati Reds Became a Catastrophic Failure

Jolly Olive

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Baseball fans will always picture Ken Griffey Jr. in a Seattle Mariners uniform. It’s easy to forget that nearly half of his career was played in a different uniform. Where did Junior and the Cincinnati Reds go wrong in their near-decade together?

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Sources:
https://www.mlb.com/news/ken-griffey-...
https://www.mlb.com/news/ken-griffey-...
https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/2002/02...
https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/2002/12...
https://retrosimba.com/2022/11/29/how...
ww.beaconortho.com/blog/reds-medical-director-kremchek-celebrates-25-years-on-the-job/

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All statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, Baseball Savant, Inside Edge, and Stathead.

#MLB #Mariners #Reds

20 Comments

@cardscott5 6 months ago

Can’t believe you didn’t mention the major Griffey highlight, him hitting his 500th home run on Father’s Day. The best Reds moment he had

@ShakCentral 6 months ago

Jolly: With every year that passed, Ken Griffey Jr got a year older
Me, a lifelong baseball fan: 😲

@skorpiontamer 6 months ago (edited)

"How good was 1989-1999 Griffey?"

10 seasons: 70.7 War, 398 Homers, 149 OPS

@shannonmullins5097 6 months ago

You should mention that in spite of the injuries he still hit over 600 HR.

@bamesbamesbames 6 months ago

The drama behind Griffey's second stint in Seattle is worth its own video.

@bakermob29 6 months ago

Pujols to the Angles and Griffey to the Reds feel like the same thing.

@ryl333y 6 months ago

I watched this video standing in front of the TV with my arms crossed like a dad. That is high praise.

@MattD-i5f 6 months ago

I still can't believe Octavio Dotel died in a freak roof collapse. You just never know. RIP

@joffcallaghan 6 months ago

Missing Griffey's biggest achievement in his time in Seattle, his "grotesquely swollen jaw" from becoming addicted to nerve tonic

@vikingschamps 6 months ago

Being a 13 year old playing summer baseball just north of cincy the summer that he hit number 500 for the Reds, it was all worth it. There's always what could have been but I would never give up the joy he brought

@gardenboydon 6 months ago

Griffey and Ichiro on that 01 team would have been amazing

@derekmccord14 6 months ago

He still had great moments of his career as a Red, HR 500 and 600.

@jaboba69 6 months ago

Even now it still feels weird seeing him in the Reds uniform.

@gomez_gonsalez 6 months ago

During the early 1990's, he also appeared in a comedy movie: Little Big League. 😂

@jackcoogan310 6 months ago (edited)

As a Brewer fan born in 1995, I'm grateful for this trade because I got to watch Griffey a couple times every summer

@asdfaeou 6 months ago

God, all the injuries back to back to back was rough to watch.

@rbryant100 5 months ago

As a Reds fan, 2001 through 2009 was miserable. Junior’s contract was massive and he was constantly hurt. It was 9 seasons of what if.

@FullSemiAuto357 6 months ago (edited)

I grew up watching Junior on the Reds. Even as a kid that didnt know anything, it was still frustrating to watch.

@MalikIsmailAliRaymond 6 months ago

The similarities with Pujols and their decline (injuries piling up a few years after leaving a team where a HOF career had already been sealed, and rumblings of leaving after it was thought they would stay their entire careers for their respective teams) is fascinating yet sad.

@corndogmillionaire2782 6 months ago

Ken Griffey Jr. 🤝 Tom Seaver
Being HOFers who, despite having played for the Reds for several years, are players that people only ever imagine with one team