The top 5 moments of Ken Griffey Jr.’s Hall of Fame career
Ken Griffey Jr. will take his rightful place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer after being elected Wednesday on his first ballot with support from 99.3% of the voters, the highest percentage of votes ever received.
There are many moments that make a Hall of Fame career. As one of the most universally beloved players in the history of baseball, Griffey had more than a his share to choose from, most of them from his early days with the Seattle Mariners. It was tough to narrow them down for a top five, but not everything can be as easy as Junior’s perfect swing.
5. DAZZLING DEBUT
The hype surrounding Griffey’s rookie season in Seattle was substantial. The Mariners opened the regular season on the road and the 19-year-old didn’t exactly light the world on fire, hitting .105 over six games. He didn’t take much longer to figure it out, though. Griffey made his Seattle debut on April 10, 1989 and smashed the first pitch he saw at the Kingdome for a home run and the fans instantly knew they were watching a soon-to-be superstar. It didn’t take much longer for the rest of baseball to know it, either.
4. HOME RUN DERBY HEROICS
Griffey finished his career with 630 home runs, sixth most all-time, but his most famous one isn’t included in that total. A three-time winner of the Home Run Derby, Griffey’s standout Derby moment came in 1993 at the All-Star game in Baltimore. Rocking his signature backward cap, he launched a ball off the warehouse that towers well beyond the wall in right field. That’s the kind of effortless power Junior possessed.
3. HOME RUN ROBBERY
When Griffey wasn’t hitting home runs, he was busy taking hits away from opposing hitters in center field. The highlight reel is loaded – there’s a reason Griffey won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves he won between 1990-99 – but his best piece of defensive wizardry was this unbelievable catch at the wall robbing Jesse Barfield of a home run at Yankee Stadium.
[Related: Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza elected to Baseball Hall of Fame]
2. BACK-TO-BACK WITH DAD
Larry Stone of the Seattle Times writes in his terrific retrospective on Griffey’s career that this here is Junior’s favorite personal memory. Griffey was hitting third in the Mariners lineup on Sept. 14, 1990 against the Angels behind his dad, Ken Griffey. In the first inning, Junior and Senior hit back-to-back home runs, a first for a father and son pairing in major-league history.
1. THE SLIDE SEATTLE WILL NEVER FORGET
It’s the most celebrated play in Seattle Mariners history. It was Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS and the Mariners trailed by a run against the Yankes in the bottom of the 11th. Griffey stood at first base with Edgar Martinez at the plate. Martinez delivered a base hit to left field scoring Joey Cora from third. Griffey hustled all the way from first and slid home safely for the game-winning run to send Seattle to the American League Championship Series.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
