The Kid | The Story Behind Ken Griffey Jr.

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  • čas přidán 20. 05. 2022
  • A generation of baseball fans grew up idolizing and emulating him, a prodigy more talented and more captivating than the game had ever seen - a fearsome slugger and sublime center fielder who assaulted the record books and ultimately did the impossible: He made baseball cool.
    He did it with his swing. He did it with his smile. And he did it with his swagger.
    Written & Narrated by: Jonah Birenbaum (@Birenball | Twitter)
    Produced & Edited by: Stephen Addante (@stephenaddante | Instagram)
    Thumbnail Design by: Justin Shipley (@shipleysportstudio | Instagram)
    Courtesy List: pastebin.com/YpLc7grZ
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    #KenGriffeyJr #SeattleMariners #MLB
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Komentáře • 85

  • @hectorlopez1069
    @hectorlopez1069 Před 2 lety +27

    One of the players to never used steroids in his baseball career. The best in the sport of baseball.

  • @hectorlopez1069
    @hectorlopez1069 Před 2 lety +13

    The only thing about him, that is missing, is his world series ring. He truly deserves at least one championship.

  • @lionelrust4896
    @lionelrust4896 Před 2 lety +85

    How did 3 baseball writers think he didn't deserve to be in the hall of fame?

    • @muhammadrifqi7308
      @muhammadrifqi7308 Před 2 lety +16

      I mean, babe ruth didn't get close to 99% of the votes when he was inducted. BBWAA are notoriously inconsistent for a long time.

    • @tremelthelegacy6715
      @tremelthelegacy6715 Před 2 lety

      They were idiots....

    • @tylerhildebrand5110
      @tylerhildebrand5110 Před rokem +24

      They were Yankees fans

    • @TheKrazyk2010
      @TheKrazyk2010 Před rokem +1

      They must have really looked at his Cincinnati years

    • @ahogg5960
      @ahogg5960 Před rokem

      Some writers believe noone should be elected on the first ballot. Because they're idiots. I guess even those three fogeys showed up for Mariano Rivera.

  • @FlightNSurf
    @FlightNSurf Před 2 lety +39

    Nostalgia! I remember stepping up to the plate as a kid thinking i was KG Jr. The stance, the backwards cap. All of it!

    • @charismatic9904
      @charismatic9904 Před 2 lety

      Same.
      Usually I was KG jr.
      If someone claimed him then I was gary Sheffield just because I loved his stance and the little bat wiggle.

    • @markymark718
      @markymark718 Před rokem

      @@charismatic9904 I was Mo Vaughn that's a batting stance

  • @AyeshaTheGreat
    @AyeshaTheGreat Před 2 lety +11

    Junior Griffey had me wishing I was a lefty. That batting stance is legendary. He was the first baseball player that I really liked who didn't play for my home team. I loved his smile and backwards cap. Thanks for the video.

  • @rocketvanpersie163
    @rocketvanpersie163 Před 2 lety +11

    Jr and McGwire(before I knew about the steroids) were the players that made me fall in love with baseball. Glad that steroids were never mentioned in the same sentence as Jr. dude was just different

  • @LakeLyfe315
    @LakeLyfe315 Před 2 lety +17

    One of the best all around players ever and hands down the smoothest swing there ever was!

  • @deenyce2216
    @deenyce2216 Před rokem +2

    He is one of the best baseball players I’ve ever seen. Man if it wasn’t for those injuries on the second half of his career.

  • @Air2theRon
    @Air2theRon Před 2 lety +13

    so enjoyable! this was the first 20min segment i lost track of in a long time...sports is a great escape with the craziness in the world

    • @techwood16
      @techwood16 Před rokem

      It definitely is a great escape

  • @andrewj305079
    @andrewj305079 Před 2 lety +6

    90s goat

  • @kidtae1
    @kidtae1 Před 2 lety +7

    Every kid in East Oakland Babe Ruth imitated his batting stance. He was a legend to all of us

  • @robertamore9433
    @robertamore9433 Před rokem +4

    Griffey the goat 🐐 greatest baseball player of all time

  • @hectorlopez1069
    @hectorlopez1069 Před 2 lety +4

    JR could do anything on the field, hit homeruns, robbed homeruns and steal bases. A goat of MLB of the 90s.

    • @baseline-G
      @baseline-G Před rokem

      No clutch moments! Mariners were a better team without him... Nothing great about a losing baseball team

  • @hitokiriibattousaii
    @hitokiriibattousaii Před měsícem

    Easily my favorite swing I've ever seen in baseball, the Kid is a legend

  • @GeorgeYoung-uh5by
    @GeorgeYoung-uh5by Před 7 měsíci +1

    Without all those injuries JR. Has the most homeruns ever. He also was a tremendous outfielder. 10 golden gloves. In my day after 1960 Jr is the best. Over Mays Aaron and Mantle. If he didnt have all those games he missed in the last half of his career. He might be the best ever.

  • @maxagabon18
    @maxagabon18 Před 2 lety +4

    Being from LA, my favorite player growing up was Piazza but I always tried to play like Ken Griffey Jr ;)

    • @sincity91809
      @sincity91809 Před rokem

      I love this comment!!! Real baseball fan! Those were the GLORY days !!!!

  • @craigugulini3409
    @craigugulini3409 Před 2 lety +11

    He hit home runs like he was juiced to the gills like the rest of them the only difference was he wasn’t juicing at all and put up the same kind of numbers as guys trying to get an edge….it’s actually one of the most amazing athletic feats I think

  • @brian8791
    @brian8791 Před rokem +3

    The best to play the game

  • @rogercormier4569
    @rogercormier4569 Před rokem +2

    When it looks & feels that smooth & effortless. 1 can only dream to be that guy❤️‍🔥⚾️ 24

  • @markjackson6431
    @markjackson6431 Před 2 lety +5

    wish he broke the HR single season record

  • @ragecage2011
    @ragecage2011 Před rokem +1

    They need to make a movie out of this story!!!! Would be bigger than Brian's song

  • @justinbuda2352
    @justinbuda2352 Před 11 měsíci

    I loved Junior, when he got traded to the reds I was happy (they are one of my favorite teams Braves ass the other).
    Yes his injuries in Cincy hurt his career but god that swing…..the sweetest swing in baseball.

  • @jdestiny7779
    @jdestiny7779 Před 11 měsíci

    I always remember me and probably 5 of my team mates as kids playing baseball all wearing our hats backwards and copying his stance as best as we could. What a legend

  • @volkonrubenstien5633
    @volkonrubenstien5633 Před rokem +1

    He will get the love he deserves in the hobby

  • @danotto8970
    @danotto8970 Před rokem

    Legend

  • @noelranger7
    @noelranger7 Před 2 lety +2

    I love this Channel

  • @YouCallThataKnife253
    @YouCallThataKnife253 Před 2 lety +2

    To this day, I can't hold a bat any other way. I don't even play baseball

  • @obarbeito
    @obarbeito Před 2 lety +6

    The best player that ever lived, until the injury bug.

    • @williamkoscielniak7871
      @williamkoscielniak7871 Před 2 lety

      Maybe the most likable, and possibly the best slugger, but he wasn't the greatest player. Bonds and Trout are at least two players who are undeniably better than Griffey.

    • @brennanhartnell232
      @brennanhartnell232 Před 2 lety +3

      Trout is not undeniably better.

    • @williamkoscielniak7871
      @williamkoscielniak7871 Před 2 lety

      @@brennanhartnell232 How not? He leads the league in on base, OPS, and OPS+ basically every other year on average. Griffey never lead the league once in any of those categories. He also led the league in stolen bases one year, which is something Griffey never did. Griffey slugged a bit better and was a better defender, but I don't see how that can make up for being so much more productive as far as getting on base and then running the bases as well as he does.

  • @williamkoscielniak7871
    @williamkoscielniak7871 Před 2 lety +2

    Griffey was an all-time great, and probably the 2nd best player of his era behind Bonds, although Big Frank has a case to right there with him at number 2. Jr. would have most likely ended his career with the most homeruns ever had he not had all the injuries. Literally the only thing that I don't love about Griffey is his sometimes overly zealot fanbase. I've had people call me an idiot for making the obvious claim that Barry Bonds and Mike Trout are better players. Anyone who knows the slightest thing about baseball knows that Griffey isn't quite at the level of those two, but of course he's still an all-time great and one of the best all around players ever.

    • @lachlaneberle2889
      @lachlaneberle2889 Před rokem +2

      Well if Griffey wasn't so injury prone in the last half of his career he would probably have a pretty strong case to be the goat.
      - Likely HR king, as in the couple seasons where he was even remotely healthy he hit 35 and 30 homers at the ages of 35 and 37 showing the the power and swing never left
      -Likely over 3000 hits
      -RBIs leader
      -Probably a couple more gold gloves in center if he wasn't sapped of his athleticism and might have been able to grab one to to in a corner OF spot later in career.
      - And no steroid allegations making the sheer numbers even more impressive for his era
      But I do understand your stance even though I still can't say Trout is better yet and I believe the steroid use hurts Bonds in terms of being compared to Griffey Jr but not the rest of the players from his era and I do think he was juicing earlier than he says just not on the same level as he was late.

    • @justinbuda2352
      @justinbuda2352 Před 11 měsíci +2

      Bonds was great, but ironically enough bonds never had 50 home runs in a season except the year he hit 73.
      I would love to have seen where Junior finished if he wasn’t injured later in his career

  • @diegoblanco5199
    @diegoblanco5199 Před 2 lety +2

    A huge example for people with gigantism

  • @yoinkhaha
    @yoinkhaha Před 2 lety +3

    Well I doubt if there’ll ever be another instance of back-to-back homers by father and son…

  • @Cj1500
    @Cj1500 Před 11 měsíci

    Anybody know what game that was at 15:24? Jr. absolutely murdered that baseball.

  • @siniister710
    @siniister710 Před rokem

    griffey content poggies

  • @bryanglynn9532
    @bryanglynn9532 Před rokem

    That “double” was and is actually referred to as “the 95 slide”. Someone even named a sports bar after it.

  • @tiemann55
    @tiemann55 Před 10 měsíci

    I watched him when he was in Cincinnati . He was overpaid and full of himself by then , but I still think he’s the greatest player of all time

  • @walterbison
    @walterbison Před měsícem

    @15:48 Video over. Him demanding a trade to the Reds was his biggest mistake and his time with the Reds is a blight on his career.

  • @baseline-G
    @baseline-G Před rokem

    Played 22 years of MLB baseball. His teams went to the playoffs in: 1995, 1997 & 2008. His great play, unfortunately didn't translate to winning... Mariners record in 1998 was 76-85, 1999 was 79-83... Mariners trade Griffey to Cincinnati on February 11, 2000... In 2000 the Mariners were 91-71, in 2001 were 116-46... The Griffey trade literally ruined the Reds for the next 10 years... THE GREATEST TRADE IN MARINERS HISTORY!!!!!...

  • @Brand-ju4jm
    @Brand-ju4jm Před 2 lety +1

    didnt know griffey sr lust missed on the 1990 ws reds team

  • @Quayleman
    @Quayleman Před rokem

    You didn't mention A Rod... Cause pretty sure he was the reason he left Seattle.

  • @bigpasty1582
    @bigpasty1582 Před 2 lety +3

    Mariners trade griffey and the made playoffs next year lol then win 116 year after that

    • @jddallan1115
      @jddallan1115 Před rokem +1

      And arod.. and Johnson lol. 2 greats

  • @Quayleman
    @Quayleman Před rokem

    You have an issue of not saying the year... But you say the date...

  • @danjimenez7159
    @danjimenez7159 Před rokem

    2:52 AS A WHAT?

  • @panagenesis2695
    @panagenesis2695 Před 10 měsíci +1

    If he took steroids, like Bonds did, he'd have all the records.

  • @youtuber3328
    @youtuber3328 Před rokem

    in ALL honesty i SOMEWHAT like ken griffey jr

  • @jamesmarshall4364
    @jamesmarshall4364 Před 2 lety

    "progidy", huh?

  • @justineebourgeois3420

    Why doesn’t he have any rings if he’s so good? Overrated! 🤷‍♀️

  • @LegalShield3000
    @LegalShield3000 Před rokem +1

    I went through a wierd phase in 5th grade where I made my lil siblings say "Ken Griffey Jr" instead of please. "Pass the Salt, Ken Griffey Jr."