This Day in History April 10th

"The Kid" goes yard for the first time

         
          On this day 29 years ago, Ken Griffey Jr. at only age 19 hit his first of 630 career MLB home runs. With only having 21 MLB plate appearances in his career to this point he stepped in against White Sox pitcher Eric King. The Mariners were down 1-0 in the first inning. That's when "The Kid" took a hack at the first pitch of the AB and put it over the left field fence of the Kingdome. This home run was made a little more special as it came on his father and future teammate Ken Griffey Sr.'s 39th birthday. The father son duo made their first appearance on August 31st, 1990 when Ken Griffey Sr. batted 2nd for the Mariners followed by Junior 3rd.

Happy Father's Day

     
          Griffey Jr.'s first career home run on his father's birthday would not be the last time Junior hit a milestone home run on a special day for his father. On June 20th, 2004 playing for the CincinnatiReds with his family in attendance Junior hit his 500th career home run on Father's Day. This making another special career moment fall on a day to celebrate his father.

All Natural

     
          "The Kid" had arguably the sweetest swing ever in baseball as he finished his career with 630 home runs and in an era where steroids and PED's held a dark cloud over the sport of baseball, Griffey stayed out of the rumors of those who used them. Many of the names who were accused either have yet to be proven guilty or have already been proven guilty of using them. A few proven to have used a form of PED's are Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, and Sammy Sosa to name a few. I am personally happy to never have seen Ken Griffey Jr.'s name in any of those reports through the years. A true legend of the best sport of them all.

-ZW