Ken Griffey jr. was easily the most popular player in the game when I was growing up. I still think of him as one of the greatest that ever played the game, though I try to quickly remind myself that isn’t really the case. During his peak–I will say from 1990 to 2000–he hit averaged 38 HR and a 151 OPS+, so it was not an unreasonable suggestion. But the second half of Griffey’s career, while far from pedestrian, was not quite so impressive. This was almost all due to injuries, which were a common problem for him after joining Cincinnati.
When Griffey retired following the 2010 season, he had amassed 83.8 WAR, good for #57 overall. Mike Trout, at 81.9 WAR, will pass him next season. So, great career, sure. But not maybe as quite as good as it could have been.
Still, Griffey had an amazing career and the hardware to show for it: 13-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger, 10 Gold Gloves and 1997 AL MVP. He would retire with 630 career home runs, placing him 7th all-time. And, of course, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2016.
I don’t have too many Griffey autographs. He isn’t cheap! And if anyone has ever tried him in person, he isn’t easy. But this card was a leftover from a private signing that I was able to get a deal on, so I pulled the trigger. While it was still not super cheap, it was nice to add a signed Ginter of a player of his caliber.
Bonus: here is my Griffey rookie card collection. These are all some of my favorite non-autographed cards.