Ken Griffey, Sr.

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George Kenneth Griffey (born April 10, 1950 in Donora, Pennsylvania) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. He is the father of outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. and former minor leaguer Craig Griffey. He and his older son Ken Jr. share the same birth city as Baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial, in Donora, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. He resides in Winter Garden, Florida.

Professional career

Griffey made his Major League Baseball debut on August 25, 1973 with the Cincinnati Reds. That season, Griffey played in only 25 games, but batted .384 with three homers. The following season, Griffey saw more playing time with 88 games. In 1975, Griffey began to break out with a .305 batting average with four home runs and 46 RBIs. Griffey's greatest season came in 1976, when he came just short of winning the batting title behind the Cubs' Bill Madlock. Griffey chose to sit out the final day of the season to protect his batting title and it came back to haunt him as Madlock collected four hits that same day. Griffey entered the game late after hearing the news, and went 0 for 2.^[1] Many baseball purists were disappointed in Griffey (and perhaps more so in his manager, Sparky Anderson, for choosing to sit him out to gain an individual accolade). Fans were reminded of the decision of Ted Williams to play on the final day of his season where he could have lost his .400 average in 1941. Williams played both ends of a double header, and wound up with .406 average to end his remarkable season.

Griffey batted a career high .336, finished eighth in the Most Valuable Player voting, and was named to The Sporting News National League All-Star team. That season, the Reds won their second consecutive World Series title. Also, the season marked the end of The Big Red Machine in Cincinnati, Ohio. The team, which ended when Tony Perez left the team, consisted of greats such as Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Johnny Bench. In the next four seasons, Griffey batted .318, .288, .316, and .294 with a total of 43 home runs. In Griffey's final season of his first stint with the Reds, 1981, he batted .311 with only two home runs and 34 RBIs.

After the 1981 season, Griffey (along with most of the remaining members of The Big Red Machine) was shipped out. Griffey was sent to the New York Yankees, where he played from 1982 to 1986 as a utility player at first base and outfield. Injuries plagued Griffey, who hit .306 with 11 homers and 46 RBIs in his best season with the Yankees. In 1986, Griffey was shipped out mid-season to the Atlanta Braves, where he played for only one full season. Griffey was traded back to Cincinnati in the middle of the 1988 season. He only spent the 1989 season with the Reds, and was then released in the middle of the Reds' championship 1990 season, signing with the Seattle Mariners to conclude the season. He spent only one more season with the Mariners, in 1991, before retiring after 19 seasons.

In 1,997 games, Griffey compiled a lifetime batting average of .296, with 152 home runs and 859 RBI. Griffey was also the Most Valuable Player of the 1980 All-Star Game.

The Griffeys

Ken Griffey, Sr. was married to Alberta Griffey, also known as "Birdie" Griffey. On August 29, 1990, Griffey, Sr. signed with the Mariners after being released by the Cincinnati Reds and, in doing so, made history. His son, Ken Griffey Jr., had been promoted to the Mariners in 1989 after rising through the minor leagues. The Griffeys became the first father-and-son tandem to play on the same Major League Baseball team. They played their first game together against the Kansas City Royals on August 31. Griffey, Sr. also hit back-to-back home runs with his son on September 14, 1990. Griffey's younger son Craig played in the Mariners minor league system and appeared with his brother in the outfield during some Cactus League games, Craig Griffey retired from baseball after failing to make it past Triple-A where he appeared in a handful of games with the Tacoma Rainiers.

Griffey was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2004.

See also

• List of second generation MLB players
• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube