Some Ken Griffey Jr. reminiscing...

Ken Griffey Jr. officially retired June 2, 2010 ending his 22-year-career with the Seattle Mariners, the team that drafted him with the number one overall pick in 1987, but for me and most baseball fans his legacy will continue to live on in our hearts; if not, his highlights and homers will surely run for generations. In an era when every single sports moment is video-documented, played and replayed on Sportscenter, and posted to YouTube for the world to watch at the click of a mouse, ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kirkjian made an excellent point, “For most of us, he is the best player we’ve ever seen play the game.” I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the ballpark and watch him play on a regular—or maybe not so regular—basis with the Reds from 2000-2008 and my memories of The Kid will always stay with me. Here’s just a few:

· Growing up and playing baseball in “The Griffey Era,” everyone wanted to be just like Griff. Wear your hat backwards, stand on the left side of the plate and give your best impression of that iconic batting stance (everyone had one), mimic the most beautiful swing in baseball, and admire your moon shot just like he did as the ball soared out of the Kingdome. At little league practices, I would fly around the outfield, diving for balls in the dandelions and daydream about robbing home runs.

· I can remember how you had to have a Mariners ball cap, or t-shirt, or something in honor of the hometown hero from Moeller High School (Griff’s alma mater came up short in the state semifinals against conference rival Elder). Every single year I bought the newest pair of Ken Griffey’s cleats, along with the rest of my team, and I owned two different pairs of his Nike cross trainters —my generation’s PF Flyers.

· I remember going to a friend’s house to play Ken Griffey Jr.’s Slugfest for Nintendo 64 and fighting over who got to play with the team from Seattle. (Reminds me of a funny story; two friends of mine got to go to a game in Seattle when they were younger and were trying to get their Mariners cap signed. Someone in a Mariners jersey came over, signed the bill of the cap, then turned around and walked off. My buddies were so excited to get an autograph, but when they looked up they saw “BB” in place of a number on the back of the guy’s jersey. It was the bat boy!)

· I remember the Cincinnati Reds acquiring Junior and just how ecstatic our town was—taking less money to come back home and play in the Queen City. The photos of Griffey holding up a Reds jersey at the press conference still seem surreal to me. I can remember the giant signs in center at Great American Ballpark counting The Kid’s homers on his way to 500. On TV, I watched him hit his 500th career home run on Father’s Day in St. Louis and his emotional embrace with his dad after.

· I remember #24, #30, #3, #17 and all the jerseys that followed. I remember Griffey tossing an XXL-sized jockstrap to a heckler in the stands and making a fan out of a foe. I remember finding out about the trade to the Chicago White Sox in a text—I just happened to be staying at a friend’s house in a suburb outside the Windy City at the time. I remember Griffey returning to Seattle to play in Safeco Field for the first time as a Mariner, watching the crowd go crazy, and seeing classic Junior put one into the bleachers. And I remember hearing Griffey would be returning to the team he saved in the ‘90s and thinking, “That’s how it ought to be.”

Here are some memories from former teammates Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez, and a couple different takes on Griffey’s career and retirement. What are your feelings? Share your memories of Ken Griffey Jr. below or email them to me, drew.reeder@gmail.com