In my minds eye, Ken Griffey Junior will always be a young and incredibly gifted center fielder for the Seattle Mariners. He will forever be chasing down doubles and triples headed for the gaps until they land harmlessly in his glove. I will remember the goosebumps I got while watching a Mariners/Angles game on television in 1990 and witnessing Father & Son hitting back to back home runs. I will remember his smooth, yet very powerful swing. I will remember his hat turned backward home run derby performance in Baltimore before the 1993 all star game. I will remember his non-juiced pursuit of Roger Maris before the strike of 1994 shut it all down.
His years in his hometown of Cincinnati do not resonate with me. Too many great memories in Seattle and too many injuries with the Reds. When he is enshrined in Cooperstown in a few years, if he doesn't have a Mariners hat on, someone needs to be arrested.
In July of 2008, the Reds traded him to the Chicago White Sox. He played 41 games on the southside of Chicago and looked strangely comfortable in the Sox uniforms. But the old Junior, the one I remember was gone.
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