(born 1969), U.S. baseball player. Seattle Mariner center fielder Ken Griffey, Jr., was a top baseball player of the 1990s. In 1990 and 1991 “Junior” and his father, all-star Ken Griffey, Sr., made baseball history when they played together on the same major league team, the Mariners. George Kenneth Griffey, Jr., was born in Donora, Pa., on Nov. 21, 1969. The senior Griffey had just started his professional career on a minor league team for the Cincinnati Reds when Ken, Jr., was born. The family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, when Ken, Sr., advanced to major league play in 1973. The Reds later traded him to the Yankees but the family stayed in Cincinnati. Ken Junior learned baseball from his father and played in Little League. The younger Griffey missed two high school baseball seasons, one because of poor grades and the other because he was in Florida for his father's spring training. In the next two high school seasons, Ken Junior hit 20 home runs in and batted .480. The Seattle Mariners picked Griffey in the first round of the 1987 draft. He graduated from high school and signed a contract with the Mariners. Living in motels 80 miles (129 kilometers) north of Seattle, Wash., while he played poorly in a rookie league, the 17-year-old was homesick and depressed. In January 1988 he attempted suicide with an overdose of aspirin. By spring his spirits and play improved; he batted .338, hit 11 home runs, and stole 32 bases in 58 games before an injury took him out of play. The next March he moved up to major league baseball. Griffey hit 16 home runs for the Mariners in 1989. The next year he became the second youngest player to win a Gold Glove award and the first Mariner to start in an all-star game. It was also in 1990 that his father signed a contract with the Mariners. Father and son played their first major league game together on August 31. They hit back-to-back home runs on September 14. They played together for one more season before Ken, Sr., retired at the end of 1991. Ken, Jr., batted in 100 runs that year and broke the team record with a .327 batting average. In 1992 he was voted the most valuable player in the all-star game. The next year he hit home runs in eight consecutive games, tying the major league record. With 109 runs batted in, he also became the youngest player since 1956 to bat in 100 or more runs in each of three consecutive seasons. The birth of a son, Trey Kenneth, in January was the high point of 1994 for Griffey and his wife, Melissa. They later had a daughter, Taryn Kennedy. Despite a series of injuries in 1995 Griffey helped lead the Mariners to their first playoffs. In 1996 he hit 49 home runs and batted in 140 in spite of missing 20 games because of a broken bone in his right hand. His 1997 season was even better, with 56 home runs and 147 runs batted in. |