Draft and minor leagues The
Seattle Mariners selected Griffey with the
first overall selection of the
1987 Major League Baseball draft, held on June 2, 1987. He received a signing bonus of $160,000. On June 11, 1987, Griffey joined the
Bellingham Mariners of the
Class A short season Northwest League. In 54 games with Bellingham, he hit .313 with 14 home runs, 40 runs batted in (RBI), and 13 steals. In 1988, Griffey joined the
San Bernardino Spirit of the
High-A California League. During his 58 games, Griffey batted .338, hit 11 home runs, drove in 42 runs, and stole 32 bases. Late in the season, Griffey was promoted to the
Vermont Mariners of the
Double-A Eastern League. He played the final 17 games with the club, hitting .279 with two home runs and 10 RBI. Griffey had a total of 129 games in his two seasons in the minor leagues, earning 103 total runs and 27 total home runs.
Seattle Mariners (1989–1999) In his first 11 seasons with Seattle (1989–1999), Griffey established himself as one of the most prolific and exciting players of the era, racking up 1,752 hits, 398 home runs, 1,152 RBI, and 167 stolen bases. He led the American League in home runs for four seasons (1994, 1997, 1998, and 1999), was voted the A.L. MVP in 1997, and batted .297. Griffey's defense in center field was widely considered the standard of elite fielding during the decade, exemplified by his streak of 10 consecutive
Gold Gloves from 1990 to 1999. His impressive range allowed frequent spectacular diving plays, and he often dazzled fans with over-the-shoulder basket catches and robbed opposing hitters of home runs by leaping up and pulling them back into the field of play. He was a frequent participant in the
All-Star Game with the Mariners and led the American League multiple times in different hitting categories. One week later in his first at-bat at the
Kingdome, Griffey hit his first major league home run. Entering the majors, Griffey was a highly touted prospect. In 1989, he was the #1 card in
Upper Deck's
first set of baseball cards, with his card becoming one of the most popular cards of its era. He also licensed a chocolate bar in 1989 in Seattle that sold more than 1 million bars in its first year. In 1990 and 1991, Griffey and his father became the first son and father to play on the same team at the same time. In his father's first game as a Mariner, on August 31, 1990, the pair hit back-to-back singles in the first inning and both scored. On September 14, the pair hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the first off
California Angels pitcher
Kirk McCaskill, becoming the first father-son duo to hit back-to-back home runs. On September 21, Ken Griffey Jr. stole a fly ball hit by
Sammy Sosa from his father, who was playing left field, for the third out of the inning. Then-20 year old Griffey Jr. was subsequently grounded by his father in the dugout after the play for going inside the former's previously established "three square feet territory" in left field for fly balls and had his car keys confiscated. The duo played a total of 51 games together before Griffey Sr. retired in June 1991. At the
MLB Home Run Derby in 1993, held at
Oriole Park in
Baltimore, Griffey hit the
warehouse beyond the right-field wall on the fly and he is still the only player ever to do so. As with every home run that hits
Eutaw Street, each feat is honored with a circular plaque, embedded in the concourse's walkway, in the exact spot where the ball landed. In 1994, he led the league in All-Star voting . That season, which ended prematurely in August due to
the players' strike, Griffey hit 30 home runs in the Mariners' first 65 games. He had four multi-home run games that year. Although his pace cooled somewhat in the final eight weeks of the season (he only hit 10 home runs in the Mariners' last 47 games), his 40 home runs by August 12 led the American League, two ahead of Chicago's
Frank Thomas and four ahead of Cleveland's
Albert Belle. One of the most memorable moments of Griffey's career with the Mariners came during the
1995 American League Division Series (ALDS) against the
New York Yankees. After losing the first two games, the Mariners and Griffey were on the verge of elimination, but came back to win the next two games, setting up a decisive fifth game. In the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 5, with Griffey on first base, teammate
Edgar Martínez hit a
double. Griffey raced around the bases, slid into home with the winning run, and popped up into the waiting arms of the entire team. The 1995 ALDS kicked off a brief rivalry between the Yankees and Mariners. Griffey may have escalated it by saying that he would never play for the Yankees, because the Yankees allegedly treated his father, Ken Griffey Sr. badly. Also, when Griffey was a kid visiting his dad in the Yankee clubhouse, Yankee manager
Billy Martin would, believing that children did not belong in the clubhouse, kick him out. Seattle's improbable late-season playoff run that year, spurred by Griffey's return from injury, led to the construction of
Safeco Field and the future security of a franchise rumored for years to be on the move. In 1997, Griffey led the Mariners to the AL West title and captured the
American League Most Valuable Player Award, hitting .304 with 56 home runs and 147 RBI during 157 games. The next season, 1998, was a season which was followed closely by the national media as both Griffey and
Mark McGwire entered the summer ahead of the pace of
Roger Maris' home run record of 61. Despite Griffey falling short, Major League Baseball put forth an effort to draw a new set of young fans and regain those disenchanted by the
1994 strike focused on McGwire, Chicago Cubs slugger
Sammy Sosa, and Griffey's
pursuit of Maris' record. Griffey, however, fell out of the spotlight due to some nagging injuries and was surpassed by McGwire and Sosa, who both broke the record set by Maris. Despite falling out of the record chase, Griffey nearly duplicated his 1997 statistics, finishing with a .284 average, 56 home runs and 146 RBI in 161 games. This list was compiled during the 1998 season, counting only statistics through 1997. At age 29 (going on 30), he was the youngest player on the list. That year, Griffey was elected to the
MLB All-Century Team. However, when
TSN updated their list for a new book in 2005, despite having surpassed 400 and 500 home runs, Griffey remained at Number 93. While with Seattle, Griffey was a 10-time American League Gold Glove winner, the 1992
All-Star Game MVP, 1997 AL MVP, 1998
ESPY co-winner for Male Athlete of the Year, 1999
Players Choice Awards Player of the Decade (by the players), and was named to the All-Century team in 1999.
Departure from Seattle (1999–2000) Griffey formerly lived in the same neighborhood in
Orlando as golfer
Payne Stewart. After Stewart's
death in a plane crash on October 25, 1999, Griffey started expressing a desire to live closer to his relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati. Not only did Griffey want to live closer, but he wanted to be able to raise his kids, Trey and Taryn (Tevin was not born at the time). On February 10, 2000, Griffey was traded to the Reds for pitcher
Brett Tomko, outfielder
Mike Cameron, and minor leaguers
Antonio Perez and Jake Meyer. Griffey signed a nine-year, $112.5 million contract with the Reds following the trade, with a club option for a 10th. Earlier that offseason, Griffey vetoed a trade to the
New York Mets for
Roger Cedeño,
Octavio Dotel, and a relief pitcher variously reported as
Dennis Cook or
Armando Benítez. Griffey's agent, Brian Goldberg, said afterward that Griffey would only accept a trade to the Reds, and "[i]f he can't go to Cincinnati, then he's going back to Seattle for the final year of his contract." The cumulative effects of the injuries lowered his bat speed, resulting in less power and fewer home runs (he
slugged only .426 before succumbing to injury in 2002, his lowest output in seven years). Injuries forced Griffey to miss 260 out of 486 games from 2002 through 2004, diminishing both his skills and his star reputation. In 2004, Griffey avoided major injury during the first half of the season, and on June 20 became the 20th player to hit 500 career home runs. His 500th home run came on
Father's Day in a game against the
St. Louis Cardinals at
Busch Stadium, with his father in the stands; the homer tied Griffey with his father in career hits with 2,143. However, the injury bug bit again just before the All-Star break; he suffered a partial
hamstring tear, knocking him out of the All-Star Game and putting him on the disabled list yet again. Griffey finished the 2004 season on the disabled list after suffering a rupture of his right hamstring in San Francisco. The play in question occurred at
AT&T Park in a game against the
San Francisco Giants. Griffey was starting in right field for the first time in his 16-year Major League career when he raced toward the gap to try to cut off a ball before it got to the wall. He slid as he got to the ball, but in the process hyper-extended his right leg, tearing the hamstring completely off the bone. that would use three titanium screws to reattach Griffey's hamstring. For several weeks, Griffey's right leg was in a sling that kept it at a 90-degree angle, and he was not able to move the leg until late October. After an intense rehabilitation period, he returned for the 2005 season. In April, he hit .244 with one homer (on April 30) and nine RBI. On September 22, with the Reds out of playoff contention, Griffey decided to sit out for the rest of the season so he could immediately have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and a separate operation to repair scars from his 2004 hamstring operation. Still, his 128 games in 2005 were the most he had played since 2000. During the second game of the 2006 regular season, Griffey hit home run #537, surpassing
Mickey Mantle for 12th on the all-time list. He returned on May 11 from a knee injury suffered April 12, and hit a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning against the
Washington Nationals. On June 5, Griffey tied
Fred McGriff's record by hitting a home run in his 43rd different ballpark, at the
St. Louis Cardinals'
Busch Stadium. On June 19, Griffey hit career home run #548 against the Mets, tying him with
Mike Schmidt, and then six days later passed Schmidt with #549 against the
Cleveland Indians. On June 27, he hit his 550th career
home run against the
Kansas City Royals. On September 25, 2006, Griffey hit his 27th home run of the season against
Chicago Cubs relief pitcher
Scott Eyre to tie
Reggie Jackson for tenth on the all-time home run list. Griffey's injuries continued in the 2006 off-season. While on holiday in the Bahamas with his family, he broke his wrist.
2007 At the beginning of the 2007 Major League Baseball season,
Ryan Freel took over
center field for the Reds, and Griffey Jr. was moved to
right field. Reds manager
Jerry Narron said, "I've got to do everything I can do to put our best club out there. My feeling is that with Ryan Freel out there, it gives us strong defense up the middle." On May 10, 2007, Griffey hit his sixth home run of the season and the 569th of his career, tying
Rafael Palmeiro for ninth place on the career home runs list. He passed Palmeiro on May 13 against the
Los Angeles Dodgers. Griffey tied
Harmon Killebrew for eighth on the all-time list hitting his 573rd career home run on May 22. He then surpassed him on May 25 against the
Pittsburgh Pirates. On June 22, 2007, Griffey made his first return to Seattle after his trade to the Reds. Before the game, the Mariners honored him with a 15-minute presentation which included a highlight reel of his playing career with the Mariners, a presentation of a "The House that Griffey Built" memorial by Mariners hall-of-famers and former teammates
Jay Buhner and
Edgar Martínez, and a four-minute standing ovation from the sold-out crowd. Griffey did not expect such a welcome or a turnout by fans when he came back, and a short but emotional speech was given by Griffey afterwards. Following the
Cincinnati Reds versus
Seattle Mariners series from June 22–24, 2007, a fan movement emerged petitioning Mariners' management to bring Griffey back. Over 1,900 signatures were collected on a fan vid-blog/petition. Griffey received the most votes of any player in the National League for the 2007 All-Star balloting, and in the July 10 game, he went on to drive in two runs for the
National League. On July 16, 2007, Griffey hit his 587th home run to pass
Frank Robinson for sixth place on the all-time home run
list. On July 18, 2007, Griffey hit his 2,500th hit, a first-inning single off
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher
John Smoltz. On September 19, 2007, in a game against the
Chicago Cubs, Griffey fielded a
Derrek Lee single in right field, then suddenly went down in pain. The injury, first thought to be a lower abdominal strain, was later revealed to be a season-ending groin strain. This marked one of many seasons in Cincinnati in which Griffey had to end the year on the disabled list. Griffey ended the 2007 season with 593 career home runs. On August 22, 2007, Griffey was selected as an all-time
Rawlings Gold Glove winner, on a list of nine players considered the greatest defensive players in the last 50 years. He finished the season with 78 runs, 146 hits, 24 doubles, one triple, 30 home runs, 93 RBI, and a .277 batting average in 144 games. On June 9, Griffey hit his 600th home run on a 3–1 pitch from
Mark Hendrickson of the
Florida Marlins in the first inning at
Land Shark Stadium in Miami. Fans of both teams gave him a standing ovation. Despite being ranked second in the National League All-Star voting for outfielders for most of the first half of the season, Griffey finished fourth with 2,907,746 ballots, 87,000 votes behind
Kosuke Fukudome. He was not selected to the
All-Star Game as a reserve. At the All-Star Break, Griffey was batting .239 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI. "I always have a backup plan... If you can't hit a tough lefty, bunt. If you can't hit a tough righty, bunt. If you can't go to the All-Star Game, go to the Bahamas," Griffey said. On July 30, Griffey hit his 608th career home run in his last game for the Reds. Griffey was criticized by some for his effort during his stint with the Reds.
Gregg Doyel had this to say of the years Griffey was with the Reds in comparison to the 2010 Reds team: "It's a different Reds team than the older, beer-bellied softball teams of recent years. Those Reds were Ken Griffey and
Adam Dunn lounging on the clubhouse's leather couches, hitting home runs, misplaying balls in the outfield, and thinking they had it all figured out, when all they knew how to do was lose."
Chicago White Sox (2008) On July 31, 2008, at the
MLB trade deadline, Griffey was traded to the
Chicago White Sox for pitcher
Nick Masset and infielder
Danny Richar, ending his nine-year tenure in Cincinnati. In his first game with the White Sox, he went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI, a walk, and a run. On August 20, 2008, Griffey hit his first home run as a member of the White Sox, off the Mariners'
R. A. Dickey, which moved him into a tie with former outfielder
Sammy Sosa for fifth place in career home runs. He surpassed Sosa on September 23, with one off Minnesota's
Matt Guerrier. Griffey's signature moment with the White Sox came on September 30, the last game of the 2008 season; an extra 163rd game between the White Sox and
Minnesota Twins to break the tie atop the
AL Central. In the fifth inning of the scoreless game, the Twins threatened with
Michael Cuddyer on third and one out. Twins third baseman
Brendan Harris flied out softly to Griffey in center field, who threw a strike to White Sox catcher
A. J. Pierzynski, who tagged out Cuddyer at home in a home plate collision to complete the double play and end the threat. The White Sox went on to beat the Twins, 1–0, to advance to the
2008 American League Division Series, When the 2008 season ended he said he wouldn't retire, saying "I've got things to do."
Seattle Mariners (second stint) (2009–2010) during Spring training, March 2009. As a free agent, Griffey was courted by the Mariners and the
Atlanta Braves. The national media was dubious about Griffey's ability to contribute meaningfully, with
The Washington Post noting "... the Mariners are not about to sign Griffey for baseball reasons; they're bringing him back to Seattle to sell tickets." Griffey ultimately accepted a contract offer from the Mariners on February 18, 2009, after "agonizing" over the decision. Griffey indicated he was motivated by sentimental reasons toward Seattle, where he received an overwhelmingly positive reception when he last played there as a Cincinnati Red in June 2007, but was inclined towards the Braves for its proximity to his home in Orlando, Florida, and his desire to be with his family during the season. Apparently, Griffey was very close to signing with the Braves; however, a premature report emerged from
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that an Atlanta deal was done and a conversation with
Willie Mays and his own 13-year-old daughter played a factor in his choice. Griffey once again sported #24 with the Mariners; the team had not issued the number to any player or coach in the nine years between his two stints in Seattle. of the 2009 season. Griffey went 1-for-3 with a home run in his regular-season debut on April against the
Minnesota Twins. The home run was Griffey's eighth
Opening Day home run; AP stated, "Griffey returned to the Mariners in 2009 and almost single-handedly transformed what had been a fractured, bickering clubhouse with his leadership, energy and constant pranks." On June 23, 2009, at
Safeco Field, Griffey hit the 5,000th home run in franchise history, off
San Diego Padres pitcher
Chad Gaudin. This was Griffey's 619th career home run. On July 1, Griffey hit career home run 621 at the new
Yankee Stadium, off
Yankees pitcher
Andy Pettitte in the sixth inning. It marked the 44th different ballpark in which he had hit a home run. Griffey returned to the Mariners for the 2010 campaign with a similar one-year contract to that of 2009, but struggled offensively over the first two months while posting a .184
batting average. On April 27, Griffey passed
Andre Dawson for 45th on the career hit list. On May 20, in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Griffey hit a run-scoring single off Blue Jays' closer
Kevin Gregg to win the game, 4–3, for the Mariners. After starting the ninth inning trailing 3–1, the Mariners rallied in the bottom of the ninth to load the bases on two singles and a
walk, then tied the game via a walk and a
sacrifice fly. On May 10, beat writer Larry LaRue reported that Wakamatsu had not used Griffey in a pinch-hitting situation the prior week, with two players stating that Griffey had been asleep. National media quickly covered the incident, dubbed "Napgate". In the ensuing days, teammate
Mike Sweeney said he challenged anyone who said Griffey was asleep "to stand up and fight me" with Wakamatsu denying Griffey had been asleep; however, Griffey did not deny it. Griffey's agent said in a radio interview that LaRue's initial report had been posted in error and that LaRue had asked his newspaper to remove it, a claim both LaRue and his editor denied. In the aftermath of his report, some Mariners players boycotted LaRue. On June 2, with the clubhouse still in turmoil, Griffey left the Mariners after the second game of a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins, leaving in the middle of the night for a cross-country drive to his home in Florida. His retirement was announced at Safeco Field before the Mariners played the Twins. In an interview on March 17, 2011, Griffey stated he had retired to avoid being a distraction for the team. ==Post-playing career==