Whatever happened to the Junior Griffey we used to know?
It wasn't so long ago he looked like a guy on a quest to be Michael Jordan. Now he's on a quest to find Johnnie Cochrane. So what happened?
Once, he was just a fun guy with a sweet swing. He was the human Web Gem.
He was the smiling face on the Nike spots.
Now, it seems, hardly a week goes by when Junior isn't whining publicly
about something: Marty Brennaman, the All-Star Game, the schedule, the
Mariners, too many Jim Edmonds highlights, too many media critics. Yadda,
yadda, yadda.
We can't think of any player of his luster in recent memory who has taken
less time to blow more craters in his once-radiant landscape than Junior
Griffey. What a shame. We like the guy. We admire his talent. We love
watching him play. But what the heck is he doing to himself?
"Listen," says Reds GM Jim Bowden, "we've had a tough year. We're under
.500. There are a lot of explanations. People are frustrated. And these
things happen. I'm not trying to downplay this. But when it's all said and
done, Junior's going to hit 40 to 50 homers, drive in 100 and win a Gold
Glove. But when things aren't going good, everyone points to things that are
negative."
It's true that Griffey reached 100 RBI this year faster than all but one
year of his career, and not much has been said about that. It's also true
that while his average is down, his on-base percentage is right around his
career norms -- an indication of how much he's been pitched around because of
the rough seasons by the hitters around him. And it's true, too, that Griffey
has taken more heat for the Reds' disappointments than he probably deserves.
"Our problem," says Bowden, flatly, "is not Junior."
And that's true. But Junior's problem is Junior.
He's 30 now. He's still as big a name as there is in the game. It's time for
him to grow up and rise above the rubble to behave at the same level at which
he plays.
"It's not always fair," says one of Griffey's old friends. "When teams
don't win, it's always a question of who can you blame? But when you make
that money, you have to accept it. You don't have to like it. But it comes
with the territory. It's part of being a star. Some guys can handle it. Some
don't want to handle it. But once you get a reputation as a whiner in this
game, it's tough to shake."
It does seem as if his 0-for-4's all make it onto SportsCenter, while
other guys' don't. It does seem that when he strikes out with two on in the
third, it's news, while it's not for other people. We empathize. But again,
it goes with the territory.
You can argue that baseball's powers that be haven't helped him, either.
The sport hasn't properly promoted players like him. And it hasn't properly
coached them on the responsibilities of fame. When Michael Jordan's team went
to the playoffs, he went to the interview room just about every day. When
Griffey's Mariners made the playoffs, it was an event if he went once. That's
baseball's fault as much as his.
"Yeah, but you can only educate a guy so much," says one frustrated
Griffey supporter in Cincinnati. "You can give him as much wisdom as you
want. But if the guy doesn't want to do it, he won't do it. There's a lot of
wisdom around him, believe me. There are a lot of people giving him advice --
including his dad. He's got a lot of positive people around him, including
Barry Larkin. But it's amazing the crap this guy takes. He's just sensitive
to what people write, and he's sensitive to what people say. He just wants to
be loved. But when you're losing, things get blown out of proportion."
And when you take on Marty Brennaman, you're taking on a local icon who
is an extension of the city itself. So that's a dangerous neighborhood to be
wandering around in. But it's not too late for Junior Griffey to escape it.
Robby Alomar climbed out of his abyss, with class and grace. Junior can do
the same.
But to do that, he doesn't need to look for Johnnie Cochrane. He needs to
look inside himself -- for the smiling face America used to know and love.
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List of the week
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With Glenallen Hill up to 12 homers as a Yankee, he has a chance to rank with
the Yankees' greatest midseason acquisitions ever. Here, courtesy of SABR's David Vincent, are the only other Yankees to hit 10 homers or more after being picked up in the middle of a season:
Jesse Barfield,1989, 18, (acquired April 30)
Hector Lopez, 1959, 16, (acquired May 26)
Cecil Fielder, 1996, 13, (acquired July 31)
Cliff Johnson, 1977, 12, (acquired June 15)
Chad Curtis, 1997, 12, (acquired June 9)
Oscar Gamble, 1979, 11, (acquired Aug. 1)
Ken Phelps, 1988, 10, (acquired July 21)
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The future of baseball in Montreal is as bleak as it's ever been, following
the decision of owner Jeffrey Loria to drop the option on the most desirable
piece of downtown real estate on which to build a new ballpark. Nevertheless,
the Expos are not history in Montreal until commissioner Bud Selig decides to
give up the fight and grant them permission to move. And indications are that
Selig hasn't made that determination yet.
"I've seen worse situations that looked more hopeless," says one prominent
baseball man. "And those teams never moved. So I would say this story has
some chapters to be written yet."
It's clear the Expos will be in Montreal at least through next season. So
that leaves the city time to find another solution. But once the most
attractive stadium site is peddled elsewhere, it's hard to foresee any better
sites coming along. And without a gorgeous ballpark in the perfect location,
with an owner committed to the city -- which Loria obviously isn't -- can
baseball possibly succeed in Montreal? Don't bet an autographed picture of
Youppi on it.
Despite claims by Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo that reports of the
club's recent loan request were blown out of proportion, several baseball
sources say the club was actually in "a very serious situation." The
Diamondbacks' short-term ability to operate is not in jeopardy. But their
current debts and all their deferred contract money have many in baseball
wondering about their long-term health.
"They owe a lot of money to guys on the downside of their careers," says one
baseball official. "And that doesn't go away. It almost has to tie their
hands for what they can do in the future."
Few significant deals are expected before Thursday night's deadline to set
rosters for the postseason, because almost no players of significance made it
through waivers. One starting pitcher who reportedly did: Colorado's Masato
Yoshii.
Davey Johnson almost asked to be fired by the Dodgers this week, telling
the Los Angeles Times' T.J. Simers that if he's going to be canned anyway,
"let's do it and not wait. Let me put my house on the market instead of
waiting eight weeks. Just do it."
Oh, they'll be doing it once the season is over. You can book that. But one
baseball source says there are two compelling reasons the Dodgers won't do
anything during the season: 1) "there's no benefit to the club in doing it
now, because they're not going to win anyway," and 2) "the best candidates to
replace him won't be available until after the season." Translation: Dusty
Baker, Bobby Valentine, Felipe Alou -- with Kevin Kennedy as a backup plan.
If the Mets get to the World Series, Valentine will be back in New York. If
not, his most likely options would seem to be either the Dodgers or Japan,
even if six to 10 managerial jobs open this winter, as expected.
"He's seen as too devisive around baseball," one prominent baseball man says
of Valentine. "So I just don't see many general managers willing to take that
risk of bringing in a guy like that."
Despite lots of haggling with the union, baseball wound up balking at
giving big-league service time to players who made the Olympic team. The one
concession MLB did make was to agree to waive the right to cut salaries of
Olympians on major-league rosters by 20 percent next year.
Even with George Steinbrenner's Olympic connections, the Yankees wound up
being the team that was the least cooperative in providing players to go to
Sydney. Sources say the Yankees even refused to give the OK for pitchers like
Randy Keisler and Jay Tessmer to be part of the team, even though there's
next to no chance they'll play any meaningful role in New York in September.
Is it almost time to elevate Oakland shortstop Miguel Tejada into the
Nomar-Jeter-A-Rod class? One AL executive actually said the other day: "I'd
take him over Jeter." Tejada is a defensive higlight waiting to happen every
night. And he has 40-homer potential.
One of the most significant anniversaries this week was Ray Lankford's 10th
anniversary as a Cardinal. Lankford's performance has slipped. He's struck
out 115 times in 313 at-bats. And the Cardinals quietly shopped him early in
the season. But he's now a 10-and-five guy, so he won't be going anywhere
without his permission.
Useless information dept.
Padres reliever Todd Erdos moved into the early lead in the Cheapest Save
of the 2000s competition Tuesday by saving a 16-1 game against the Mets. He
supplants Alan Mills, who saved a 16-2 win by the Dodgers on April 22. They
both have a ways to go to match the cheapest saves of the '90s: a tie between
Texas' Ed Vosberg, for saving a 26-7 game in 1996, and Cincinnati's Stan
Belinda, for saving a 22-3 game last September. Stay tuned -- for nine more
years.
The Mariners' recent eight-game losing streak wasn't the longest in the
American League this year. But it did remind us that the streaks in each
league that were the longest were all by teams that started those streaks in
first place: The Rockies (11 games in July) have the longest skid in the NL.
The Royals (nine games in April) and Rangers (nine games in June) have the
longest in the AL.
And the next-highest streaks in each league were by teams that also would
make the playoffs if the season ended right now -- the Mariners and Giants
(who lost eight in a row in May). What does that tell you about how thin the
line is in baseball between winning and losing?
Ismael Valdes is now the official president of the Offense is Overrated
Club. Tuesday, he hit a home run but didn't win. Earlier this year, he
managed to drive in the only run in a 1-0 game -- without getting the win in
that game, either.
Last Sunday in Chicago, the White Sox and Devil Rays played a game in which
both teams blew a four-run lead in the same game. Incredibly, here in a
season in which officially no lead is safe, that's the third game this year
in which each team blew a lead of four runs or more. The others, according to
the Elias Sports Bureau's Kevin Hines: Rangers 17, A's 16 on May 5 in Texas
and Orioles 11, Rangers 10 on June 14 in Baltimore.
The Pirates finally won last Sunday after losing on nine straight Sundays
before that. In case you were wondering, the Steelers haven't lost on nine
straight Sundays since they went from Game 2 of the '69 season to a 23-10 win
over the Bills on Oct. 11, 1970. That's 16 straight Sundays, by the
computation of Elias' Ken Hirdt.
The Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent, reports that Gerald
Williams just became the 10th active player to hit 20 or more homers out of
the leadoff hole. The others: Rickey Henderson (obviously), Marquis Grissom,
Brady Anderson, Craig Biggio, Al Martin and the surprises -- Chad Curtis
(1995), Barry Bonds (twice), Ellis Burks (1987) and Nomar Garciaparra (in
1997). Most ever: 35, by Anderson in '96 and Bobby Bonds in '73.
Now that B.J. Surhoff's iron-man streak has bit the dust, the current
longest streak belongs to -- guess who? -- Sammy Sosa (365 in a row, through
Friday).
We're now up to 23 games this season in which a pitcher has given up 10
runs or more -- including twice apiece by Jose Lima, Jamie Moyer and Mark
Mulder. Elias checked back 25 years and found only one other season in which
this many pitchers exploded for double figures in one game -- 1996 (also 23).
In 1990, exactly one pitcher (Curt Young) did it.
The White Sox still may not be bigger in Chicago than the Cubs among
humans. But their canine attendance continues to skyrocket. Last Sunday's
fifth annual Dog Day drew a record 568 pooches, up 41 from last year.
"Interestingly," says White Sox promotions genius Rob Gallas, "I still get
notes from people who go to dog day -- but don't bring their dogs for whatever
reason. ... They just enjoy being part of the experience." Woof, woof.
Baseball is an amazing sport. On Aug. 17, Orioles rookie John Parrish gave
up two hits in 6 2/3 innings in a start against the White Sox. Six days
later, he got knocked out in the second inning -- against the same team. On
Aug. 18, Wade Miller took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the
Brewers. Five days later, he gave up 12 runs to the Cubs.
In the fifth inning of a tie game in Baltimore last weekend -- with two
Orioles on base and one out -- the sprinklers abruptly went off. Press-box
announcement after the sprinkling subsided: "Rain delay lasted 21 seconds."
SABR's Chuck Rosciam reports that Brent Mayne's winning-pitcher act in
Denver on Tuesday raised the all-time victory total by catchers to 10 -- all
but his in the 19th century: two by Buck Ewing in 1889, two by Sleeper
Sullivan in 1884, one each by Eddie Fusselback in 1882 and Amos Booth in 1877
and four by Roger Bresnahan in 1887. Most innings pitched by a catcher: 95
2/3, by Booth. Most innings pitched by a catcher since 1901: 24, by
victory-less Charlie Moran in 1903.
What a week. Pedro Martinez gives up five runs in the first inning and
Randy Johnson gets KO'd in the third on back-to-back nights. Pedro gave up as
many runs in the first inning Thursday in Kansas City as he'd allowed in his
previous 29 starts put together, counting the postseason.
As for the Big Unit, the Valley Tribune's Ed Price reports that in the 11
years between his no-strikeout games, he racked up 2,937 strikeouts and made
351 consecutive appearances (nine in relief) with at least one whiff. In his
62 previous starts as a Diamondback, he'd averaged 10.4 strikeouts per start.
The Mets are batting .386 against Johnson this season. Everyone else: .201.
One more astounding Diamondbacks factoid: Since trading for Curt Schilling,
the D-backs have gone 6-7 in games started by Schilling and Johnson. Hard to
believe.
Since the Phillies moved Bobby Abreu into the leadoff hole, he's 10 for 24,
with seven walks and a .548 on-base percentage (.417). He might stick around
in that spot a while.
Minor-leaguer of the week: Howe Sportsdata reports that Charleston (W. Va.)
first baseman Emmanuel Santana just went 0 for a month (0 for 23, from July
20 to Aug. 21).
And speaking of hitless, down in the Midwest League, Clinton Lumber Kings
first baseman Samone Peters had a shot at the rarified 200-strikeout plateau.
He was at 185 whiffs through Friday, with 10 games left in the season.
Jayson Stark is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings will appear each Saturday. | |
ALSO SEE
Jayson Stark archive
Stark: Week in Review
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