KEN GRIFFEY, JR.

One of the most exciting players of the modern era, Ken Griffey, Jr., during his first eleven seasons with the Mariners, led the American League in home runs four times (1994, ‘97, ‘98, ‘99). In 1997, he led Seattle to the AL West crown and captured the league MVP award, hitting .304 with 56 home runs and 147 RBI. A multi-dimensional centerfielder, Griffey, a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner, was nicknamed “The Kid” for his boyish enthusiasm. He dazzled fans with over-the-shoulder catches and robbed opposing hitters of home runs by leaping up the fence and pulling the ball back onto the field of play. Traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2000, Griffey, the son of a former MLB player Ken Griffey, Sr., was plagued by a string of injuries between 2002 and 2004, but was named National League Comeback Player of the Year in 2005 when he hit 35 home runs. That off-season he played for the United States in the World Baseball Classic, hitting .524. Griffey, whose career spanned parts of four decades, was a 13-time All-Star and one of the most prolific hitters in baseball history. With 630 career homers, Griffey ranks seventh all time.

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Images courtesy of Dick Perez