Griffey

[therealnod]

I find it hard to believe that anyone would suggest the Kid took steroids.

His injuries have been one of the biggest letdowns for me in baseball. I thought he would go down as the greatest ever when it was all done. I can only wish hinm well.

[The Commissioner]

Commish - If you held up two pictures - one of when you were 18 and the other when you're 34, would they look different?

Absolutely. However, it's not the same type of difference. The difference is that I wouldn't look more muscular with a bloated head than I did at 18. I'm not trying to single out Griffey, he's one of my all-time faves. However, I guarantee that 20 or 50 years from now, we're going to find out the truth about how prevalent (think Caminiti type percentages) steroids were in MLB and Griffey will not be amongst the non-users.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Griffey is a HOFer right now. No discussion should be needed. Also, just like with McGwire, Rodriguez, Palmeiro, and Clemens, there is no proof that Griffey did steroids. And no, a money hungry, egotistical, covicted felon, with raging jeolosy towards his more succesful peers does not proove anybody did steroids just because he says so.

[asfan4life]

I find it hard to believe that anyone would suggest the Kid took steroids.

His injuries have been one of the biggest letdowns for me in baseball. I thought he would go down as the greatest ever when it was all done. I can only wish hinm well.

I agree with you that his injuries where a big letdown. It was hard to see a player that good, and that I grew up watching in awe, just disappear.

[GiambiJuice]

Ken Griffey Jr.

While I'm sure everyone agrees that Jr. is a Hall of Famer, I'm kinda surprised at how low most people rank him on their all time greatest position players lists.
Most people seem to have him somewhere in the 20-40 range, but I think taking his defense into account and the fact that he had a GREAT chance to break Aaron's record if not for injuries, he should certainly be top-10.
I've yet to see anyone rank him so high. Why is that? He's probably as close as you can get to mays-mantle-aaron status.

[julusnc]

You answered your own question friend.If it were not for the injuries he possibly could have edged his way into the top 10 but those days have since passed him by.

[Naliamegod]

I don't exactly see how a top 20-40 ranking is "low" when you consider that there probably isn't much of a dropoff from number 20 to 40

[leecemark]

--I'd say most have him ranked alot closer to 40 than 20, but thats still pretty impressive out of all the thousands wo have played the game. And all those thousands make up the elite few out of millions of us who would have loved to play baseball for a living.

[abacab]

Griffey was a spectacular player, truly elite, a once-in-a-lifetime talent.

But there is no logical way to justify putting him in the top 10 players of all time, or even top 20. You'd put him ahead of Stan Musial, Rogers Hornsby, Johnny Bench, Jimmie Foxx? There's just no way to do it. As great as Griffey was, those guys were on an even higher level.

[The Splendid Splinter]

If Griffey retired in 2000, after his first Reds season, he would've been in the top 10. That way he would've been like Koufax, retired at the top of his game. Koufax isn't top 10 caliber, but the talent Griffey had made him in the top 10. I believe I have Griffey at 33 or 34 on my all time list which is still great (with all those injury seasons).

[Yankees]

For the same reason that Garciaparra was traded by Boston... Too many injuries.

[Pghfan987]

But there is no logical way to justify putting him in the top 10 players of all time, or even top 20. You'd put him ahead of Stan Musial, Rogers Hornsby, Johnny Bench, Jimmie Foxx? There's just no way to do it. As great as Griffey was, those guys were on an even higher level.

I would say that Griffey played at at least the same level as all four of those mentioned. For ten years, Griffey was a GG CFer- a much better defender than all of those mentioned (except for Bench, who was not even in the same ballpark as Griffey offensively). Griffey has 500 homers- nothing to scoff at. If you counted just the best ten years of a player's career, Girffey is a top ten player, IMO.

The only thing keeping him out of the top 10/15 is longevity- nothing more, nothing less. I don't know how much his poor health should drop him on the list, but I would probably still rank him around #20. It's not like he had just 4 good years- he had 10.

Mark

[leecemark]

--Yeah he had 10, but others of similar talent have had 15 or more. For peak value you could argue Griffey was top 15 or so, but for career he is about 20 spots further back.

[RuthMayBond]

He's only at best the fifth best CF

[Appling]

I would say Griffey Jr. still has a chance to finish in the top 20 EVER -- if he somehow duplicates the career shift made by Barry Bonds after age 35. Otherwise -- no. Junior Griffey was great when he was younger but most of us remember best how you played in your final seasons.