If you watched baseball from 1990 through the early 2000s, there’s a good chance Ken Griffey Jr. was among your favorite players.
The Hall of Famer’s combination of electric skill, both on offense and defense, along with his charisma, swagger and joy while playing the game made him an easy player to love.
Griffey finished his career with 630 home runs while hitting .284/.370./538 and accumulating 77.7 career WAR. He won the 1997 American League MVP award, 10 Gold Glove Awards, seven Silver Slugger awards, was named to 13 All-Star teams and is a three-time Home Run Derby champion.
During his playing career, Griffey also became the role model for another left-handed-hitting outfielder, former Los Angeles Dodgers star Andre Ethier, who had high praise for his role model via the team’s official YouTube channel:
“My role model growing up: Ken Griffey Jr. Easy. Stamp it. For anyone out there who doesn’t know Ken Griffey Jr., doesn’t know what he’s about, just Google him, YouTube him, look up his highlights. I think there still hasn’t been a player since he’s been around that played the caliber of outfield and offensive production he put up for so many years. I’m confident saying that.”
While Ethier never reached the level Griffey did — of course not many players have — he did have a very good career with a six-year peak where he was named to two All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.
Both outfielders were also praised for their sweet swings, with Griffey widely considered as having the best left-handed swing of all-time.
Bellinger admired Griffey
Griffey has also earned praise from another Dodgers outfielder as Cody Bellinger recently named him as someone he would love to talk about hitting with.
Bellinger said it would be “pretty sweet” and “crazy” to hear Griffey talk about hitting and walk through his thought process.
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