He and Mike Piazza made amazing speeches. If you can find a video of it, watch it. That guy was THE man of the 90's... It was he and Micheal Jordan, really. Definitely my favorite player growing up, so it was beautiful to see.
FOR SURE. I lived around there at the time, and when he played for Bellingham, he was the ONLY topic of conversation....
Shame he fell off so quickly, due to injuries, after 30. His career numbers could have been off-the-charts ridiculous, instead of just the gleaming prime.
I'd love to know the 3 idiots who left him off their ballots. Their votes should be stripped. Going forward I'd like it to be transparent. That being said, they probably kept him off cause they thought he took steroids. His body broke down quickly, a la Tiger
Non steroid user, body deteriorated like a normal person. He did put up off the charts numbers though... 2781 Hits, 630 Home Runs, 1836 RBI... INSANE
It wasn't Mike Rice. He had a chance, and didn't do it to Curry. That would have been some funny shit-Dame gets a vote, from Rice..... Edit: Just ignore this post. I kinda rambled way off topic there.....
Most elite athletes don't fall off that quickly after 30. It wasn't just lack of steroids. But he did continue to hit reasonably well, it was just that his fielding dropped off a cliff, so I guess his numbers wouldn't have been tremendously different.
To be fair he started playing Major League ball when he was 19. He was 30 after 11 seasons of pro baseball, it makes sense his production took a dip.
Most players are playing baseball from 18 on, just in college or the minor leagues. I'm not sure that major league ball is more damaging to the body, since it's not a contact sport, like football or even basketball, where you could say slamming into much bigger, stronger guys would wear you out. I think he just had some unfortunate injuries that sapped his mobility.
There's a pretty big difference between college/minor leagues. Mainly games played. Also, KGJr played in the 90s, sports medicine/training/surgery has greatly improved since he entered the league 26 years ago. Injuries are so unfortunate :/
Get this: He still put up those ridiculous numbers, while missing 482 games. He was still the greatest player of our generation DESPITE his injuries.... that's insane.
Think if he came in to the league now, he'd make Trout and Harper look like high school kids statistically.
His body broke down quickly because of injuries, not steroids. So if that is INDEED the case (Although he should have been left off of no ballots period, I do agree there 100%) then they are just flat out wrong. I do believe he was never suspicious of ever taking steroids. On that same note, if he WAS ever suspicious of taking steroids, a few more people would have left him off, like they do all the others who are suspected.
They had a really good discussion on the M's pregame on the radio: How would Jr take the "media" these days? It was well known he was guarded of the media off the field, but always knew of his "celebrity" (Though he didn't really want that). With the advent of social media, you wonder how he would have handled it. Mike Blowers said he always wanted to go to lunch with the guys, but stayed in his hotel room a lot because he knew the ramifications of him being out in the public eye.
Loved when he put on his hat backward and everybody cheered. So glad he went in a Mariner. I'm sure it will be great when Ichiro goes in an M. Can you believe that franchise mad probably the two greatest talents of their generation? I honestly hope Portland gets a team of some kind again. Those lazy days of summer aren't right without flat beer and yelling, "Swing battta!"
Yeah dude... the best part is he NEVER alluded to the fact he was ever going to don the hat. That was freaking awesome. I was like "Uhh, griff, what you grabbin down there... OH SNAP!" haha. Yeah, I listen to Hillsboro Hops games and cheer for them because they are the baseball team here. But, man, how awesome would it be to have MLB baseball here. May never happen though. regardless though!
