Junior
Junior
just saying fond adieu to one of the players I believe was on my 1st roto team back in '89. Sometime in the early 90's I "invested" in couple of autographed Griffey Jr candy bars. Gave one away, ate one(lost the wrapper) and kept the last one in a freezer for a long long time. It bounced from freezer to freezer until the Great on Vacation when the Fridge Died with Clams in it Calamity of '05 claimed all fridge/freezer items.
I think. Maybe just maybe it's behind the Klondike bars.
-
Navel Lint
- Posts: 1723
- Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:00 pm
- Contact:
Junior
I had Griffey on my team for several years in the mid-late 90's.
I used to wear a shirt that I had made to our league draft. It had our team name on the front and
"It's never iffy when you have Griffey" on the back
That was a line they used in an ESPN SportsCenter ad.
First ballot lock for the Hall
I used to wear a shirt that I had made to our league draft. It had our team name on the front and
"It's never iffy when you have Griffey" on the back
That was a line they used in an ESPN SportsCenter ad.
First ballot lock for the Hall
Russel -Navel Lint
"Fans don't boo nobodies"
-Reggie Jackson
"Fans don't boo nobodies"
-Reggie Jackson
Junior
Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Griffey was a natural.
630 Is a nice even number.
Fourth on the all-time home run list, NCIS* players
* Not Counting Injecting Steroids I wonder if you know the top ten players on the list well enough to make that claim. As far as I'm concerned, the only "clean" player was Babe Ruth who has his own problems.
Griffey was a natural.
630 Is a nice even number.
Fourth on the all-time home run list, NCIS* players
* Not Counting Injecting Steroids I wonder if you know the top ten players on the list well enough to make that claim. As far as I'm concerned, the only "clean" player was Babe Ruth who has his own problems.
Junior
Originally posted by whipsaw:
quote:Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Griffey was a natural.
630 Is a nice even number.
Fourth on the all-time home run list, NCIS* players
* Not Counting Injecting Steroids I wonder if you know the top ten players on the list well enough to make that claim. As far as I'm concerned, the only "clean" player was Babe Ruth who has his own problems. [/QUOTE]Out of curiosity, how was Willie Mays not "clean"?
quote:Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Griffey was a natural.
630 Is a nice even number.
Fourth on the all-time home run list, NCIS* players
* Not Counting Injecting Steroids I wonder if you know the top ten players on the list well enough to make that claim. As far as I'm concerned, the only "clean" player was Babe Ruth who has his own problems. [/QUOTE]Out of curiosity, how was Willie Mays not "clean"?
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Junior
Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
quote:Originally posted by whipsaw:
quote:Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Griffey was a natural.
630 Is a nice even number.
Fourth on the all-time home run list, NCIS* players
* Not Counting Injecting Steroids I wonder if you know the top ten players on the list well enough to make that claim. As far as I'm concerned, the only "clean" player was Babe Ruth who has his own problems. [/QUOTE]Out of curiosity, how was Willie Mays not "clean"? [/QUOTE]I suspect he probably was, but to make a definitive list of who is clean and who isn't is dangerous ground. Steroids have been around since the 30's. Cheating to get ahead in competitive endeavors has been around for centuries.
quote:Originally posted by whipsaw:
quote:Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Griffey was a natural.
630 Is a nice even number.
Fourth on the all-time home run list, NCIS* players
* Not Counting Injecting Steroids I wonder if you know the top ten players on the list well enough to make that claim. As far as I'm concerned, the only "clean" player was Babe Ruth who has his own problems. [/QUOTE]Out of curiosity, how was Willie Mays not "clean"? [/QUOTE]I suspect he probably was, but to make a definitive list of who is clean and who isn't is dangerous ground. Steroids have been around since the 30's. Cheating to get ahead in competitive endeavors has been around for centuries.
Junior
Not dangerous ground at all.
This is a Message Board, chockfull of different opinions.
The steroid era has been established. It is doubtful that players before then used steroids. But, I digress, simply because we are going nowhere, and it is just two different opinions.
Speaking of Mays, after he hit his 500th home run in the Astrodome, the clubhouse manager for the Giants went out to the stands with a new ball to exchange for the home run.
The lady who caught the ball refused the deal, but gave him her phone number and told him that if Mays called her, Mays would be given the ball.
Mays never called.
After hitting his 512th home run, giving him the National League home run record, his Manager at the time, Herman Franks bought the baseball from the fan for $50. Asked if he wanted the ball, Mays replied, "No, just another thing to dust at home."
This is a Message Board, chockfull of different opinions.
The steroid era has been established. It is doubtful that players before then used steroids. But, I digress, simply because we are going nowhere, and it is just two different opinions.
Speaking of Mays, after he hit his 500th home run in the Astrodome, the clubhouse manager for the Giants went out to the stands with a new ball to exchange for the home run.
The lady who caught the ball refused the deal, but gave him her phone number and told him that if Mays called her, Mays would be given the ball.
Mays never called.
After hitting his 512th home run, giving him the National League home run record, his Manager at the time, Herman Franks bought the baseball from the fan for $50. Asked if he wanted the ball, Mays replied, "No, just another thing to dust at home."
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Junior
Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Not dangerous ground at all.
This is a Message Board, chockfull of different opinions.
The steroid era has been established. It is doubtful that players before then used steroids. But, I digress, simply because we are going nowhere, and it is just two different opinions.
Speaking of Mays, after he hit his 500th home run in the Astrodome, the clubhouse manager for the Giants went out to the stands with a new ball to exchange for the home run.
The lady who caught the ball refused the deal, but gave him her phone number and told him that if Mays called her, Mays would be given the ball.
Mays never called.
After hitting his 512th home run, giving him the National League home run record, his Manager at the time, Herman Franks bought the baseball from the fan for $50. Asked if he wanted the ball, Mays replied, "No, just another thing to dust at home." And thus why I asked how many of the top home run hitters you knew. I was simply establishing that your opinion was baseless, as you now confirm. Carry on with your opinions.
Good stories about Mays, sounds like a jerk.
Not dangerous ground at all.
This is a Message Board, chockfull of different opinions.
The steroid era has been established. It is doubtful that players before then used steroids. But, I digress, simply because we are going nowhere, and it is just two different opinions.
Speaking of Mays, after he hit his 500th home run in the Astrodome, the clubhouse manager for the Giants went out to the stands with a new ball to exchange for the home run.
The lady who caught the ball refused the deal, but gave him her phone number and told him that if Mays called her, Mays would be given the ball.
Mays never called.
After hitting his 512th home run, giving him the National League home run record, his Manager at the time, Herman Franks bought the baseball from the fan for $50. Asked if he wanted the ball, Mays replied, "No, just another thing to dust at home." And thus why I asked how many of the top home run hitters you knew. I was simply establishing that your opinion was baseless, as you now confirm. Carry on with your opinions.
Good stories about Mays, sounds like a jerk.
Junior
The point of the Mays stories was not to portray him as a "jerk".
Times have changed. Some players at the time, thought a ball was a ball, whether it be a 500th home run ball or a warmup ball.
Times have changed. Some players at the time, thought a ball was a ball, whether it be a 500th home run ball or a warmup ball.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Junior
Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
To only offer an opinion based on "knowing" the subjects would make most opinions baseless, no? Having some basis for an opinion makes it stronger, no? It's the difference between opinion and wild speculation. You offered the NCIS list as though it were established fact, a bold statement considering you do not appear to have any basis for the conclusion other than wild speculation.
The facts are that steroids were invented in the 30's, established to be rampant in the NFL from the 60's onward based on statements by players who played then, and hypercompetitive people have cut corners to get ahead for ages. I'm not sure why all of those factors point to it being unlikely that the baseball stars of those decades could have possibly used steroids at a time when testing was nonexistent. There's nothing more honorable about people who lived the prime of their lives in the 60's and 70's than in the 90's and 00's. I have no idea if they were clean or not, I have no basis on which to make an opinion one way or another. All I can do is count the home runs.
P.S. thanks for the PM, I tried to message you back but your box is full.
To only offer an opinion based on "knowing" the subjects would make most opinions baseless, no? Having some basis for an opinion makes it stronger, no? It's the difference between opinion and wild speculation. You offered the NCIS list as though it were established fact, a bold statement considering you do not appear to have any basis for the conclusion other than wild speculation.
The facts are that steroids were invented in the 30's, established to be rampant in the NFL from the 60's onward based on statements by players who played then, and hypercompetitive people have cut corners to get ahead for ages. I'm not sure why all of those factors point to it being unlikely that the baseball stars of those decades could have possibly used steroids at a time when testing was nonexistent. There's nothing more honorable about people who lived the prime of their lives in the 60's and 70's than in the 90's and 00's. I have no idea if they were clean or not, I have no basis on which to make an opinion one way or another. All I can do is count the home runs.
P.S. thanks for the PM, I tried to message you back but your box is full.
-
Greg Ambrosius
- Posts: 41152
- Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:00 pm
- Contact:
Junior
To see Griffey today after seeing him as "The Kid" in 1989 is a shame, but it reminds you of the way great ballplayers used to lose their skills before steroids. Ballplayers hit the wall in their late 30s, unlike what we saw from the players during the Steroid Era who got better with age. You don't normally get better with age as you approach 40 and Griffey is living proof of that.
Speaking of Griffey, he basically built an upstart trading card company in Upper Deck and made them into the biggest company in the industry. The first card in Upper Deck's first licensed set was the 1989 Griffey rookie card, an air-brushed beauty of a photo that showed him as a Mariner before he became a Mariner. That card quickly became THE CARD to get in the baseball card market and it shot up to $125 in a few years. Upper Deck created a beautiful card set that year, but without the Griffey rookie card it never would have been as popular as it became.
Griffey later became a spokesman for Upper Deck and was one of their exclusive athletes with Upper Deck Authenticated. In all the years that Upper Deck set up interviews for us hobby journalists, I never got a chance to interview or meet Griffey. The only time I talked with him was in spring training one year in Scottsdale when I was shooting photos during batting practice while wearing an Upper Deck hat. Griffey was in the outfield talking to Barry Bonds and I focused on them with a 500 mm zoom lens, which meant I was a good 90 feet away.
The Kid got agitated at me for some reason and hollered over to tell me to stop shooting him. I did, but then focused back on him a short time later when he was walking to the cage with Bonds nearby. He hollered at me again and walked over to me, saying that he wanted me to stop shooting him. It seemed weird and so I decided to lie, telling him "I'm with Upper Deck", hoping that would calm him down. Instead, I could tell that was the focus of his anger as he hollered back, "bag that s**t, m****r f****r, they still owe me some money!!"
He walked away and that was the last we ever talked. The Kid is still the best, but when he makes Bonds look like an angel then you know he could be as surly as he could be The Natural. 
Speaking of Griffey, he basically built an upstart trading card company in Upper Deck and made them into the biggest company in the industry. The first card in Upper Deck's first licensed set was the 1989 Griffey rookie card, an air-brushed beauty of a photo that showed him as a Mariner before he became a Mariner. That card quickly became THE CARD to get in the baseball card market and it shot up to $125 in a few years. Upper Deck created a beautiful card set that year, but without the Griffey rookie card it never would have been as popular as it became.
Griffey later became a spokesman for Upper Deck and was one of their exclusive athletes with Upper Deck Authenticated. In all the years that Upper Deck set up interviews for us hobby journalists, I never got a chance to interview or meet Griffey. The only time I talked with him was in spring training one year in Scottsdale when I was shooting photos during batting practice while wearing an Upper Deck hat. Griffey was in the outfield talking to Barry Bonds and I focused on them with a 500 mm zoom lens, which meant I was a good 90 feet away.
The Kid got agitated at me for some reason and hollered over to tell me to stop shooting him. I did, but then focused back on him a short time later when he was walking to the cage with Bonds nearby. He hollered at me again and walked over to me, saying that he wanted me to stop shooting him. It seemed weird and so I decided to lie, telling him "I'm with Upper Deck", hoping that would calm him down. Instead, I could tell that was the focus of his anger as he hollered back, "bag that s**t, m****r f****r, they still owe me some money!!"
He walked away and that was the last we ever talked.
The Kid is still the best, but when he makes Bonds look like an angel then you know he could be as surly as he could be The Natural. Greg Ambrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius
-
Scott Boras
- Posts: 422
- Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:00 pm
Junior
Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Griffey was a natural.
630 Is a nice even number.
Fourth on the all-time home run list, NCIS* players
* Not Counting Injecting Steroids Whew, this is bold. He SEEMS like a natural, and everyone including myself wants to believe he was clean, but... As history stands, his prime and greatest years took place in the late 90's when EVERYone was guilty as sin. I have a really hard time believing he was clean while Mcgwire, Sosa, Bonds, and several others were putting up similar numbers at the exact same time. Another guy with Griffey's slim build possessing otherworldly natural talent happened to be a teammate of Griffeys and we now KNOW he was/is a juicer.
How many players in history hit 56 or more home runs in back to back seasons before the 90's? How many have hit that many since the Mitchell Report was released?
Like Bonds, I believe he was a hall of fame player without the juice but it's gonna take more than an innocent smile and a beautiful swing to convince me he belongs in any NCIS designated categories. The problem with our perceptions of Griffey is that he became such a part of our pop culture between Nintendo games, Pizza Hut commercials, Nike ads, the 90's baseball card explosion, and an affable persona that it's difficult to be objective. "The Kid" HAS to be clean, right? Right???
Griffey was a natural.
630 Is a nice even number.
Fourth on the all-time home run list, NCIS* players
* Not Counting Injecting Steroids Whew, this is bold. He SEEMS like a natural, and everyone including myself wants to believe he was clean, but... As history stands, his prime and greatest years took place in the late 90's when EVERYone was guilty as sin. I have a really hard time believing he was clean while Mcgwire, Sosa, Bonds, and several others were putting up similar numbers at the exact same time. Another guy with Griffey's slim build possessing otherworldly natural talent happened to be a teammate of Griffeys and we now KNOW he was/is a juicer.
How many players in history hit 56 or more home runs in back to back seasons before the 90's? How many have hit that many since the Mitchell Report was released?
Like Bonds, I believe he was a hall of fame player without the juice but it's gonna take more than an innocent smile and a beautiful swing to convince me he belongs in any NCIS designated categories. The problem with our perceptions of Griffey is that he became such a part of our pop culture between Nintendo games, Pizza Hut commercials, Nike ads, the 90's baseball card explosion, and an affable persona that it's difficult to be objective. "The Kid" HAS to be clean, right? Right???