Born and bred Seattle native here. I've watched Griffey play many many times. Let me tell you... It was a thing of beauty watching him play. And witnessing It was unreal. The homers, highlight reel catches, running the bases, etc. Nothing topped a sports event and sharing awesome times with my dad than seeing Junior.
I Still Remember Edgar Winning The Batting Title In 1995 With An .356 Average With 29 Home Runs And 115 RBI For The Life Of Me I Don't Freaking Know How Edgar Won It If He Was A DH
+TheCoreContingency i always thought Paul O'Neil had a beauty of a swing. Maybe not as effortless as the above mentioned, but it was smooth as hell lol
People seem to forget, he was also in that homerun race with Sosa and McGuire. He has never been caught or accused of PED use. Great class and talent. After Reggie Jackson, Strawberry, he was my idol. Best fielder since Willie Mays. Greatest swing ever seen, It looked as if he was back handing a tennis racquet.
@@jmart1393 That's how he generated his power; all in the legs. The difference between him and the roided up guys is that he's only 25 years old here, in his prime. McGwire and Bonds got huge and started hitting ridiculous amounts of HRs in their late 30's, when they should have been declining. Griffey was in the HR race of 98 for a while, but he eventually slowed down as virtually all before him had. He also declined in his 30's which was typical for players before steroids came into the picture.
Not Sosa, Not McGwire, Not Bonds....Griffey was the best HR hitter in the 90s and he just had the sweetest swing ever. I remember playing Ken Griffey Jr Baseball on Nintendo 64.
The pitch on the second home run was in about as good of a place as you could throw it to Griffey: on the outside part of the plate for a strike, and he still pulled it with that much power. What a player.
If griffey didn't spend more time on the IR rather than on the baseball diamond his final 10 years, he would've destroyed 714 homeruns. My favorite player and arguably the greatest of all time.
Such a shame that he played in so few playoff games in his career - one of the sweetest swings in MLB history and a fabulous CF. But never really got to show it on the biggest stages - for a lot of people the only times they really saw him was on highlight shows. That's why I think he remains under-appreciated to this day.
Greatest ever I came before Cuba in 1994 I was 3 I started playing baseball at 5 and ever since I watched him play for the first time he became my favorite player. Countless of times I would copy that stance
Did anyone else just HAVE to have his 1989 Upper Deck rookie baseball card back then? When I was a kid there was nothing more exciting that getting a Ken Griffey Jr baseball card in a pack of cards. That 89 upper deck card was my crown jewel. Great times
I had his fleer rookie card. The pack was covered in plastic so you can see the first card. It was Ken Griffey Jr. I was a real little kid at the time and new nothing about him but I remember my older brother talking about him. I said oh shit to myself and I'm getting this shit. Pissed me off years later when I'm about eleven years old and my brother is about 16 but less mature. So he takes the card to school to show it off and put a little crease mark on it. It must of went from great or mint condition to just good.
Baseball (and sports in general) was awesome in the 90s. Griffey was a legit celebrity. So many awesome players in the 90s - Griffey, Randy Johnson, Nomar, A-Rod, Jeter, etc. Awesome players and personalities.
He was almost as big as Jordan in the 90's. Has his own shoes and was on cover of wheaties. That's 1 player that i cheered hard to come back from injuries.
Wow...just wow. I swear to god that first homerun looked EFFORTLESS i mean come on GRIFF at least make it look hard!! Lol this man is a LEGEND loved watching him growing up. never been a mariners fan but when he was up at bat it was always MUST SEE TV lol oh yea...HE WAS ALSO A BEAST IN THE OUTFIELD!! PPL forget howw good this guys defense was also
Not sure about that, but it's hard to find people that weren't impressed with him. Definitely a fan favorite among non-fans. I think my favorite batter was Tony Gwynn though.
Ronnie Cathcart well a year later after your original comment and he has was inducted with the highest rate of approval in history 99.3% I'd say that solidifies his status as one of the greatest!!
Ronnie Cathcart I was lucky enough to make the trip from Seattle to Cooperstown in the summer of 2016 to attend Junior’s (and Piazza’s) induction ceremony. Honestly, as pathetic as it sounds, I wept like a baby the entire ceremony. Now we just need Edgar to get in.
i live in ny and am a fan of the A'S, so my baseball biased is simply i love the sport...ken griffey jr is still to this day , in my eyes, the greatest player, he is what bryce harper wants to be but bryce wont last as long.
Swing so sweet you can get diabetes watching it. My idol as a kid and still my idol to this day. I’m 36 now. Just bought me a fresh Griffey Jersey last week. Still got my 1996 Griffey jersey to.
The swing on the first homer was just...wow. He made it look so effortless. AND he did it clean. The same can't be said for many other sluggers during that era, unfortunately.
Living in Seattle, with a girlfriend who had awesome tickets through her work at a PR firm, I got to see M's and Griffey at their best, a lot. He made it look easy at that time. Most impressive, he had a totally normal career arc. He got hurt, he got older, he declined. There was no late career resurgence except when he came back to the M's. And even then, it was just that first season. No cloud of PED hangs over his head.
I was at his first game returning to play for the Mariners at the end of his career. I remember getting goosebumps getting to hear his name on the PA as he came to the plate. I also remember thinking I would be happy even just to see him swing striking out, just so long as I got to see him swing at all.
Don't get me wrong I love ruth from what I've seen but I've never seen him actually play. Growing up in Washington I had the pleasure to watch him every night. His hitting AND fielding were a thing of beauty.
I didn't realize how lucky I was. I got to watch a lot of Mariner games from 89 to 2004. We had Omar Visquel, Randy Johnson, Jr., Edgar, Arod, Ichiro and Jamie Moyer. That is 5 HOF players and two almost HOFamers. I add Ichiro even though he's not in yet, but I'm sure he will be. The heart of the Mariner batting order was Griffey with his sweet fluid swing followed by one of the best right hand hitters in Edgar, then Buhner and Tino Martinez. Since about 2004 outside of King Felix...its been zip. Sure miss that 95 team.
Such a shame he did not get a unanimous vote for the Hall of Fame. One of the most greatest and most classiest players the game has ever seen. Shame on those two people who did not vote for him for the Hall of Fame.
Bluejays fan here: This Mariners team was absolutely freaking STACKED. I remember watching this team as a kid and it was just a joy to watch them. Its a shame they couldn't win a World Series with this group. And, oh that swing. KGJ...smh
ken griffey jr has the most swag after hitting a home run! like pujols looks angry, trout looks like he expected it, Ortiz is in awe of his HR, but griffey...griffey (with that one arm bat drop) makes me want to hit a home run and it is just so smooth that is what I call swag.
He broke in when I was in junior high. We all knew his dad and thought maybe the kid will be good too. We had no idea! Sweetest left handed swing in my lifetime. I know Williams had a great one, but I never saw him play. Watching this clip it almost looks like he took half a swing at the first one, but it hit the upper deck.
Griffey just dominated in the 1995 ALDS. His slash line in this series was .391 / .444 / 1.043, good for a 1.488 OPS. He had 5 home runs in only 23 at bats.
Sadly on one hand, he suffered from few injuries throu out his career. Just thinking if he stayed completely healthy he would've been the HR👑King, 3,000 hits club, 15-18 gold gloves, & the face of baseball for longer time! Still, is amazing to think he still had an amazing career. Scary!!
***** Agreed, for people who remember this era Ken Griffey was the MJ of baseball, the best defensive skills and bat swing. Now everyone talks about barry bonds and others, but they don't even come close to Griffey in his prime without using roids!
tburrin1 Bonds was great but given n his steroids use and Griffey doing it natural I'd give it to griffey. If he stayed healthy he would of hit more homeruns than bonds and bonds was a cheater. He was better defensively also
Cool story about this game: obviously Junior’s first playoff game but it was also the first time he wore the Air Griffey Max. Nike mocked up a pair and only intended to show Griffey what his cleats would look like but he liked them so much he told them he HAD to play in them. Legendary.
Most talented between Griffey, Mays, Mantle and Williams is a great discussion. It's hard to imagine the numbers Williams puts up without those four years in Korea, assuming he stays healthy of course.
Mays and Griffey. It's really hard to say. I grew up with Griffey. Full disclosure, I've lived in Washington my whole life. He was our guy. I don't really remember Bonds before 94/95 era and obviously I never saw Mantle or Aaron. From what I've read, Clemente is also a conversation of the most physically gifted players ever. And Bo Jackson should probably be there too.
***** What a great post. I don't know why I got the email about it just now. Discipline seems to be more of a valued skill now than it did then. Great point on the Negro Leagues. Josh Gibson just might have been the greatest power hitter ever. It's a shame most of the stuff about him is anecdotal, at least that I've read. I'd compare Vlad Guerrero to Sheffield in that context. I used the baseball reference compare tool and they line up pretty well. Sheff had better power numbers and discipline, but Vlad seemed to make more contact. Offensive numbers are very similar overall though. I remember Sheff for his wrists and how quick his hands were.
That swing is nothing short of Poetry in Motion.
Well said
The sweetest swing in baseball.
Actually both swings sucked! The follow through was bad! Didn't keep both hands on the bat! Lazy swing looking swing on the first one
Absolutely
@@ddm62571 Lol. Stop, stick to softball bud.
Before the injuries started taking their toll, The Kid was just an absolute joy to watch. One of the sweetest swings I’ve ever seen.
I grew up watching ken griffey. he was my hero being from Seattle. even had the griffey shoes in 4th grade. ill be 26 next month...
Fav player of all time.
You know you can buy some Retro Griffeys at select shoe stores...perhaps the ones when you were 4. I need to get myself a pair
me too
Born and bred Seattle native here. I've watched Griffey play many many times. Let me tell you... It was a thing of beauty watching him play. And witnessing It was unreal. The homers, highlight reel catches, running the bases, etc. Nothing topped a sports event and sharing awesome times with my dad than seeing Junior.
that 2nd pitch was away, maybe off the plate, and he still pulled it to left
The sweetest swing of all time imo. Still my favourite ball player of all time followed closely by Ichiro.
Agreed. Effortless power!
Most graceful power hitter ever is what I call him
Mariner fan too?
I Still Remember Edgar Winning The Batting Title In 1995 With An .356 Average With 29 Home Runs And 115 RBI For The Life Of Me I Don't Freaking Know How Edgar Won It If He Was A DH
@@futuregohan4837 Still stings to this day.
Sweetest swing of all time
Such a smooth, effortless swing.
Griffey and Chipper had the most beautiful swings. Made me jealous.
Agree. And as I mentioned on another vid, Piazza also had an effortless swing. You'll notice both Jr. and Piazza had no leg kick in their swings.
+TheCoreContingency i always thought Paul O'Neil had a beauty of a swing. Maybe not as effortless as the above mentioned, but it was smooth as hell lol
@@brianb7423 Paul O'Neill wasn't a homerun hitter, though
@@imaratspal he still had a real nice swing, but yeah not really a big time home run hitter
Simply the greatest player of his era
You're on more roid juice than he was. Come on.
Which era exactly. He played a while lol
greatest player ever
@@_KingofKingss the 90s for sure.
Love him but Bonds still!
No roids with Jr. All natural
Prove it !!
Callisto 405 You're a troll
Funny how he went from a 18-20 home run swing to suddenly hitting 56 if you ask me. Juiced.
OroborusFMA yr before 56 he had 49....
OroborusFMA Prove that griffey used PEDs
People seem to forget, he was also in that homerun race with Sosa and McGuire.
He has never been caught or accused of PED use. Great class and talent. After Reggie Jackson, Strawberry, he was my idol. Best fielder since Willie Mays. Greatest swing ever seen, It looked as if he was back handing a tennis racquet.
Doesn't mean he wasn't on PED's. Look at his lower half in this video. He was huge
Strawberry loved cocaine
@@jmart1393 That's how he generated his power; all in the legs. The difference between him and the roided up guys is that he's only 25 years old here, in his prime. McGwire and Bonds got huge and started hitting ridiculous amounts of HRs in their late 30's, when they should have been declining. Griffey was in the HR race of 98 for a while, but he eventually slowed down as virtually all before him had. He also declined in his 30's which was typical for players before steroids came into the picture.
Chris B Jesus Christ wonder if you’re black lolol
I'd say it's unlikely he didn't juice... He's still an absolute beast though
Not Sosa, Not McGwire, Not Bonds....Griffey was the best HR hitter in the 90s and he just had the sweetest swing ever. I remember playing Ken Griffey Jr Baseball on Nintendo 64.
The pitch on the second home run was in about as good of a place as you could throw it to Griffey: on the outside part of the plate for a strike, and he still pulled it with that much power. What a player.
Griffey made it look easy to hit a ball off the facade of the upper deck.
PROCTOR Here in Seattle, we called him The Yankee Killer :) You guys always got the last laugh, after ‘95, though.
He’s the Fred Couples of baseball.
If griffey didn't spend more time on the IR rather than on the baseball diamond his final 10 years, he would've destroyed 714 homeruns. My favorite player and arguably the greatest of all time.
So smooth. The ball just keeps going. He was a pleasure to watch, again. Was fun to watch. Great video
Best swing in all of baseball history. Hands down!
Such a shame that he played in so few playoff games in his career - one of the sweetest swings in MLB history and a fabulous CF. But never really got to show it on the biggest stages - for a lot of people the only times they really saw him was on highlight shows. That's why I think he remains under-appreciated to this day.
walterlv01 well said! And I couldn’t agree more!
He should’ve signed with a playoff contender instead of the Reds 🤷♂️
Greatest ever I came before Cuba in 1994 I was 3 I started playing baseball at 5 and ever since I watched him play for the first time he became my favorite player. Countless of times I would copy that stance
Damn near perfect swing!!!
Did anyone else just HAVE to have his 1989 Upper Deck rookie baseball card back then? When I was a kid there was nothing more exciting that getting a Ken Griffey Jr baseball card in a pack of cards. That 89 upper deck card was my crown jewel. Great times
Much props to your post! I had one of his Upper Deck rookies and I absolutely worshipped it. Good times, good times!
I had his fleer rookie card. The pack was covered in plastic so you can see the first card. It was Ken Griffey Jr. I was a real little kid at the time and new nothing about him but I remember my older brother talking about him. I said oh shit to myself and I'm getting this shit. Pissed me off years later when I'm about eleven years old and my brother is about 16 but less mature. So he takes the card to school to show it off and put a little crease mark on it. It must of went from great or mint condition to just good.
+TheCodedtestament Fleer 1990 for me unfortunately, still love that card
No, but I did have all of his early Starting Lineup figures. I'm sure my mom still has them in a box somewhere in her basement (aka, my home)
I Had A Undertaker WWF Rookie Card In 1990 And Undertaker's 1995 Topps Card Depicting Taker With Purple Gloves
Baseball (and sports in general) was awesome in the 90s. Griffey was a legit celebrity. So many awesome players in the 90s - Griffey, Randy Johnson, Nomar, A-Rod, Jeter, etc. Awesome players and personalities.
He was almost as big as Jordan in the 90's. Has his own shoes and was on cover of wheaties. That's 1 player that i cheered hard to come back from injuries.
When my boy gets a little older and can understand a swing, I'm showing him #24, the sweetest thing ever!!!
How'd it turn out? Is he a lefty?
@@Shootskas he’s a righty but he’s got a very fluid swing. I showed my son the Skydome home run a week ago or so and he goes “Wow!”
@@Hanson586 my son is seven now and he's getting a bit better. Still has a terrible swing though...lol.
Wow...just wow. I swear to god that first homerun looked EFFORTLESS i mean come on GRIFF at least make it look hard!! Lol this man is a LEGEND loved watching him growing up. never been a mariners fan but when he was up at bat it was always MUST SEE TV lol oh yea...HE WAS ALSO A BEAST IN THE OUTFIELD!! PPL forget howw good this guys defense was also
Yea that's why he's ONE of the best ever lol I really miss watching him play
Stole 30 bases a year his first 5 years also. Fast
“Make it look hard” what she said.
Best to ever do it
Not sure about that, but it's hard to find people that weren't impressed with him. Definitely a fan favorite among non-fans. I think my favorite batter was Tony Gwynn though.
Looking forward to Griffey being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016 and his speech....man I miss that dude's swing and his play
HE is for sure ALL~TIME Top 5 players in HISTORY!!
Please he wasn't even top five of his own era.
Ronnie Cathcart well a year later after your original comment and he has was inducted with the highest rate of approval in history 99.3% I'd say that solidifies his status as one of the greatest!!
Ronnie Cathcart I was lucky enough to make the trip from Seattle to Cooperstown in the summer of 2016 to attend Junior’s (and Piazza’s) induction ceremony. Honestly, as pathetic as it sounds, I wept like a baby the entire ceremony. Now we just need Edgar to get in.
He was and will always be the best!
The most beautiful, effortless swing I've ever seen. Junior was a treasure to a kid growing up in Washington in the 90s.
Junior on the Mariners and Kemp on the Sonics..........what a time time!!!
Sweetest swing I ever saw. In my eyes, the best hitter ever
in my opinion and many professionals opinions, Jr is the greatest to ever play, if not for the untimely injuries he wouldve been the true homerun king
agreed
easily look how much time he missed
Like when he broke his wrist beast mode catchin it full speed and hits the wall. He is one of the best ever.
i live in ny and am a fan of the A'S, so my baseball biased is simply i love the sport...ken griffey jr is still to this day , in my eyes, the greatest player, he is what bryce harper wants to be but bryce wont last as long.
That first swing was so smooth and effortless and just blasted it. What a great player.
I never liked baseball but I always loved Griffey Jr and No,an Ryan. I remember getting the Griffey Nike’s back in ‘96.
Great calls by the great Gary Thorne..Griffey is my favorite
My favorite gary thorne call is when ray bourque won the stanley cup. He has his share of legendary calls for sure.
The sweetest swing & those Griffey Nikes are still legendary.
Awesome, exciting player! My all-time fave. Much love, KGJr!!
Swing so sweet you can get diabetes watching it. My idol as a kid and still my idol to this day. I’m 36 now. Just bought me a fresh Griffey Jersey last week. Still got my 1996 Griffey jersey to.
I could watch that swing all day it’s so beautiful.
The swing on the first homer was just...wow. He made it look so effortless. AND he did it clean. The same can't be said for many other sluggers during that era, unfortunately.
Uh Jim Thome Anyone?
Living in Seattle, with a girlfriend who had awesome tickets through her work at a PR firm, I got to see M's and Griffey at their best, a lot. He made it look easy at that time. Most impressive, he had a totally normal career arc. He got hurt, he got older, he declined. There was no late career resurgence except when he came back to the M's. And even then, it was just that first season. No cloud of PED hangs over his head.
That's The Problem With Griffey He Can't Stay Healthy
That's what made Griffey great. Everyone else was using HGH or whatever to recover from injuries but Griffey didn't.
Pitching him outside and he still manages to fully extend and take advantage of that short porch to left. Jr definitely one of the greats for sure.
I was at his first game returning to play for the Mariners at the end of his career.
I remember getting goosebumps getting to hear his name on the PA as he came to the plate.
I also remember thinking I would be happy even just to see him swing striking out, just so long as I got to see him swing at all.
Congrats KGJ on the HOF induction. One of the most fun players ever to watch and my god that swing of his was perfect.
Top 5 All-time in MLB Outfield.
I miss the 90’s
Smoothest swing of the 90's. It was always beautiful to watch.
So effortless. Amazing
Don't get me wrong I love ruth from what I've seen but I've never seen him actually play. Growing up in Washington I had the pleasure to watch him every night. His hitting AND fielding were a thing of beauty.
One of the most iconic superstars in any sport. Looked so badass in those mariner unis.
I didn't realize how lucky I was. I got to watch a lot of Mariner games from 89 to 2004. We had Omar Visquel, Randy Johnson, Jr., Edgar, Arod, Ichiro and Jamie Moyer. That is 5 HOF players and two almost HOFamers. I add Ichiro even though he's not in yet, but I'm sure he will be. The heart of the Mariner batting order was Griffey with his sweet fluid swing followed by one of the best right hand hitters in Edgar, then Buhner and Tino Martinez. Since about 2004 outside of King Felix...its been zip. Sure miss that 95 team.
That swing never gets old.
My oh My !
Best player I've ever seen.
+MrTedMcForehead fallacy
I could watch his swing all day
his HR's are like shawn kemp dunks. seattle had it good even though they didn;t win championships. these two were fun to watch.
Frank Thomas and Griffey. Great hitters and class players.
Best baseball player of the 1990’s for sure.
Such a shame he did not get a unanimous vote for the Hall of Fame. One of the most greatest and most classiest players the game has ever seen. Shame on those two people who did not vote for him for the Hall of Fame.
What a sweet swing. He made it look effortless and easy.
Best swing EVER‼️
Bluejays fan here: This Mariners team was absolutely freaking STACKED. I remember watching this team as a kid and it was just a joy to watch them. Its a shame they couldn't win a World Series with this group. And, oh that swing. KGJ...smh
With no injuries he would have the most homers. And tremendous outfielder. 8 golden gloves. JR. Was the best I saw in his hayday
I love his homeruns so much. He was so dominant.
Sweetest swing in baseball ⚾️ history
Easily. That's 1 guy i never heard a bad thing about.
The fact that the 2nd pitch was almost a ball & he pulled it is unfair.
ken griffey jr has the most swag after hitting a home run!
like pujols looks angry, trout looks like he expected it, Ortiz is in awe of his HR, but griffey...griffey (with that one arm bat drop) makes me want to hit a home run and it is just so smooth that is what I call swag.
He broke in when I was in junior high. We all knew his dad and thought maybe the kid will be good too. We had no idea! Sweetest left handed swing in my lifetime. I know Williams had a great one, but I never saw him play. Watching this clip it almost looks like he took half a swing at the first one, but it hit the upper deck.
The collective groan of an entire fanbase can be heard distinctly at 0:56
Easily the best swing I have ever seen. I was so happy to be able to see him play whenever he came to Oakland to play the a's.
Gorgeous swing
Best swing ive seen in baseball. Just natural
Griffey just dominated in the 1995 ALDS. His slash line in this series was .391 / .444 / 1.043, good for a 1.488 OPS. He had 5 home runs in only 23 at bats.
Sadly on one hand, he suffered from few injuries throu out his career. Just thinking if he stayed completely healthy he would've been the HR👑King, 3,000 hits club, 15-18 gold gloves, & the face of baseball for longer time! Still, is amazing to think he still had an amazing career. Scary!!
The most beautiful swing in all of baseball
simply the best player I have seen
Beautiful
The sweetest stroke,there ever was.
My god, he made that first one look stupidly easy.
stupidly easy is the perfect way to describe that homerun.
I want to know the exit velocity that thing was out of was in the Outfield so fast was barely caught on camera
Simply the BEST
Without effort, one of the greatest
Man, imagine if he stayed healthy and played at yankee stadium, he'd have 800 homers with that short right porch!
LowerTheBoom1 I said if he played at yankee stadium. I know the story about billy martin being a dick to him when his dad played with the yanks
***** If Griffey stayed healthy and kept playing in the Kingdome he'd have the home run record
***** Agreed, for people who remember this era Ken Griffey was the MJ of baseball, the best defensive skills and bat swing. Now everyone talks about barry bonds and others, but they don't even come close to Griffey in his prime without using roids!
shamayaify bonds is definitely as good as Griffey although he is underrated
tburrin1 Bonds was great but given n his steroids use and Griffey doing it natural I'd give it to griffey. If he stayed healthy he would of hit more homeruns than bonds and bonds was a cheater. He was better defensively also
That exit velocity on the first home run just WOW
What a beautiful swing.
God he made everything look so easy. Best Player I Ever Saw!
And it was all natural God given talent. Junior was the only one never mentioned in any steroid scandal. Still to this day he hasn't been named
What a sweet swing!
The Prettiest Swing And Batting Stance Of all Time 🙌🏾❤️
Cool story about this game: obviously Junior’s first playoff game but it was also the first time he wore the Air Griffey Max. Nike mocked up a pair and only intended to show Griffey what his cleats would look like but he liked them so much he told them he HAD to play in them. Legendary.
Griffey changed baseball hes the most iconic figure entertainment wise to ever come to baseball
Come on now, that's Babe Ruth.
I miss the old Yankee Stadium,never been to a Yankee game since.
Bro.... his second home run was an outside pitch that he pulled. Incredible
That was the way to get him out. Hard in, soft away. But when he kept his hands back, look out.
My favorite player ever.
one of the best, if not best, 5 game series ever.
I'm a Yankees Fan.....this was a great series, 5 thrilling games.
Ken griffey jr is greatest baseball player ever. Mays is close and mantle would be better if he didn't party so damn much.
Ted Williams is the best to play.
Most talented between Griffey, Mays, Mantle and Williams is a great discussion. It's hard to imagine the numbers Williams puts up without those four years in Korea, assuming he stays healthy of course.
*****
I totally agree, but Griffey belongs in that conversation. I'd argue Griffey was the most physically gifted of all those guys.
Mays and Griffey. It's really hard to say. I grew up with Griffey. Full disclosure, I've lived in Washington my whole life. He was our guy. I don't really remember Bonds before 94/95 era and obviously I never saw Mantle or Aaron. From what I've read, Clemente is also a conversation of the most physically gifted players ever. And Bo Jackson should probably be there too.
***** What a great post. I don't know why I got the email about it just now.
Discipline seems to be more of a valued skill now than it did then. Great point on the Negro Leagues. Josh Gibson just might have been the greatest power hitter ever. It's a shame most of the stuff about him is anecdotal, at least that I've read.
I'd compare Vlad Guerrero to Sheffield in that context. I used the baseball reference compare tool and they line up pretty well. Sheff had better power numbers and discipline, but Vlad seemed to make more contact. Offensive numbers are very similar overall though. I remember Sheff for his wrists and how quick his hands were.
Soooo cool. The best swing in baseball history
my favorite MLB player ever.
Damn... that first one was a good pitch. Griffey is an amazing hitter.
God ken Griffey juniors swing is beautiful
Such a sweet swing
Junior was just incredible
The most beautiful swing in baseball
Griffey just always made everything look so easy. Effortless swing.
Albert and ken jr. Are my fav players ever