The life of a legend

Most of you will not care one bit about what I'm about to write. Most of you probably won't even know who I'm writing about. But in recent news, Ken Griffey Jr. announced his retirement from the game of baseball. I don't think I've ever been as sad and disappointed at the announcement of an athlete retiring as I was when I heard the news.

As a child, I don't remember being that kid who had a ton of heroes, and I don't remember saying I wanted to ever be like anyone, except for Griffey. Here was a man that broke into the major leagues at the age of 19. And it looked like he was having fun no matter what he was doing. He played baseball and he was having fun. And to top it off, he was one of the best players ever to play. I wanted to be like Griffey. I had a Ken Griffey Jr. Louisville Slugger, I had a Ken Griffey Jr. baseball glove, I had his poster on my wall. He was my hero. His swing, possibly the sweetest swing in the history of baseball, was a thing of beauty. When he hit homeruns, he seemed to do so effortlessly. The game seemed to come naturally to him, and he was amazing. I have never looked up to one athlete nearly as much as I look up to him.

Now flash forward to now... He had been struggling a lot lately. He was in a career high 103 game homerless streak when he retired. But when he played, he was still having fun. He hit 630 career home runs over a span of 22 baseball seasons. Hitting less than 20 home runs only 7 times in his career. Earned 10 straight golden glove awards at centerfield and came up only 219 hits short of 3,000. He accomplished all these awards and many more during the steroid era of baseball. And throughout the entire investigation has gone on, his name has not been linked to steroid usage at all. In a time when records were being broken, and new baseball legends were taking the stage, it appears that all of the big names have been linked to the usage of steroids. All except "the kid", Ken Griffey Jr. As I have learned this, my respect for the man has only increased. I loved to watch him play, and I'm sad that it couldn't keep going. He was my childhood athletic hero. I've never seen someone enjoy what they do for a living nearly as much as he did.

George Kenneth Griffey, Jr. it was an honor to watch you play sir. And thank you for being a hero and staying true in a dark time in American Baseball. You will be missed, but forever loved and forever remembered.