A warm congratulations goes out to Joey Votto, 1B of the Cincinnati Reds who yesterday nearly swept the 1st place votes for National League MVP. I'll let the Associated Press tell the rest of the story.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
The full ESPN story can be found here with an interview with the MVP himself.
Showing posts with label Cincinnati Reds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cincinnati Reds. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
There Goes My Hero
On my birthday in 1999, I received two gifts that changed my life forever. The first was the "Californication" - Red Hot Chili Peppers album. The second was Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest for Nintendo 64. The only game that I logged more hours with were The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Tennis, and GoldenEye 007. Californication is still in my 6-disc CD changer in my car.
Ken Griffey Jr. was and is my favorite baseball player. His first major league game was April 3, 1989. I wasn't even 2 years old. His first Major League home run came just seven days later on April 10, also the first time the Seattle Mariners won a game with Griffey on the field.
My first baseball memory is a hazy, unclear shot of a tiny television showing the Cincinnati Reds winning the World Series in 1990. My next memory is of Joe Carter crushing a 2-2 pitch from Mitch Williams way over the left field wall in Toronto to win the World Series in 1993. The only other thing I remember about the 1993 MLB season was constant coverage of this 5th year center fielder in Seattle everyone kept calling "Junior" or "the Kid."
By all accounts, 1993 was Griffey's breakout year. He blasted 45 home runs, 1 shy of the leaders in both American and National Leagues (Juan Gonzalez, TEX; Barry Bonds, SF; 46 home runs each). He played for his 4th straight (out of a total 13, 11 straight) All-Star team, won his 4th Gold Glove award and won his second Silver Slugger award. Griffey was the complete player.
He then rattled off consecutive seasons of 40, 49, 56, 56, 48, and 40 home runs; four of those season were AL-HR leading seasons (and 1995 doesn't count). That last season, my dream came true. After the 1999 season, the Cincinnati Reds acquired Ken Griffey Jr. and I immediately started begging for season tickets. He had the most beautiful swing in baseball, you'll never convince me otherwise. A Griffey home run was a piece of art.
One day during high school, I was driving in downtown Cincinnati near the ballpark with two friends. We were stopped at a red light, and a gleaming silver Dodge Viper pulled up next to us. In the driver's seat, wearing a white t-shirt, sunglasses, and a backwards fitted Reds cap was Ken Griffey Jr. We froze. The light went green, and he took off, leaving us looking at his license plate: "GRIFFEY."
He will always be remembered as the guy who produced on both sides of the ball, playing rock-solid defense and crushing home runs for so many years. I repeat, in case you haven't noticed, Junior was and is my favorite baseball player of all time. In an era that featured wide-spread scandal and rampant use of steroids, there was never a question about Griffey's integrity. He will always be "the guy who did it right."
Injuries and age set him back late in his career, but he was still great to watch. In the summer of 2008, I took my girlfriend (a Yankees fan - I know, don't get me started) to a game during the last year of the old Yankees Stadium. Luckily for me, the AL East was playing the NL Central that year in inter-league play. Reds-Yankees in NYC on June 21, 2008 - the last time I saw Ken Griffey Jr. play live. He went 2 for 4 in a Reds shutout of the Yanks, 6-0.
I will always remember playing backyard baseball and pretending to be Griffey, trying to get my swing just right; I will always remember watching him hit his 500th and 600th home runs; and I will always remember almost choking up the day he retired.
Ken Griffey Jr., thanks for the memories.
Ken Griffey Jr. was and is my favorite baseball player. His first major league game was April 3, 1989. I wasn't even 2 years old. His first Major League home run came just seven days later on April 10, also the first time the Seattle Mariners won a game with Griffey on the field.
My first baseball memory is a hazy, unclear shot of a tiny television showing the Cincinnati Reds winning the World Series in 1990. My next memory is of Joe Carter crushing a 2-2 pitch from Mitch Williams way over the left field wall in Toronto to win the World Series in 1993. The only other thing I remember about the 1993 MLB season was constant coverage of this 5th year center fielder in Seattle everyone kept calling "Junior" or "the Kid."
By all accounts, 1993 was Griffey's breakout year. He blasted 45 home runs, 1 shy of the leaders in both American and National Leagues (Juan Gonzalez, TEX; Barry Bonds, SF; 46 home runs each). He played for his 4th straight (out of a total 13, 11 straight) All-Star team, won his 4th Gold Glove award and won his second Silver Slugger award. Griffey was the complete player.
He then rattled off consecutive seasons of 40, 49, 56, 56, 48, and 40 home runs; four of those season were AL-HR leading seasons (and 1995 doesn't count). That last season, my dream came true. After the 1999 season, the Cincinnati Reds acquired Ken Griffey Jr. and I immediately started begging for season tickets. He had the most beautiful swing in baseball, you'll never convince me otherwise. A Griffey home run was a piece of art.
One day during high school, I was driving in downtown Cincinnati near the ballpark with two friends. We were stopped at a red light, and a gleaming silver Dodge Viper pulled up next to us. In the driver's seat, wearing a white t-shirt, sunglasses, and a backwards fitted Reds cap was Ken Griffey Jr. We froze. The light went green, and he took off, leaving us looking at his license plate: "GRIFFEY."
He will always be remembered as the guy who produced on both sides of the ball, playing rock-solid defense and crushing home runs for so many years. I repeat, in case you haven't noticed, Junior was and is my favorite baseball player of all time. In an era that featured wide-spread scandal and rampant use of steroids, there was never a question about Griffey's integrity. He will always be "the guy who did it right."
Injuries and age set him back late in his career, but he was still great to watch. In the summer of 2008, I took my girlfriend (a Yankees fan - I know, don't get me started) to a game during the last year of the old Yankees Stadium. Luckily for me, the AL East was playing the NL Central that year in inter-league play. Reds-Yankees in NYC on June 21, 2008 - the last time I saw Ken Griffey Jr. play live. He went 2 for 4 in a Reds shutout of the Yanks, 6-0.
I will always remember playing backyard baseball and pretending to be Griffey, trying to get my swing just right; I will always remember watching him hit his 500th and 600th home runs; and I will always remember almost choking up the day he retired.
Ken Griffey Jr., thanks for the memories.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
A Weekend in Cincinnati
There is something truly awesome about your sports team rewarding your fan-dom with a great performance. This is one of the main reasons I love going to see sports live: there's always the potential to see something awe-inspiring. Buzzer-beaters, Hail Mary touchdown passes, anything in overtime hockey, and walk-off home runs - there's nothing like seeing your team pull one of these off, and it's all that much sweeter when you're there to see it live.
I love baseball, but my team doesn't often give me many of these moments. Our last World Series victory was in 1990 - I was three years old. Cincinnati has a phenomenally rich baseball history, but the river has been somewhat dry recently. One thing I can't be accused of being, however, is a fair-weather fan. And though I live in Boston now, when I come home for the weekend, I have to go to a Reds game.
This weekend was a home series against the Cubs and a great chance to get together with the old crew for some live baseball, some beers, and a night out on the town. It started out innocently enough with some cornhole (look it up, best day-drinking game ever) and then it was down to the stadium for the game. While it wasn't a walk-off or a no hitter we watched an unexpectedly good outing from Aaron Harang (6.68 ERA for the year; 6.2 innings, 9 K's, 2 ER last night) from the seats in the picture above as Joey Votto led the offense in a rout of the Chicago Cubs, 14-2. Then, we went bowling.
And at some point during one of the rounds of beers or bowling, Brandon Phillips walked in and started bowling in the lane next to us.
Bill Simmons describes the "when a celebrity walks into a room" situation as a big gush of wind. He said that about Michael Jordan, so obviously the whoosh wasn't as big, but it was there. We don't know why, but we idolize these people - we want them to write their names on our clothing in permanent marker, we take pictures with our phone when we think they aren't looking, we whisper in hushes about little things they do (like not taking off their sunglasses at a blacklight bowling alley, true story). We love meeting our idols even if they act like total jerks to us - it's an experience that you'll tell everyone in your immediate circle of friends at least twice before they say, "Yeah, man, you already told me."
Tomorrow I head back to Boston after a great weekend home, and I'll be heading back with a signed Brandon Phillips jersey and a wealth of great memories. Man, I love sports.
PS - as I write this, Rajon Rondo just had one of the best playoff performances I've ever seen. The "MVP!" chants from the Boston faithful during late free throws as Lebron James looked on were priceless. Go Celtics.
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