The Immaculate Inning by Joe Cox

Author:Joe Cox
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493032136
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2017-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

If Long and Mattingly played the game to get out of the shadows of odd positional moves, the third slugger in the eight-home-run club had his own shadows to deal with. This superstar had to emerge from the shadows of two World Series rings, a .296 average and 2,143 career hits, and three All-Star seasons. The shadow was cast by Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Sr., and it would be outmatched by Ken Griffey Jr.

It was appropriate that Ken Griffey Jr. was the son of a very good baseball player, because he played the game as if he was engineered to star at it. With one of the most beautiful left-handed swings the sport has ever featured, incredible speed, defensive ability, wisdom, and a glowing enthusiasm for the game, Griffey rewrote the baseball record book. But first, he had to get out of the shadow.

The top overall pick in the 1987 MLB Draft out of high school, the younger Griffey had his demons to battle. He knew the pressure that followed his name, and after a difficult rookie season in the minors (difficult in terms of off-the-field issues involving new life experiences as a 17-year-old professional; on the field, Griffey put up a .313/.445/.604 line) and some issues with his parents, in January 1988, the 17-year-old Griffey swallowed 277 aspirin in a suicide attempt.

Fortunately, medical help was promptly obtained, the issues between the young star and his family were resolved, and what could have been one of the biggest tragedies in baseball history was averted.

Griffey arrived in the major leagues at age 19, and was an All-Star the next year. At 21 (and 22 and 23), he knocked in 100 runs. At age 23, he hit 45 home runs in the 1993 season. And he also tied Long and Mattingly for consecutive games with a home run.

On July 20th, Griffey’s Mariners had lost four games in a row. He went to see manager Lou Piniella before the game, and told the manager, “Skip, I’m going to take over tonight.” Sure enough, that night, Griffey knocked in three runs as Seattle turned a 5–0 deficit into a 9–5 win. Included in the evening was an eighth-inning home run to right field for Griffey off Yankee lefty Paul Gibson. It was Griffey’s 23rd home run of the year, and marked the start of his historic run.

The next day, Griffey hit a sixth-inning solo shot off Yankee Jimmy Key. On July 22nd, the Mariners moved on to Cleveland, where Griffey pulled a solo shot off Indian Jeff Mutis in a win. The following night, Griffey hit a sixth-inning bomb off Albie Lopez. The streak reached five games in a row on July 24th, as Junior victimized Indian Matt Young with a fifth-inning blast down the right field line.

On July 25th, Griffey’s streak reached six, courtesy of an opposite-field shot in the fifth inning off Cleveland’s José Mesa. The Indians were doubtlessly glad to see Griffey leave town, as he would bring the chase of history back home to Seattle.

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