ken Griffey Jr.-What Was & Could Have Been

When you're clean you never have to come clean, and the kid we've known simply as "Jr." retires as a symbol of what made baseball great. Ken Griffey Jr. retired this week and along with being, in my opinion, the greatest baseball player of my lifetime, he'll retire with all of the numbers needed to one day be able to call himself a Hall of Famer. Most important of all Ken Griffey Jr. can call himself a clean competitor, something most of his peers could not. Ken, of course, played through the steroid era and remains the only bit of truth that era has to offer. In a city that Baseball's Ironman, Cal Ripken Jr. calls home, truth goes a long way. Both Jr.'s have much in common as Cal meant to this community what Ken has meant to Seattle, with many going as far as to say Ken was instrumental in keeping Baseball in Seattle. His flawless swing and impeccable character, the ladder being, the quality missing in many of the era's personalities, is what separated Ken from these other players. If Ken Griffey Jr. stays healthy throughout his career history may have been challenged the right way, and the home run record would have fallen with honor. Major League Baseball would not have had to endure the PR nightmare that was Barry Bonds and his not so cherished memory of breaking Hank Aaron's prestigious record. Will the home run record, the most important record in sports, ever be praised again as it was when Hank owned it? Alex Rodriguez is currently on pace to break it, and any hopes Major League Baseball had of him reclaiming that glory were shattered last year as he too was exposed as being a steroid user. What's most impressive about Jr.'s career, is the fact that even with the many years he struggled to stay on the field, his numbers still match up with the era's best. The Kid was great, a first ballet hall of famer, but he could have been greater and may have been the greatest. Instead much of the publicity went to Barry Lamar Bonds, as he was breaking record after record on his way to 7 NL MVP's. Bonds, maybe the most infamous steroid abuser, was accused of openly discussing his desire to begin using steroids at somebody's house. That somebody was Ken Griffey Jr., who as always must have been doing something better with his time. It has paid off for Ken, as he has retired a clean contributor to the game of baseball, while Barry has been vanished and accused of taking something away from the game. Hopefully one day some other 'kid' will get it back.