Watching Griffey Right Under Those Lights: An open letter to the BBWA

“Couldn’t have been older than 10

But to me and my friends

The voice on the other end might as well have been God’s

1995, the Division Series

Edgar's up to bat
 Bottom of the 11th inning
 Got the whole town listening

"Swung on and belted," the words distorted. 
"Joey Cora rounds third!
Here comes Griffey! 
The throw to the plate’s not in time!
My, oh my, the Mariners win it! 
"
Yes. Fireworks, they lit up that ceiling in the Kingdome

We had just made history Couldn’t have been older than 10

But to me and my friends

The voice on the other end might as well have been God’s

1995, the Division Series

Edgar's up to bat

Bottom of the 11th inning

Got the whole town listening

"Swung on and belted," the words distorted. "Joey Cora rounds third!

Here comes Griffey! The throw to the plate’s not in time!

My, oh my, the Mariners win it!"

Yes. Fireworks, they lit up that ceiling in the Kingdome

We had just made history”

-Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

“My, oh My” how do you truly encompass the greatness of one of the greatest ball players to ever grace the game of baseball. A tantalizing figure with a Hollywood smile, a pure love for the game, and electric skills. A man who revived baseball in a city that had effectively given up on the game after suffering through never seeing their team winning celebrate a winning season. Enter Ken Griffey Junior. The 19-year-old raised by the morning dew of matinee BP and the unmistakable crack of the bat. Watching his father belt over 2100 hits in his illustrious Hall of Fame Career. The emotion that children’s game can evoke upon an entire population is absolutely incredible that is what Ken Griffey Junior meant to the game of baseball. A clean cut role model for African American children everywhere who has legacy has been inconceivably tarnished by three unnamed writers of the Baseball Writers Association. 

           To truly understand the magnitude of these three votes, take a moment and consider why so much emphasis is placed upon the percentage of votes an individual receives when being voted in yet with no definitive reasoning behind it three sports writers decided to stick to their own moral high horse and deny Griffey the ultimate honor of a unanimous vote.

            A thirteen time All Star, ten-time Gold Glove winner and seven-time Silver Slugger. Griffey absolutely dominated the game through his early years in Seattle before being marred by injuries. For instance, in the 1994 Strike shortened season in only 111 games he hit forty homeruns meaning he was hitting a homerun about every 2.7 or so games which would leave him on pace for about 58 home runs come seasons end. Although “on pace” means absolutely nothing in regards to what may actually happen he did total 40 or more homeruns in 4 out of the five following seasons hitting 56 in back to back years. He was a young lightning bolt in the soon to be unfathomable Mariner offense of the late nineties that included sluggers like Tino Martinez, Edgar Martinez and a young short stop from Washington Heights named Alex Rodriguez. In 1995 following the strike shortened season after suffering an injury with Seattle four games out of contention the M’s fell to twelve games out of contention his return rejuvenated the team as he led them to the playoffs and their first American League Championship Series, overcoming a seemingly insurmountable deficit similar to the way Yeonis Cespedes hit the cover off the ball in the New York Mets 2015 surge into the World Series.

            With the game tarnished by PED’s and a thirty homerun season lacking the distinction it once had Griffey showed off impressive five tool capabilities during his last three years in Seattle. Where in 1997 in 157 games he scored 125 runs, accounted for 147 runs batted in hit 56 homeruns while batting .304. Oh and he won the MVP plus a silver slugger, a gold glove and an All Star nod. He was the baseball equivalent of Michael Jordan with his Hollywood smile and incredible displays of athleticism within the confides of the the diamond.  In his 1997 MVP season he was intentionally walked an unprecedented 23 times. That’s how menacing he was to opposing pitchers and clubs. On father’s day in front of a sold out crowd and Griffey senior himself Junior belted his 500^th homerun. In 2009 on mother’s day he set the record for most homeruns on mother’s day with seven. Yes, the argument will always remain that he doesn’t have a world series ring but does that mean Trent Dilfer is a better player than Dan Marino pish posh. Baseball is a team game and had the construction of the Kingdome not scared him away and the departures of Tino Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Veritek and some guy named David Ortiz this could be one of the greatest dynasties the game of baseball has ever seen. But ultimately Griffey left the catastrophe that was Seattle in 1999 and bolted for the Big Red Machine. Granted the years following his departure from the Kingdome were far from his finest but he remained an above average player for quite awhile although many will argue that he did not live up to the hype but he was still Junior. 
Ninety-Nine point three. The numbers that supposedly do not define the career of a major league baseball player when entering the Hall of Fame. Baseball Writers of America this is an open letter to you and quite frankly this is a disgrace. 487 out of 490 writers voted for Junior and three left him off of their ballet for undisclosed reasons. It is terrible to think that we have allowed a monster such as this to develop. This collection of sports writers has allowed itself to develop into the moral police adhering to code outlined by a man who fought to keep baseball segregated! There are actually no words to describe this. Baseball since its inception has been a game of cheating and not getting caught, consider the ball scoffers, and the spit-ballers. Consider the racist like good ole’ Ty Cobb who is known for sliding with his cleats up and even punching fans! But they have the audacity to keep individuals like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds for suspicion of PED’s. To deny a player of Griffey’s caliber the ultimate honor of being inducted unanimously is a disgrace instead opting to vote for players like Jim Bagwell and Tim Raines who had no shot of being inducted this season. But if any question is raised by this letter could those three infamous writers be sour Cincinnati Red’s beat writers still butt hurt over the Griffey they thought they were getting and the Griffey they received. All in all, the system needs to be reevaluated because this one is unfortunately broken.  

Yours Truly, 

Elijah Milligan