No one ever looked cooler playing baseball than Ken Griffey Jr. The sweet swing, the backwards hat, the ear-to-ear smile, the moonshot homeruns and diving catches in the outfield. Growing up in the '90s, Griffey was my generation's Mickey Mantle. He was the best, most exciting player I ever saw.

@sanperchannel9560

Ай бұрын

Yep he was all that and more dude was an absolute sensation It was so awesome growing up on baseball in the 90s 💯

@gregpenismith1248

Ай бұрын

Not only did Barry Bonds look just as cool as little Kenny Jr, but was exceptionally more talented.

@scottd7222

Ай бұрын

I'd say he was best left hand hitter of that era and Manny Ramirez from the right side

@gregpenismith1248

Ай бұрын

@@scottd7222 Tony Gwynn was better than both of them. Between Barry and Tony, no one is even close in talent.

@italianmiltyfriedman6264

Ай бұрын

well said

How could you not include the 500th home run ON FATHER'S DAY, hugging his dad afterwards who was in the crowd? Seriously, one of the most unlikely and mythological moments in MLB history

I'm 38 years old and he is still my idol . I played ball for 15 years and I always wanted to be like him . He is GOAT status in my eyes

Ken Griffey Jr. was an amazing 5-tool player. Contact, power, base running, fielding, and arm. He had it all. My favorite baseball player growing up in the 1990s. Sweetest most effortless swing I’ve ever seen to this day.

@TiagoGomez-hb9te

6 күн бұрын

Griffey was not that good of a baserunner.

His swing will forever be the smoothest power swing in the game.

@lovelessissimo

Ай бұрын

Matt Kemp came close.

@gregpenismith1248

Ай бұрын

Barry Bonds had a better swing than both of them.

@Stackitupmetal

14 күн бұрын

Darryl Strawberry

Thank you for the memories Griffey

Every baseball fan loves Ken Griffey Jr., doesn't matter which team you root for. I enjoyed watching him at the end with the White Sox. Ended his career with an awesome outfield assist.

@sKarr6988

Ай бұрын

I love baseball and I dont like him

@jacobjensen1380

Ай бұрын

@@sKarr6988why not?

@DrewMalidore

Ай бұрын

​@@jacobjensen1380lol

@potentially__9445

27 күн бұрын

@@sKarr6988you just want to be different! 🤦🏾‍♂️

@tatertots0046

25 күн бұрын

I don't love him because he's VERY OVERRATED. He's not the most talented player even in his own era(A-Rod & Pujols)

I couldn't click this video fast enough, only player to hit back to back homers with his own father on the same team (will almost certainly never happen again) and then hit his 500th on Father's Day with his dad in the stands - MYTHOLOGICAL

@mikesnow4735

Ай бұрын

I watched that game as mariners fan I fallowed him all his career

@DrewMalidore

Ай бұрын

Can't forget about ripken Sr and junior

@jonnyblayze5149

16 күн бұрын

​@@DrewMalidoreor the Boones

I'll never forget Griffey's home-run robbing catch of Lou Collins' opposite field shot in the 1994 playoffs.

@winser21

Ай бұрын

The Twins always choke in the playoffs. It didn’t get any better when Heywood was replaced by Macnally either!

@arthurkorff

Ай бұрын

@winser21 wish heywood would buy the A's

@emmitbrown5631

Ай бұрын

Saved The Units A$$. 😂

I was a kid growing up when Junior came up, got to watch him when he came into Fenway a couple times… that dude was just fun to watch and that swing. Looked so sweet, so effortless and so freaking good - especially in his early days.

KGJ was the reason I played and still love baseball today. I still remember the first time I ever heard about who he was. My coach would always say things like Good hit Ken Griffey. Nice catch Ken Griffey. I would ask, who’s Ken Griffey Jr with absolute seriousness. lol Being a 6 year old lefty CF’r in the mid-90s, he was everything I modeled my game after up until I was 14. Even wore 24. Griffey should easily be recognized as top 5 of all time. Clean, pure talent, and wasn’t full of drama. A pure baseball icon and idol.

Growing up in Seattle during his reign was amazing and you could feel the electricity when he came to the plate. Every hit to centerfield was also something he made memorable

i sacrificed my swing for a solid year trying to mimic griffy... lmaooooo i went from a .542 batting avg to like .3something just pretending im ken griffy jr... as a kid... hahahah it cracks me up nowadays... but griffy was the shit to watch live when u were a kid...... truly....

@jonnyblayze5149

16 күн бұрын

Because it's not really that good of a swing

@chrisramsden3114

4 күн бұрын

Same. I used to have a crouched, mcguire like stance and decided to be like kg2 and stand up tall.

@warp9pk767

20 сағат бұрын

@@jonnyblayze5149 of course its not.... lol................................

@jonnyblayze5149

19 сағат бұрын

@@warp9pk767 it's an uppercut, junior is just so talented he made it work. I mean 630 is awesome, but he batted under 285 for a career , didnt have 3000 hits. Like I said though the kid had so much unbelievable natural baseball skill/talent he made it work

I hate when people accuse Griffey of steroids. Dude was half the size of the mongaloids. He was the best all around player for a decade. Injuries costed him goat status. He had that much potential

@bigmoist1946

5 күн бұрын

Bonds was probably better all around before steroids

11:00 anddd Tony Gwynn's shot at becoming the second player in history to end the season with BA of over .400. Man how the 1994 season would've turned out is truly one of biggest "what if" moments in baseball.

@thegrandoti00

Ай бұрын

Yeah! We crowned Tony Gywnn "Contact Supreme."

@jakegilpin1145

23 күн бұрын

Esp Montreal should’ve had a team

@jonnyblayze5149

16 күн бұрын

What? You need to learn the game before you flap your lips, there have been plenty of guys who hit 400

He inspired me to wear my cap backwards. Sweetest swing of all time.

you did us wrong. You needed to add at least 24hours of that swing replaying😂 the sweetest swing ever

My favorite team ever is the 1995 Mariners. Griffey, Randy, and Edgar all in their primes.

@Swole_Geek

14 күн бұрын

Nice! Wasn’t Arod on that squad too? I think he was if I recall.

@85mcarnold

13 күн бұрын

@@Swole_Geek yes, 1995 was his rookie year but he was just getting his feet wet. So you can certainly list him as a member of the team, he just wasn’t in his prime.

Let us not forget how great his snes game is. It sits in my entertainment center to this day, 30 years later.

@justinstilwell7841

23 күн бұрын

Wasn’t it on N64

Ken Griffey jr baseball was the best game ever. No one can convince me otherwise. Forget “mlb the show”

Playing on that hard Kingdome astroturf took a toll on Griffey Jr on both his knees in his years with the Reds. Same thing happened to Andre Dawson too playing in Montreal on the hard astroturf with the Expos.

Bonds and Griffey were/are actually good friends. Bonds had taken him under his wing early on with their similar childhoods linking them. Griffey was actually in the small group (at his own house) that first heard Bonds say he was considering taking steroids to keep up with Mac and Sammy.

My favorite player of all time but that aside i truly believe had he not been injured he would be the all time home run king.

@thatguyronwaiters6485

19 күн бұрын

Easily

That swing was perfection with a side of cool. Also Ken Griffey Jr baseball is still one of the best baseball video games of all time. Sucks how many great players, and players that were going to be great, were taken out by injury, cant out train genetics.

@donduchiee6923

12 күн бұрын

My oldest cousin still has that game on N64 .. home run derby mode still 🔥 to this day !!

FOR SOME REASON THE 90'S WAS THE BEST TIME TO BE A LIVE FOR EVERYTHING... MLB,NFL,NBA, COLLEGE FOOTBALL, HIP HOP, POP MUSIC, R&B... LOOKING BACK ON THAT ERA IS SO AMAZING TO LIVE IN THAT ERA... AN TO SEE SOME OF BEST LEFT HANDED HITTERS..IN MLB PLAYING...SO BLESS OF A TIME... THANK YOU JESUS..FOR THE 90'S

He could have for sure hit 800 home runs if it weren't for the injuries. The fact that he still hit 630 even with all the injuries is a testament to just how good he was.

I don’t even like baseball, but when Griff was playing I absolutely loved to watch him. Dude was one of those all around incredible athletes, just like Bo Jackson.

Grew up in Seattle in the 90’s. Saw Griffey Jr. in person 20 times a season. Amazing!! Imagine if he actually trained?!

@ShackCrewInc310

10 күн бұрын

He didn’t train? I wasn’t aware of that.

Every baseball fan loves Ken Griffey Jr.

@sKarr6988

Ай бұрын

Nah not me

@mikesnow4735

Ай бұрын

@@sKarr6988why ?

I was a kid in Seattle during this time, and he was almost a demigod for us small baseball players/fans. I remember trying to swing like him while playing backyard baseball with my best friend. Wish I knew back then how much I should have treasured those rare times.

🥹 man, that Seattle team, Edgar, Randy, young A Rod, and of course Kenny G! Ken was literally the perfect MLB player, he had all the talent Bonds had but had the charisma that Bonds didn’t! He’s a big reason why I fell in love with the game!

@theshortstopgaming

Ай бұрын

No mention of the Bone?! Cmon man lol I too miss that team. I grew up a couple hours south of Seattle but every year they hosted Little League Day. Walk the field, watch some of the team during their warmups. Shit was incredible. I really miss loving baseball as much as I did back then.

For me, growing in the Era, that I did. He is the Greatest Of All Time. Still my favorite player, all ways will be.

Best Griffey memory was him him winning a softball championship in 1992 when he was recruited by Mr. Burns to play for his Nuclear Power Plant team

9:12 That's where the SNES game "Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run" comes from

@adamk8892

Ай бұрын

Can't forget about Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest on N64!

My favorite player growing up as a kid. Much respect to "the kid"!!!!

Here's an interesting tidbid. Before being traded to the Reds, he almost joined the Mets. They had offered Roger Cedeno Octavio Dotel (both later dealt for Mike Hampton), along with Armando Benitez. And recent acquisition Todd Zeile had structured his contract in anticipation of Griffey joining NY. But Griffey ultimately vetoed the trade because he felt the Mets had rushed him into a decision.

At his peak, Ken Griffey Jr. was arguably the most complete player ever -- Defense, Offense, Speed, you name it. The only players you could make an argument as being more complete were Ruth and Otahni and only b/c they also pitched. Griffey's swing was incredibly smooth and controlled. It looked effortless.

We worshipped that swing as kids lol

@theshortstopgaming

Ай бұрын

Did the best we could right or left handed to mimic it.

Best Junior Doc ever. As a Mariner Fan since 79 Thank You. Ypu Honoured Our Greatest Player Ever who has a Great GOAT Case!!! And you explained Exactly Why!!!

It’s a good day when MTC uploads

I was at that 1 game playoff in '95 with the Angels, when Randy Johnson pitched a beautiful complete game!! Best game I've ever seen live

I swear sometimes life ain't fair smh. How in the hell Seattle couldn't win just 1 ring with Jr,Arod,Randy Johnson,and Edgar Martinez all on the same team smh with Jay bruner. I'm still baffled as a 40 year old man lol 🤦🏿‍♂️

@fortynights1513

Ай бұрын

Poor bullpen and lower rotation left at least something to be desired. Also turning down the trade of Felix Fermin for Mariano Rivera hurt too.

@goldteethpoohproductions2707

Ай бұрын

@@fortynights1513 Got damn they could of gotten Mariano?!!!! Smh damn

@decker528

Ай бұрын

If I remember right, there were a few other solid players on some of those teams too

@Seantherightway06

Ай бұрын

@@decker528Tino Martinez and Joey Cora to name a couple more. Got to meet Jay Buhner at a Walmart in Arlington. Even as a lifelong Rangers fan, I loved going to the games against the Mariners because they were fun to watch. Even though they’re in our division, I will always have a soft spot for the Mariners and hope they get to experience what we did this past year.

@decker528

Ай бұрын

@@Seantherightway06 I remember Dan Wilson being a decent catcher and I can't remember who played third but it seemed like he was ok. Russ something. Seems like they had a good closer and norm Charlton was in the bullpen at one point too

I really appreciate this video Ken Griffey will and always be my favorite player I had a picture of him in my hat every time I play the outfield I wanted to be just like him out there

Had alot of fun watching jr as a kid and going to the kingdome to see the M's play. Even got to go to game 4 of the ALDS in 95' which was when Edgar hit two homers and drove in 7 rbi's

Tigers fan. Jr was my favorite player that never played for Detroit. I remember the catch he made at Tiger Stadium like it was yesterday. Greatest player of his generation and there is no * next to his numbers.

Dude looked flat out graceful, like a bullfighter at the plate. Just dripped swag

I saw a ton of him as a Ranger fan. Despite him routinely torching Ranger pitching, I had great appreciation for Junior. It was just great seeing an obvious once in a lifetime talent play baseball in our yard.

As a Seattle native, Griffey is the best player I’ve ever seen play in person.

Griffey Jr had the sexiest move in the history of sports. That swing is just legendary.

Griffey still lives on till this day 🔥

Sweetest swing I have ever witnessed. He was so cool and fun to watch every single game!

Griffey will forever be my favorite baseball player of all time. He was everything i loved about baseball all in 1 player. Argue with me all ya want, but Griffey will always be my goat.

I think we need to look at how playing on artificial turf as a young player ruined the careers of several amazing outfielders- Andre Dawson, Ken Griffey Jr., and Valdimir Guerrero. They all ended up in the Hall of Fame, but they also all started to prematurely break down due to leg injuries. How many amazing careers were we robbing of enjoying because of artificial turf? Dawson, Griffey, and Guerrero were all athletic freaks whose young careers started on astroturf.

I saw a video of Griffey playing golf and even his golf swing is so pure.

i still remember that slide into home against the yankees. that year, my mom was into baseball and she never cared about sports. thats how amazing those mariners were.

growing up as a lefty in the PNW Griffey and later Ichiro are my favorite players of all time

Long awaited subject from the best in the sports content game, fantastic as always MTC

The very reason why I played baseball and still love the game today, I eventually went on to play basketball in high school and college but baseball is my favorite sport and KGJ inspired me to

Maybe it's just me but i see a lot of similarities between him and trout. Both all time greats, 5 tool players when they started, never had a problem with the media or fans, liked by 99% of all fans, had their careers slow down due to injury in their early 30's and no rings.

@TiagoGomez-hb9te

6 күн бұрын

Yeah, pretty much...

He was growing up, still is and always will be my favorite player of all-time.

Damn I didn't know that depression by Griffey. I shed a tear right now. Griff, we love ❤️ you!

My favorite athlete ever.

Griffey was my favorite player when I was 8

Griffey was always the greatest "what if?" in baseball history to me. In a sport so driven by longevity and statistics, maybe the most talented player of all time, while on pace to have the maybe greatest career stats ever, suffered injury after injury and his career fell apart. He still ended up with an all-time great career, it just didn't happen like everyone wanted. And the stories of him and Ichiro having a great time together in Seattle are pretty awesome.

Best I've ever seen play. Trout was close but everything KGJ did was smooth.

Sweetest swing ever. Probably most complete player I've ever seen in terms of offense and defense.

I'm not taking anything away from Ken Griffey Jr. Great player sweet swing. But... If you want a swing that is pure Poetry in Motion... Will the Thrill Clark. We love you Griffey you are one of the greats but your swing as sweet as it is will never compare to the THRILL.

Great video! One of my favorite players of all time.

As a 90s kid who grew up in the PNW, ken Griffey jr was an absolute god in his first 😢Seattle stint

Just a small correction, the famous "spiderman" catch was certainly not the same catch that broke his wrist. It wasn't even the same year.

His style of play cost him so many games. He played hard but still had fun and made it look easy, but the injuries robbed him

Ken Griffey was one of the best , even his name sounds like it’s the best lol

Best swing ever. Period.

I went to the King Dome with my All-Star team when I was 11 . Mariners vs bluejays .. he did t disappoint spanking one up to the nose bleeds where we were sitting 😅

Junior WAS baseball. Pure talent.

It sucks. As a child of the 90s, who feels like baseball literally saved my otherwise horrible life this video kinda makes me sad. If you were a kid who loved baseball in the 90s than Junior was quite literally INVINCIBLE. He transcended your favorite teams and players. It's impossible to do justice to what he symbolized to every child who played baseball during his era.

I was born in sf… but since 89” I was a Mariners fan 🙌🏻🙌🏻🥳

Before I was a “Cubs Fan”, I saw this man climbing up Center Field walls, running like a boss, and hitting baseballs smoother than anyone I had ever seen. Being the real definition of cool, he made me want to watch the sport.

The best baseball player I’ve ever seen play. KG Jr did everything better than everyone.

He was 100% the reason I played baseball and played center field!

I grew up watching JR. In Seattle. Love the man

As a lifelong Padres fan my all time favorite player is Tony Gwynn. But outside of the Padres i had a small list of favorites, Griffey is on top of that list. Other favorites from that era were Eric Davis, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell.

Top 3 athletes I wish had injury free careers - Tiger, Junior, DRose

I’m glad I got to see the kid play, he was phenomenal

Griffey was the player that made me love baseball growing up in a big city every kid loved basketball and football but I was a avid baseball fan cuz of him I even had the Nike Griffey sneakers

Still the greatest! His shoes were so dope as well! My second pair of shoes in highschool.

Sweetest swing

Junior was a baseball god of my era. Never be another like him.

Possibly the best smile of all time

Look at all those beautiful giant names on the back of all the jersey's. Really depressing that we're never going to get that again and now we're all stuck with ridiculous nike/mlb/fanatics high school tiny names :(

My favorite athlete of all time. I remember I wanted to be left-handed so bad because of Junior.

Jr had one of the most beautiful swings ever. In the land roided out behemoths Jr was arguably the best player in the game. He made playing the game look so easy,it was like he wasn't even trying. If he wasn't injured and was able not to miss all the games it would be interesting to see where he ranked in the best of all time talks. It would also be interesting to see just how many homeruns he would have ended up with.

Griffey gave Us Mariners a Legacy!! Watching the 80s Mariners was Hard. But at the end of that Decade as Savior would arrive!! Junior, along with Randy, Edgar, Buhner made the 90s Mariners Legendary and Junior is the Leader of the Pack. Even Great players see Junior play and say WTF??!!

Griffey may actually be the 90's generations Mickey Mantle with how much he's idolized and loved

@TiagoGomez-hb9te

6 күн бұрын

Not as good as Mickey Mantle outside of defense but still close...

I see a new made the cut video... I click. I see it's about Griffey... I click twice as fast.

People really don't like to talk about it, but Griffey was never one to put the most effort into being in shape. As he got heavier with age and not working on maintaining muscle as much, it very likely could've taken away from his longevity. It's even possible he got away Scott free with being juiced up and that caused some joint problems, though I doubt it. Of course I don't know for sure but outfielders over the age of 30 tend to get hurt a lot anyway

The 1994 Strike Shortened MLB Season We in the Shitposting Business calls this the Montreal Screwjob

If he hadn't gotten injured halfway through his career he might have ended up with 3500 hits, 800 hrs. 2300-2400 rbis, 15 gold gloves etc.

The kid was amazing!

He absolutely was and still is the most talented MLB player I’ve ever seen in my 45 years.