The Baseball Chick with Audrie Abernathy
Hitting Topics In A League Of Her Own
Discuss / Comment / Ask / Argue

Height 6-3. Weight 205 lbs. Bats and throws left. He wears #30 for the Cincinnati Reds and bats third in the line-up. He was born November 21,1969 in Donora, Pennsylvania. He has played Major League Baseball for 16 years and earned $9,142,608 in 2004.

Junior was a regular at Major League ballparks from an early age. His dad, Ken Griffey Sr., was an all star outfielder of the Reds (Big Red Machine, baby!) and the Yankees. Junior loved to go to the ballpark with his dad and was fortunate learn from some of the best players in baseball. His own ‘Sweet Swing’ was developed from imitating the batting styles of the different players. Junior spent his high school years in Cincinnati and played basketball, football, and baseball. The love of America’s pastime, though, was great.

In 1987, the Seattle Mariners made Junior the first pick in the amateur baseball draft. After spending less than two seasons in the minor leagues, Junior was ready for “The Big Show”. And what a show he put on! In 1991, only his third Major League season, he had a then career-high 100 RBI and the next year, he was MVP of the All-Star Game. (1991 was also the year he set another Major League record-the first father and son combo to play on the same team, as Senior briefly joined the Mariners.) Like a fine wine, Junior’s swing improved with age. In 1993, he slugged 45 homers, even tying a Major League record at one point with eight straight games with a homer. In fact, he hit more homeruns by the age of 30 then anyone else…ever. And if that wasn’t enough. Junior managed to improve his all-around game by becoming a legitimate base-stealing threat as well as one of the premier defensive outfielders in baseball (the guy kept ESPN in highlights for years!).

As Junior improved, the Mariners improved along with him. In 1995 the Mariners reached the playoffs for the first time in team history. Seattle played the powerful New York Yankees in the American League Division Series. And boy, did Junior deliver the goods! Stroking five homeruns in five games, Seattle won the final game in gut-wrenching manner-with Junior scoring the game-winning run in the 11th inning. (Too bad they lost to the Cleveland Indians-but hey, I wasn’t complaining!) Junior continued his dominance of the game and in 1997, achieved a double-honor: his 56 homeruns gave him the homerun title and helped guarantee him the American League MVP.

Then, on a fateful winter afternoon, Junior was dealt by the Mariners to the Cincinnati Reds. “I’m home” he happily proclaimed. He was back in the city where he’d spent his youth, watching his father and the other greats slug it out every year. His winning smile was evident when he put on a Reds jersey with #30 on the back-his father’s old number.

In case you haven’t guessed, Ken Griffey the Junior is still my favorite player in baseball! I know he might not always have had the best conditioning or made the right decisions on the field, but when he’s healthy, the Reds are a legitimate playoff team. You want proof? Look at last season. The first half of the year, they were the surprise in the National League Central, outplaying big-money teams like the Cubs and the Astros-until Junior got hurt. Granted, he wasn’t the only reason they finished a disappointing 76-86 (hmm…got pitching?), but the guy’s a born leader and when he’s on, they win.

Did I say I think Junior’s the best in baseball? As the steroid brouhaha still sizzles (did we really need Jeremy Giambi admitting steroid use? Yeesh.), one of the only 50-home run season guys who hasn’t been suggested in using performance-enhancing drug is Junior. The guy is one of the best centerfielders in the game and he’s a terrific role model for younger players. He grew up on baseball, loves baseball, and has maximized his physical potential to be one of the best in the game.

And for all that, the Baseball Chick takes her hat off and salutes Ken Griffey Jr.

The Baseball Chick with Audrie Abernathy
Hitting Topics In A League Of Her Own
Discuss / Comment / Ask / Argue

Hey Pod Squad! The Baseball Chick is in da stadium with some more baseball drama! Thought I’d jump on a late bandwagon and give my two cents on Jose Canseco’s new yap-book, “Juiced”. Ever since the first passages of this book were leaked to the media, this book has been notorious for “naming names”. Ya know, I don’t think that was what it was at all! I think it’s just a confirmation that everything we already knew about steroids in Major League Baseball was true! And you know what–I don’t even care all that much!

Baseball Chick, say it isn’t so?!

Well, it’s true. I’m not saying I support steriod use or perfomance-enhancing drugs, quite the contrary, but I don’t think any honest baseball fan can’t say they didn’t know. How can you not? Were you blind for the last decade, as records were crushed and monsters were born? Are you looking me in the eye and telling me you thought Sammy’s power was from a corked bat?! It was an era in baseball history that’s having the lid closed on it (well, if you believe what Buddy Selig says) and I think it’s really time to start moving on. It’s been a fun ride, really, and a guilty pleasure for a nation, but the backlash is going to be pretty far reaching and I think it’s time the healing began. So there.

Anyway, back to Canseco. I liked this book more then I thought I would, as I had my doubts about it just being some sort of lurid ‘tell all’ on baseball. I found it an interesting study of an era in baseball that many will look back on with enjoyement and regret (and it was surprisingly well-written-c’mon, Jose, who helped?). It spans the growth of salaries, bicepts and the long-ball and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fascinating book on America’s past time (although, I was actually looking for that infamous Pete Rose book when I picked this up-I wonder what this column would have been about had that airport store stocked it?).

I’d like to end this with a quote that I’ve been thinking a lot about:

“Baseball had been in really serious trouble since the 1994 strike, and absolutely everyone knew it, from the fans to players to sportswriters to owners. The sport was on a downhil slide, and had no idea how to right itself. People thought it needed a shot in the arm. In the end, though, what it took was a shot somewhere else.”

End of story. Spring training anyone?

The Baseball Chick with Audrie Abernathy
Hitting Topics In A League Of Her Own
Discuss / Comment / Ask / Argue

Hello Fellow Podders! I am so excited to finally get the opportunity to give the girl’s perspective on Major League Baseball! I was born in that glorious state of Ohio, where my father and my godfather, Chuck lived and breath the Ohio clubs: the Cleveland Indians and the mighty Cincinnati Reds. It was almost a religion! I can only imagine my father’s disappointment the day he and my mother decided to move to the Pacific Northwest. It was in Portland, Oregon (an “empty” state, as we didn’t have a local team) that I was raised and whenever either club was televised it became a national holiday in my home. No school that day! I remember watching the Big Red Machine grind out win after win and I felt real pity for the other kids in my class (and for the record, Pete Rose belongs in Cooperstown. End of story). I owe all this to my father and Godfather they taught me everything I ever could have known about baseball and I owe much of my passion and knowledge to them. Even the tattoo of Chief Wahoo that I have is because of him, as much as he’d like to pretend it doesn’t exist!

Three years back, I finally had the opportunity to move to a Major League city?San Diego! The home of the Swinging Friar and his Padres. (My affinity toward the Padres, though, goes back several years?I had the opportunity to work at PGE Park where the Portland Beavers played - who happen to be the AAA team for the Padres! I got to see many games and even an exhibition game between the Padres and the Seattle Mariners (the padres won), as well as watch the next generation of players work their way through the farm system). Also, Tony Gwynn has always been one of my favorite players and I even managed to make it down in 2000 to see him play his final game. What a sad moment for baseball!

I went to many games my first two years here and got to see the last hurrah of Qualcomm Stadium (the old Jack Murphy Stadium, for anyone who cares) and see the crummy Padres lose 98 games in 2003 (thank God for the Tigers that year)! They bounced back last season, though, with the opening of Petco Park and played their hearts out, in contention for the National League West until the final regular-season week. The spirits are high for this year, though, as they bring back almost the entire team from last year and saw their main rivals, the Dodgers and Giants, suffer in the off season.

It gets tricky when either my beloved Reds or Indians come to town and I’m forced to choose between my new home town team and my life-long favorites. My love and loyalty cannot be swayed, though, so I’ll always be that one person in Petco Park wearing a Griffey jersey and cheering wen he launches one over the centerfield wall.

I plan on attending many games this year and hope to provide a unique insight into baseball. I hope to make sure the greatest American pastime will go on forever!

Play Ball!!