When Ken Griffey Jr. arrived at Shea for yesterday’s game as the newest member of the 500 home run club, he found the ceiling in the visiting clubhouse covered with Nike-donated red balloons congratulating him on Sunday’s milestone – one for each of his clouts.
The icy reception he has often received in Flushing is because many bitter Met fans are convinced those balloons should’ve been in the home clubhouse, that he should’ve reached that plateau playing for their club. Griffey said the club has only itself to blame.
This offseason, the Mets, still stinging from the Mo Vaughn fiasco, decided not to make a play for the oft-injured Griffey. And in December, 2000, Griffey rejected a possible move to the Mets when the club pressured him and reportedly gave him just moments to decide.
“They gave me 15 minutes to decide on my future. That’s not enough time. That’s disrespectful,” Griffey said. “I wanted to consider my family, so it was an easy decision. If you’re going to give me that much time, then you really don’t want me.”
If true, it could be as costly a 15 minutes as the Mets have spent. The resurgent Griffey came into last night tied for second in the NL in homers (19), fourth in RBIs (54) and once again among the biggest stars in the sport. At five years and $66.5 million, he’s a bargain.
After three injury-plagued years, he’s reaffirmed his greatness this season. And while he insists he always savored big moments, after being limited to just 43 homers – he hit 40 in seven of the eight years before that – Sunday is likely to taste even sweeter.
“The accomplishment was a joy, and it was a relief that I don’t have to worry about you guys until the next 99. [But] I’ve always enjoyed special moments. I’ve gotten to see a lot of baseball and I don’t take it for granted,” said Griffey, who underwent seven months of rehab.
“What really helped me this offseason was my son is playing football and basketball, and seeing the feeling he has for his sports. How he comes off the court mad when something happens, how he smiles when he hits a jumper, just the joy he has for the game. That’s what helped me this year getting that back.”
He offers a window into his feelings when talking about Orlando neighbors Tiger Woods and Shaquille O’Neal, saying he’ll enjoy seeing people jump back on Woods’ bandwagon when he starts winning and saying Shaq never will need money, so his decision will be about family. He might as well be talking about himself.
It was also telling when he dedicated his 500th home run to Ken Marino, a FDNY hero who died on 9/11, whose wife Katrina had emailed him to hit one for her husband. Yesterday Griffey gave the former Monroe, N.Y., resident his wristband from Sunday.
“[Ken] followed him since he was a rookie. Everything we had at our house was Ken Griffey Jr. It meant a lot when he hit that home run for my husband, especially at such a terrible time,” said Marino, who was filling out DNA forms that afternoon. “It pulled me out of a funk that I was in and the terrible day I had.”
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Trade deficit
Since being traded for Ken Griffey Jr. with three other players prior to the 2000 season, current Mets CF Mike Cameron has been more productive than Junior, due to Griffey’s many injuries. Here’s a look at their average season since 2000:
GRIFFEY — CAMERON
100 G 152
336 AB 540
56 R 87
91 H 136
23 HR 22
65 RBI 83
.269 AVG .252
76-86 Record 97-65