As Sosa-McGwire battle gets reheated, Ken Griffey Jr. too cool to be forgotten
Armed with a silky swing, a memorable grin and a backward hat that sent baseball's old guard into a tizzy, Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the iconic sports figures of the 1990s.
That helps to explain why the Hall of Fame outfielder was trending on Sunday night during the ESPN documentary "Long Gone Summer," which detailed the 1998 home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa but had many viewers instead looking back nostalgically at Griffey's prime — a stretch of statistical brilliance that was largely overshadowed by the beefed-up mashers whose questionable methods helped write and rewrite the MLB record book.
While biceps and hat sizes grew bigger across the sport, Griffey's effortless athleticism endeared him to a generation of fans.
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Only a wrist injury suffered midway through the 1995 season prevented Griffey from hitting at least 40 home runs in every season from 1993-2000. He led the American League in total bases in 1993 and 1997. He led the league in homers in 1994. He hit 49 home runs in 1996, three off McGwire for the league lead, and then topped the A.L. in each of the next three seasons: with 56 in 1997, when he won his only MVP, with another 56 in 1998 and with 48 in 1999.
Griffey hit 311 home runs from 1993-99 despite missing half of 1995, more than McGwire (302) and Sosa (299) during the same period, and accumulated 49.3 Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball-Reference, dwarfing totals by McGwire (32.7) and Sosa (32.4). Griffey also won the Gold Glove for his defense in every season during the 1990s; Sosa's defense took a noticeable step back after 1997, while McGwire's deteriorated as injuries decreased his mobility.
Even ESPN's Twitter account couldn't resist Griffey nostalgia, asking followers on Sunday afternoon to retweet "if Ken Griffey Jr.'s swing is the best you've ever seen," accompanied by a GIF of his left-handed cut.
The documentary did capture one essential aspect of the 1998 chase: McGwire and Sosa combined to bring attention back to baseball after a prolonged labor strike prematurely ended the 1994 season and caused a late start to 1995.
Yet McGwire later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. Sosa has deflected questions regarding the use of PEDs, relying on soft denials that state he never tested positive for steroids. Both have become baseball pariahs while Griffey, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2016 on 99.3% of ballots — then an MLB record since broken by Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera — has been cemented into baseball history.