By Mike Kahn
CBS SportsLine Executive Editor
Aug. 26, 1998
SEATTLE -- About the same time it became apparent to the Seattle Mariners and their fans this would be a lost season -- just moments after Randy Johnson was sent to Houston for three minor-leaguers -- it became just as clear to Ken Griffey Jr. he was no longer in the three-man race to break Roger Maris' home-run record.
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Admit it: Griffey is out of the hunt.
(AP)
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"There was no actual time," Griffey said. "I just never thought about it."
Nevertheless, as both Mark McGwire (54) and Sammy Sosa (52) continue their remarkable onslaught against major-league pitchers, Griffey has quietly slipped into the background. Whereas McGwire and Sosa remain beyond record pace, Griffey takes his AL-leading 44 home runs into Wednesday's game, focuses on his 111 RBI, and explains why he hit just two homers between July 15 and Aug. 15.
THE HORRIBLY FRACTURED AND displaced left wrist he mangled with a spectacular catch in 1995 loses flexibility and strength as the season progresses. Griffey just noticed in the past 10 days he had unknowingly altered his grip to compensate and it inhibited his ability to drive the ball.
But that's not the question, nor the answer to what everybody has been trying to figure out. He hit 56 last season with a comparable drought. The odds are against him matching that total, aren't they?
"It really doesn't matter," Griffey said "I don't care about hitting home runs."
OK Junior, you've been singing that same song all of this year and last year. Of course they matter more when you win games. But what does matter now? The M's are obviously out of the pennant race, you're not in the home-run race, why don't you take some days off?
"Now, let's talk about consistency," Griffey said. "That's what I think is important in any profession. In baseball, is it important to have one or two good years, or seven or eight good years in a row? Obviously, you want longevity. Look at Wade Boggs ... nobody really says anything when Wade Boggs hits .250 -- 80 points below his normal years because he had so many great years before that. If you go through your career with one good year, then one bad year, or one great year -- then three bad ones, then it's a problem. I just want to be productive every year."
THERE'S NO REFUTING his productivity Although his batting average has dipped to .289 during the aforementioned slump, he still has 44 home runs and 111 RBI. Excluding the year he broke his wrist (he played in just 72 games), Griffey has averaged 46.8 home runs, and 119.4 RBI since 1993 -- and that includes a broken right wrist in 1996, the 1994 strike year knocking out 51 games, and he still has 32 games left this season.
Those are unquestionably Hall of Fame-type numbers for a guy who has yet to reach his 29th birthday. He could even be approaching 400 career home runs were it not for the abbreviated 1994 and 1995 seasons. And if that were the case, people might be talking about his legitimate chance at Hank Aaron's career record of 755. But that's not even the point of Griffey's greatness, says his talented teammate Alex Rodriguez, who is only 22.
"You can't compare Grif to those other guys," Rodriguez said. "He does so many other things that make us win -- and part of the reason he doesn't have more home runs is he's gotten hurt playing center field better than anyone else in baseball. How do you measure that?"
Good point A-Rod. It's just that nobody anticipated Griffey bowing out of the anointed "Race for 61" so early in August. Whether he hits 50 again remains to be seen. Whether it matters to Griffey or not, is nothing more than speculation. The theory "he doth protest too much" is a distinct possibility in the latter case.
So wherever the truth lies, so to speak, he's still on pace for 52 home runs and 133 RBI ... which, as Wade Boggs might say, ain't bad.
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