Word: griffey
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Griffey professes modesty, and is admired by teammates for his selflessness, but he also has the swagger that seems required of men who would do what no one else can. "I just go out there and do what I'm supposed to do," he says. "If we need a home run to tie it up late, I've got to do it." Want proof? Before an at bat against Texas last week he revealed to a teammate that he was about to hit one out. He took two pitches and then sent the ball into the second deck. But there...
Even if it is McGwire who, as most people (including Griffey and Sosa) suspect, will set the record this year, it won't last 37 years, as Maris' did, or even 34, as Ruth's. Griffey is young, and the record is most likely to be his someday. He has one of the most perfect swings in baseball history: a long, smooth, straight, upper-body cut that makes McGwire's short, compact, hip-driven swing look like a shot put. Griffey's swing is the learned, refined movement of someone who grew up in major league dugouts. "Junior's never...
...While Griffey has the potential to hit 62 (he hit 56 last year), the fans haven't been pulling for him in the home-run race the way they have for McGwire. Which is odd, since Griffey is more popular. Even this year he got more All-Star votes from fans than McGwire. He's a better all-around player, more affable, more telegenic, more starlike, younger, hipper and more street than McGwire (though even Dan Quayle is more street than McGwire). Three of McGwire's black teammates refused to comment as to whether the attention to McGwire over Griffey...
Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr.--are they ready to hit? I don't mean ready to meet the fastball with the fat of the bat. We know they can do that. I mean, are they ready to hit and land their feet as American icons? Can they live forever in the records of the game--and survive this year? Can they bulldoze into the Hall of Fame and worm their way into our hearts? What price will they pay for their place in our small pantheon of power heroes...
...Griffey and McGwire are moving up to a brutal league. If they are too much jostled, pressed or in pain, they will surely fall short of glory. But if they're seen to care too much for themselves...well, Ty Cobb is in the Hall but not in our hearts. There are no selfish American heroes...