Ken Griffey Jr: From Berdoo to Chi-town
The Sun's blogs already have at least two postings regarding Manny Ramirez's trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal that probably gives the Blue Crew a decent shot at winning a weak National League West division.
But Manny wasn't the only slugger who got traded today. The Cincinnati Reds dealt Ken Griffey Jr. to the Chicago White Sox, giving the future Hall of Famer a chance to play for a contending team in the twilight of his career.
Griffey Jr., many will recall, played in San Bernardino before he reached the Major Leagues. A 2006 article in our archives reported that Griffey played 58 games for the San Bernardino Spirit in 1988, hitting .338 over the course of those contests.
Do any readers watch Griffey playi at Fiscalini Field? The comments section is open for your memories.
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Andrew Edwards. E-mail Andrew here.
I took my son Brian to see the Spirit, and of course its main attraction, Ken Griffey.
Brian wanted Griffey's autograph after the game, but the line was so long that I told him we'll get his autograph at another game.
Shortly after, He was gone. Brian didn't forget his dad's impatience for quite awhile.
What I remember about Griffey was how skinny he was. I wouldn't have believed he would gain the weight and size and become the home run slugger that he did.
I enjoyed the ball games at Fiscalini. The seats were cozy up to the infield, so as a fan, it was like being on top of the game.
Brian and I had a lot of fun at that old ball park. And the Spirit drew well. The seats always seemed to be filled.
We were living in San Bernardino at the time and we were faithful Spirit attendees. We went to the giveaway day for the "Griffey Time" poster that they handed out to all fans and I had him sign it before the game. I remember how accessible he and others were on the team. My mom made me save that poster and I still have it to this day.
I remember that I asked some dumb question about how often his Dad had come to see him.
I think he went 3-for-3 that game or something amazing like that.