Ken Griffey Jr. story trumped by the call

 The Ken Griffey Jr. era has ended. Unfortunately his retirement was overshadowed by another rare and unfortunate event. Armando Galarraga nearly pitched a perfect game. His perfect game lasted 8 and 2/3 innings until a fatal call by umpire Jim Joyce ruined it for him.

Jason Donald hit a ground ball to first baseman Miguel Cabrera who moved towards second base to make the play. Cabrera whisk a throw to Galarraga who was covering first by this time. It appeared that they had made the play perfectly. Joyce on the other hand thought that Donald had been safe. Upon further inspection via instant replay, it was deemed that Donald would have been ought if Joyce had made the right call. The impact: Galarraga does not receive credit for a perfect game which is a very rare feat in baseball.

If the call would have been made correctly, Galarraga would have been the third player in a month to toss a perfect game, (Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay were the other two,) and it would have been the first time in ever that three players threw a perfect game in a single season. It is a call like this that brings into question the umpires roll in the game. Umpires are there to make their best judgment even though it may clearly be the wrong one, it is their opinion. This was the unfortunate event that overshadowed Ken Griffey’s final day in the league.

I believe that Griffey made the right call, hanging his jersey up after 22 seasons and retiring with the Mariners. The unfortunate part of this call…He retired hitting bloody awful. After 22 seasons of baseball “The Kid” ends a beautiful career with a total of 630 homeruns but none this season…I think we need to look at Griffey as an overall Mariner rather than what he has done the last two years. The last two seasons were minor speed bumps in an overall amazing career.

When Griffey went to Cincinnati I was mad at him for going. I was mad that the Mariners let him go. But, when he came back I was extremely pleased that they would bring back such a fun-loving player. I don’t think the Mariners brought Griffey back to be the dominate force he once was, he was brought back to end his career, to have a final year or two as a Mariner. The team that he had an incredible amount of success with; the team that loved him for every ounce of joy he brought to the fans. Griffey will be missed even though he was hitting lousy. He was fun to watch. This is the first time there has never been a Griffey in baseball for me. It is weird to me…But, he helped me to really become a fan when I was younger, and for that I thank him. Griff you the man.