Monday, October 25, 1999
Today, All-Century; tomorrow?
Griffey Jr. skirts questions about future
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ATLANTA — Ken Griffey Jr. leaned away from the now-familiar question as if it were a high, tight fastball. Might his whereabouts as a player be determined by where (or whether) his father ends up managing?
“It's something you guys always come up with, to stir it up just a tad, and then I've got to answer all the questions,” Griffey said Sunday. “Tell you what, why don't you call my agent?”
OK, Ken. But Griffey's Cincinnati-based agent, Brian Goldberg, continued to insist that his clients' careers won't necessarily intersect. The elder Griffey, who's under contract as the Reds' bench coach, has interviewed for managerial openings in Milwaukee, Baltimore and Colorado (since filled by Buddy Bell) and is a second-tier candidate with Cleveland and the Chicago Cubs.
The younger Griffey said it didn't matter to him where his father gets a managerial job. “As long as he gets one,” Griffey said. “Thirty years in baseball. That speaks for itself.”
After meeting with top Seat tle Mariners executives in a few weeks, Griffey Jr. is expected to decide in late November whether he'll sign an extension to his contract that expires next year or ask for a trade.
“It's no different than it has been the last number of years,” Goldberg said. “Where Senior goes and where Junior goes is a factor, but only one of many. They're a very, very close family, but where Senior goes may not be consistent with Junior wanting a (championship) ring. Probably at the top of Junior's list are competing for a World Series and how far he's going to have to be from his family.”
Griffey Jr. joined a new family this weekend: baseball's All- Century team, which was honored before Game 2 of the World Series. The Seattle center fielder and Moeller High School graduate was one of only three active players elected to the 30-man contingent, besides St. Louis first baseman Mark McGwire and New York Yankees right-hander Roger Clemens.
It would have been easy for Griffey to get carried away with his latest honor. As he addressed reporters at a downtown Atlanta hotel, filmmaker Spike Lee videotaped part of his address. But though Griffey, who turns 30 on Nov.21, is widely considered the finest player of the current era, he almost shuddered at the notion of being lumped with the game's immortals.
“Oh no. I'm not one of them,” said Griffey, who owns a .299 lifetime batting average and 398 home runs in 11 seasons. “I have a long way to go to catch up to these guys and what they've done. Willie (Mays) looked at me and said, "I've got (underwear) older than you.' Those guys were in the game for 20 years or so and I've just gotten to the halfway point of what they've done.”
Said Goldberg, “His being humble is not any kind of act. He doesn't assume a lot when it comes to how big a name he is.”
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