Thursday, February 10, 2000
Griffey as Cincinnati as chili, Big Red Machine
BY JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer
![[griffey]](http://reds.enquirer.com/img/photos/2000/02/021000griffeymoeller180.jpg)
Griffey wore a Moeller uniform the last time he played in Cincinnati.
(Jim Callaway photo)
| ZOOM |
|
As an 8-year-old knocking around on Cincinnati's sandlots, there was something special about that swing. His father could see it then.
“You can't teach a swing like that,” Reds coach Ken Griffey said last summer.
The son, known simply as Junior, had it right from the start. He played against much older kids and learned to hold his own when the fastball buzzed in.
While his father's career took him from the Big Red Machine to Yankee Stadium and then to Atlanta, Ken Griffey Jr. was never far away, watching and learning.
And now he's come back to where it all began.
The trade that reunited Junior with his father and his hometown Thursday gave Cincinnati back one of its own. A city that remembers its baseball heroes by first name only — Pete, Tony, Johnny, Sparky, Little Joe — had another name on its lips.
“Junior.”
“If you're from Cincinnati, you're one of the hometown people,” said coach Ron Oester, who grew up in the Ohio River city and played for the Reds. “You're going to be a special person to them.”
In a way, the city has grown up with him.
Junior played with Pete Rose Jr. and the rest of the players' sons in the Reds' clubhouse during the 1970s, learning what it's like to be around champions.
Even then, it seemed there was something different about him.
“He always had a lot of confidence,” Oester said. “He was always cocky in a good way, sure about himself and his abilities.”
He went to Moeller High School in suburban Cincinnati and set home run records at the Catholic school, catching the eye of scouts nationwide. Everyone knew he would be a high draft pick and would be gone long before Cincinnati picked.
When the Seattle Mariners made him the first overall pick in the 1987 draft, Junior began forging his own identity on the other coast. By 1989, he had his own chocolate bar.
Finally, the father and the son came together in the same lineup.
They made history in 1990, when Griffey Sr. signed with the Mariners and gave the major leagues its first father-son combination. They hit consecutive homers off Anaheim's Kirk McCaskill on Sept. 14 of that year, another first.
Griffey retired following a neck operation in 1991, saying his two years playing on the same team with his son were the highlights of his career.
Now they're on the same team again, a reunion the city has long awaited. Reds fans have dreamed of Junior coming home since the day he was drafted away.
“Me being from Cincinnati and having family up there as well, I know how he feels,” said Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, whose records Griffey broke at Moeller High.
When Griffey was having a difficult time hitting left-handers last May, he spent some time with his father at Cinergy Field on an off-day, honing his swing. Sports talk shows and newspaper columns crackled with speculation that it was a harbinger.
When Griffey rejected the Mariners' eight-year, $135 million contract offer in November, Reds general manager Jim Bowden began negotiations to pull off one of the biggest trades in franchise history.
The Reds were a long shot initially, but public sentiment for the trade grew as spring training approached and talks continued. Local fans loved it when Griffey said he would play only for the Reds and would accept a lot less money to do it.
By the time the trade was completed Thursday evening, the city was in a frenzy. It was getting back one of its own.
• Join the discussion on our Reds forum
• Expanded coverage at Cincinnati.com
Reds Stories
Reds page
![[griffey]](http://reds.enquirer.com/img/photos/2000/02/021000griffeymoeller.jpg)