Friday, February 25, 2000

Camp Griffey now complete

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Senior arrives; jokes begin

BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ken Griffey Jr. and dad line up for a photo shoot. (Michael E. Keating photos) | ZOOM |

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        SARASOTA, Fla. — Ken Griffey Jr. is widely considered the best player in baseball. He has won four AL home run titles, including the last three. He has been the AL MVP. He has won 10 Gold Gloves. He has made 10 All-Star teams.

        Ken Griffey Sr. played on world championship teams. He was the MVP of the All-Star game in 1980.

        But Junior and Senior list the same thing as their fondest baseball memory: The time they spent together as teammates in Seattle.

        They played together for part of the 1990 and '91 seasons. They even hit back-to-back home runs Sept.14, 1990. Both still cherish that time.

        “That was the best,” Junior said. “No one had ever done it before. How many people get to go to work with their dad? I got to do that.”

        Said Senior: “It's a lot bigger than the World Series, because nobody else did it.”

Big crowd gathers to watch Griffey take batting practice. | ZOOM |

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        That's part of the reason Junior is a member of the Reds.

        Father and son got together for the first time Thursday at the Reds' spring training camp. Senior, the Reds bench coach, missed Junior's first two days in camp because he had arthroscopic knee surgery Monday in Cincinnati.

        The jokes began as soon as Senior returned to camp.

        There was a note on Reds stationery taped to Junior's locker, reading: “You owe $300,000 a month for rent of No.30.”

        Junior gave up the No.24 he wore in Seattle in deference to Reds Hall of Famer Tony Perez. He took No.30, Senior's old number, and Senior is wearing No.33.

        Senior's official dealings with Junior will be minimal. Unofficially, however, he is Junior's coach/sounding board.

        “I'll go to him, because he knows my swing better than anyone,” Junior said. “He knows everything about me.”

        Even when Junior was with Seattle, he and his father spoke daily on the phone. Junior always called collect.

        “I'll still call collect, but it will be room-to-room,” Junior said.

        “I know how to fine-tune things,” Senior said. “I've been working with him since he could pick up a bat. That was when he 5 or 6.”

        Junior picked up the mechanics of the swing so quickly that Senior moved on to the other equally important part of being successful.

        “When he got to 12 or 13,” Senior said, “I started working on his head.”

        That continues to be the focus.

        “He knows the answers to all his own questions,” Senior said. “I just have to remind him. That helps him come out of a slump faster. Some guys get in a slump, and it goes on for a week or 10 days. They go 1-for-30 before they can get out of it. He's come out a little quicker than that.”

        Senior was Junior's hitting coach in 1993. But through all that, their relationship never changed.

        It's the same now.

        “He's a father first and a coach second,” Junior said. “It's no different.”

        Thursday was Griffey Family Day here: Senior; Junior; Senior's wife, Birdie; Junior's wife, Melissa; and Junior's two children, Trey and Taryn.

        Trey was ready to go Wednesday night.

        “As soon as Dad got there, Trey grabbed his spikes and glove and said, "Grandpa, we going to play?'” Junior said.

        Junior said Trey gets preferential treatment from Senior.

        “I say, "I never got that,'” Junior said. “He says, "I've got to work on that third-generation swing.'”

       

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