SARASOTA, Fla. — Pokey Reese's observation that Ken Griffey Jr. isn't the vocal leader Greg Vaughn was didn't come as much of a surprise to the Reds.

Ken Griffey Jr. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        Least of all, to Griffey himself.

        “I've never been a guy to jump up and down,” Griffey said. “That's not my nature; that's not my job. My job is to go out and play.”

        Reese, the former Red now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, said Wednesday: “Junior's going to be Junior. He's going to do his thing and they (management) are not going to say anything. But it's 25 of us, not one ... I know he's Ken Griffey Jr., but someone should have said, "We're all in this together.'

        “We had a leader in Greg Vaughn. He didn't put up with no crap. He told everybody how it should be. We didn't have that the last couple of years. We didn't have that leader to say what was going on. Me and (Sean) Casey and Dmitri (Young) talked among ourselves that someone needed to say something, but no one did it.”

        The man ultimately responsible for the Reds' rules last year, manager Bob Boone, said he had no problem with Griffey.

        “I only had one problem last year,” Boone said.

        Boone wouldn't say what that was, but it's a good chance he was talking about Reese. Boone was clearly unhappy that Reese did not try to play any of the last 20 games when the infielder complained of a sore shoulder.

        Reds who played with Vaughn in 1999 and Griffey in 2000 and 2001 said Vaughn and Griffey had little in common other than the ability to hit home runs.

        “Vaughnie was a rah-rah type,” Reds captain Barry Larkin said. “He would get in your face. We're missing that type of leader. I don't personally need that type of guy to motivate me.”

        Said first baseman Sean Casey: “There's not many leaders like Greg Vaughn. Comparing him with Junior is comparing apples and oranges. But there are other types of leaders.”

        Griffey doesn't profess to be a leader or to need one.

        “If somebody needs somebody to jump up and down to get them motivated,"' Griffey said, “then they've got to look in the mirror.”

        Griffey took the high road when discussing Reese's comments and had no plans to confront Reese when the Reds play the Pirates on March 7.

        “I'll just let it go,” Griffey said. "He didn't hurt my family. It's cool.”

        One thing Griffey said in his own defense was clearly pointed at Reese, although he didn't mention Reese by name.

        “I went out last year and played 95 of the last 97 games (after returning from an injured hamstring) when everyone said to shut it down,” Griffey said. “They said I should have played one or two games a week.”

        Reese missed a total of 43 starts last year without ever going on the disabled list. He didn't play in the last 20 games with the sore right shoulder.

        Reese also said there were different sets of rules for different Reds. He pointed to the failure of players to remain on the bench after leaving games, the tendency for some players to show up late or skip pregame stretching exercises, the failure of some players to observe baseball's ban on cellular phones in the clubhouse and an imbalance in the availability of extra batting practice.

        “Baseball is a game of individuals,” Casey said. “You have to accept individuals. Junior might do some things differently than I do.”

        Said reliever Danny Graves: “The pitching staff has different rules from the position players. That's the way it is in baseball. Junior wasn't the only one talking on his cell phone. Every day, 10 guys were.”

        Boone says there will remain different sets of rules for different players.

        “That's the way I do it,” Boone said. “Everybody's different.”

        He is not alone in that philosophy. When Griffey's dad, Reds coach Ken Griffey Sr., was playing for the Big Red Machine in the 1970s, manager Sparky Anderson would alter rules to accommodate his star players.

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