By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ken Griffey Jr. has played in 379 games as a Red.

If he were a broken down 40-year-old, Ken Griffey Jr. might consider retirement.

Only then would the spate of injuries that has defined his tenure with the Reds be intolerable.

But at 33 years old and every bit as passionate about the game as ever, Griffey continues to see hope through the frustration of a season now lost.

"I know that I'll come back," he said Wednesday. "I'll come back next year at 100 percent, ready to go."

Walking without the aid of crutches, but still wearing a cumbersome black boot to protect his surgically repaired right ankle, Griffey was in good spirits as he spoke publicly for the first time since rupturing a peroneal tendon in his right ankle while rounding first base on July 17.

"If this game was easy, if you didn't have to work at it, it wouldn't be fun," he said.

"I have to work at getting back to playing the game that I love. In a way, it's tough because I'm working without playing. Hopefully, this is the last of it and it will be different in the next four years."

Doctors are not through operating on Griffey.

He is scheduled to have arthroscopic reconstructive surgery in the coming week on the right shoulder he dislocated while diving for a fly ball April 5.

"For at least two weeks, I'm going to be miserable," said Griffey, who continued to experience discomfort after coming off the disabled list May 12.

"But by mid-November, I should be playing golf. That's what the Doc says, that if I work hard, I should start being able to do some things that I want to."

A durable player during his 11 seasons with the Seattle Mariners - he was on the disabled list only three times - various leg, foot and shoulder ailments have landed Griffey on the disabled list five times since the Reds traded for him before the 2000 season.

All told, he will have missed 208 Reds games because of injury while playing in 379. Five years remain on his contract at $12.5-million per year.

"If I go out, I go out on the field," said Griffey, who has batted .271 with 83 home runs and 232 RBI the past four seasons.

"That's always been my mentality. You just can't fear injuries. They're going to happen. ... If you go out there and play hard, that's all that matters."

His injuries this season came while diving for a ball in the left-center field gap and legging out a double.

"He's still one of the best player ever to have played," Pirates outfielder Brian Giles said. "You definitely let a superstar like him ride it out."

But finding such compassion and understanding in Cincinnati often has been difficult.

Griffey is not so strong mentally that he didn't hear the boos that night he felt his ankle "pop."

In the stands were Griffey's wife, Melissa, and the couple's three children.

"I did hear a lot of the cheers and appreciate those people who are standing behind me," he said. "Those are the people who really count.

"I guess (the fans that booed) found out the next day it was more serious than they thought it was."

Rather than concern himself about the negative, however, Griffey is focusing on coming back.

Next season, if he can stay healthy, he probably will hit his 500th career homerun.

"The good and bad, you just have to deal with it," he said. "You move on and try to make things better."

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