Ken Griffey

Seattle Mariners outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. may be the most talented player in baseball. "I would say he's the best," says Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas.Last season, Griffey hit .304, with 56 homers and 147 RBIs. He won his first American League MVP award and led Seattle to the A.L. West crown. He has also won eight Gold Gloves for his great fielding.Ken, whose nickname is Junior (his dad, Ken Griffey Sr., was a great ballplayer too), loves playing baseball! "I have fun like I did when I was a kid," he says.

CLEVELAND - Orioles designated hitter Jim Thome hasn't decided how much longer he wants to play, but he has a legitimate chance to catch an old teammate and friend on one of the most noteworthy lists in baseball history if he sticks around a little. On Friday, the 41-year-old Thome hit his 610th career homer, putting him in seventh place all-time. He followed with No. 611 on Saturday and almost had another Sunday. "When you start playing you don't think of [milestones]. You just keep playing," said Thome, who was traded to the Orioles on June 30. "It is very humbling.

If you're a baseball fan, you might want to pick up a copy of this month's GQ. Peter Richmond's cover story on Ken Griffey Jr. pretty much encompasses everything that's right -- and wrong -- with the national pastime.What's right is Mr. Griffey himself: The kid who scrambled into the Yankees dugout to watch his dad play is now, at 26, the sport's best player, blessed with a swing as flawless as the Hope diamond and a zest for the game."If baseball was all year round, I'd play all year round," Mr. Griffey tells Mr. Richmond, and I believe him.What's wrong is that most of Mr. Griffey's time is taken up by marketing piranhas who swarm around the superstar as he attends to "the business of being Ken Griffey" -- autographed merchandise, a Chevy commercial, a Nike ad campaign.

April 24, 1994: Seattle Mariners phenom Ken Griffey Jr. belted a home run onto Eutaw Street. The 435-foot home run landed 25 feet short of the Warehouse.

NEW YORK - This can't really be happening, can it? The Seattle Mariners were supposed to be Exhibit A in Major League Baseball's next argument for cost control - the team that was so ravaged by free agency (and the prospect of it) that its fans could be forgiven for wondering why they kicked in all that public money to build Safeco Field. Future Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson was traded to the Houston Astros during the 1998 season because of the huge contract he would soon command as a free agent.

PHILADELPHIA - The Cincinnati Reds are finding out that great expectations aren't always so great. The arrival of superstar Ken Griffey Jr. was supposed to turn last year's 96-win wonder into a dominant playoff team, but instead has magnified disappointment over a .500 start. Griffey has struggled to adjust to a new league. Fellow newcomer Dante Bichette is in a deep slump. The starting rotation needs a jump start. And all the while, the St. Louis Cardinals - the other greatly improved team in the National League Central - have been getting comfortable at the top of the standings.

The pressure would get to him; that's the conventional wisdom. Come September, if Ken Griffey closed in on Roger Maris' 61 home runs, the enormity of the challenge would overwhelm him, if the media didn't first.Ridiculous.The only thing that can stop Griffey from breaking Maris' homer record is another strike (no chance) or another injury (always possible). Sure, he needs 39 home runs in his final 111 games.But he hit 40 in 111 games before the 1994 strike.Griffey plays in the right era, hits in the right ballpark, bats in the right lineup.

Good morning --Ken Griffey Jr.-- Leave it to you to get hurt while hanging around the house.

HittingRobin Ventura, White Sox: grand slam.Ken Griffey, Mariners: 4 RBIs, HR, double.Pub Date: 8/25/98

Mariners: Ken Griffey was the DH until coming in to play center field with two out in the ninth. Nine different pitchers have started for Seattle this season, equaling the number the team used all last season.

They flew 6,139 miles from Iraq to learn how to throw a baseball 60 feet 6 inches. A handful of teenagers and seven Iraqi coaches — including the Iraqi equivalent to the head of USA Baseball — came to Aberdeen, the home of Orioles legend and U.S. state department public diplomacy envoy Cal Ripken Jr., to receive instruction at his baseball academy. For the Iraqi teens and their coaches, more likely to be sporting soccer shorts with an FC Barcelona logo like 15-year-old Ali Falah Hasan than an Orioles cap, Wednesday was a day of firsts: First trip to the United States, first time on an actual baseball diamond, first time playing with enough gloves to go around and more than one ball and one bat. It was their first time learning the proper rules of the game as well.

The tributes to Jackie Robinson all over major league baseball today are too much, some say. The skeptics don't mean that in a negative way. It's touching for six entire major league teams to wear his No. 42 today, and for members of all the other teams, like the Orioles' Corey Patterson, to be wearing it. But isn't this overkill? Doesn't this water down the tribute? Doesn't it make it a trendy act instead of an act of respect? "Jackie Robinson would be rolling over in his grave," Twins outfielder Torii Hunter said on ESPN late last week, expressing his conviction that with this tribute, less is more.

Good morning --Ken Griffey Jr.-- Leave it to you to get hurt while hanging around the house.

Ken Griffey Reds center fielder He hit his second three-run homer in as many games and drove in four runs against the Brewers. Tim Wakefield Red Sox pitcher The knuckleballer (3-6) gave up six earned runs on six hits and five walks in 6 2/3 innings against the Yankees.

At Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati Day Time TV Starters Tonight 7:10 CSN Rodrigo Lopez (4-2, 4.60) vs. Aaron Harang (4-3, 3.48) Tomorrow 7:10 13 Daniel Cabrera (5-4, 5.10) vs. Brandon Claussen (2-3, 4.50) Sunday 1:15 13 Sidney Ponson (6-3, 4.94) vs. Ramon Ortiz (1-4, 6.25) Radio: All games on WBAL (1090 AM) Reds update These teams haven't played each other since the 1970 World Series, which the Orioles won in five games. They've never met in the regular season. This series features three players - Ken Griffey, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro - with a combined 1,649 home runs and 4,835 RBIs.

Batting Line of the Day Laynce Nix, Rangers CF AB R H RBI HR 5 1 4 1 0 Pitching Line of the Day Mark Mulder, Cardinals IP H R BB SO 10 4 0 0 5 Who's Up - The Braves have scored 17 runs in two games against the Phillies after managing eight in their previous six games. Who's Down - Ken Griffey of the Reds is hitless in his past 17 at-bats, dropping his batting average to .200 with no homers and three RBIs.

Hitting Jeffrey Hammonds, Orioles: 2-for-4, HR.Ken Griffey, Mariners: 2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 runs.Cecil Fielder, Angels: 3-for-4, HR, 2 runs.PitchingJimmy Key, Orioles: 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run.Rolando Arrojo, Devil Rays: three-hit shutout.Pub Date: 5/01/98

Chicago Cubs Record, finish: 89-73, 3rd. Manager: Dusty Baker, 3rd season with Cubs, 13th overall. Payroll: $100 million. Hot seat: Jeromy Burnitz. Leaves altitude of Denver for challenge of replacing Sammy Sosa. Best case: Everything clicks and they become this year's Red Sox. ... Kerry Wood and Mark Prior combine for 38 wins and 450 innings. ... The ill vibe of last season gives way to the sort of "Dustiny" they were feeling in 2003. ... Derrek Lee finally overcomes his April bugaboo and strings six solid months together.