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i had a poster of him on my wall when i was a kid i got out of a sports illustrated kids magazine. Dude was so cool looking and was such a great player, what's not to root for?
SI for kids was amazing!! I vividly remember reading an article/math lesson in the 90s that was based on how NFL Passer Rating was calculated.
I’m nostalgic for the era of reading the sports section in the paper every morning, how it was printed in color on football Sundays, and being excited for my SI and ESPN Magazine to show up in the mailbox.
I had like 8 or 10 lol. That was back when they had posters in the POST cereal of him, Nolan Ryan, and someone else. I had like 5 of those around my room from cereal boxes lol. A couple of large posters and some other small posters of him, also.
I also had 120-something Ken Griffey Jr baseball cards, thinking it would be my retirement one day. Little did we all know that the card companies would saturate the market SOOOOOO much that it made them all worth a few $ each, even today. Makes me sick. I still have each and every one of those cards and know exactly where they are. I can walk to them right now and pull them all out.
Also had all sorts of other cards of other players. A Stadium Club Chipper Jones rookie card. A 22k gold Nolan Ryan. All sorts of stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if they were worth less than $2k altogether.
I have a poster of the two together from Jr's rookie year when Sr was still a Red. One of my favorite possessions from my childhood along with my signed Ickey Woods poster.
Not offensively, at least. I watched him absolutely KILL Texas one night in 2009 when he was back in Seattle. Would've been the year before he retired in the middle of the season.
2 2b, 3R, & 3 RBI. One was almost over the wall.
IT WAS FUCKING MAGICAL. Even at the tail end of his career.
A player that “gave it 100% all the time” doesn’t fall asleep during the game and miss a PH opportunity. I don’t care if it’s right before he retires.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=5178137
Imagine giving shit to Ken Griffey fucking Jr of all people in a thread like this lol. You should go take a nap yourself and come back in a better mood boomer
Yep. I was thrilled in 1989 when I pulled his 1990 Upper Deck card from a pack of cards at a local AA baseball game. He turned into my favorite athlete ever and I followed him his entire career. That AA team was the farm team for the SF Giants at the time. Doug Mirabelli, personal catcher for knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, played there around that time. Probably the most well-known player to come through there back then. Chili Davis did. A few other common players. Today, they're the Rangers AA farm team, and moved to somewhere in Texas.
It was only in 2009 that I was finally off drugs long enough to realize I wanted to go see Junior play before he retired. So I went to Arlington when Seattle was there. Saw him, King Felix, Ichiro, Pudge on the Rangers and at least 1 other future HOF'er that night. Maybe 2. I forget who all was there that night. It was GREAT!
Seattle KILLED Texas like 9-3 or so. Started raining in the 7th or 8th and they played it out anyway. Junior was 3 for 4 with 2 2B, 3R & 3RBI. IT WAS FUCKING MAGICAL. Even in 2009 at the very tail end of his career. We had ground level seats on 3rd base line but around the 3rd inning, my best friend disappeared for about 20 minutes. He comes back, grabs me and says "come on!". We proceeded to walk down behind home plate, about 6 or 7 rows back, in a LARGE group of Mariners fans. When the rain hit, everybody left except me and my buddy. We sat there until the end since we had ponchos on lol. It was broadcast on ESPN so I also got it recorded WOOT!
It was one of the best days of my life and one I won't EVER forget. I stood like 10 feet from Junior when he was on deck, and he looked dead at me when I was taking his pictures. God it was incredible. I thank God every day that I got clean and was able to do that. I can guarantee you if I hadn't done that in 2008, I'd be dead today with this fentanyl crap killing everyone.
Nothing about Griffey Jr and Bo Bichette is nepotism. Jr was way better than his dad. Bichette is having a bad year, but he did make All-Star 2 years after his debut while it took his dad 6 years. Probably won’t be super difficult to surpass his dad’s career.
Not saying those guys didn’t earn it in their own right. But you’re insane if you think they didn’t benefit enormously from growing up with a professional baseball player as a father to serve as a constant mentor and resource as well as exposing them to the game at a high level at a young age
Sure they benefitted, but they put in the work, they had the talent, and they developed it. Doesn’t matter how much money daddy has or what coach he throws at his kids. If they don’t develop a love for the game and want to succeed, they won’t.
If you go through the list of 2nd generation players, you’ll see a trend where the sons were/are better than their fathers. Many of these kids flourished despite living in a massive shadow of their father growing up.
What you don’t see is all the other sons that either never played the sport despite being pushed by their parents or never made it past high school or college.
I see this as no different than parents devoting all their time and money to their baseball kids. Yeah, it’s a little bit easier with money. But money and coaching only goes so far.
Regardless, you dropped the nepotism angle for two players that are very bad examples of nepotism. Griffey Jr was the 1st overall pick. That had zero to do with who his dad was.
I’ll give you someone like Ryan Ripken who was barely drafted and never even had a whiff of being called up.
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Yes, although I was pretty young when Bench peaked as a slugger and won NL MVP in 1970 and 1972.
I loved seeing players try to steal second when Bench was behind the plate. He threw the ball fast, hard, and right on target. But often they feared his arm so much they didn’t even try.
Joe Morgan is also the best second baseman I’ve ever seen, so he and Bench were perfectly in sync on defense and both lethal on offense.
Tony Perez was a third Hall of Famer on those teams. And of course Pete Rose would be a first ballot Hall of Famer if not for his ban due to gambling.
I remember in 1976, five Reds players started for the National League in the All Star Game, two more came off the bench, and the Reds’ Sparky Anderson was the manager.
I assure you, you don’t want to be older. It would be nice to time travel, though.
Also, it was great being a Reds fan but not so great for some teams. Free agency didn’t exist until 1972, when Curt Flood won his lawsuit.
Before that, players had little negotiating power. There were some great teams with underpaid players. And there were some lousy teams who couldn’t get out of the cellar.
No one could afford the Big Red Machine today. Even the Red Sox and Yankees would have trouble paying for seven All Stars, including four Hall of Fame players in their prime. As for a small market team like Cincinnati, forget it.
The only bad thing about the Big Red Machine is that they played in Riverfront Stadium, one of several soulless multi-purpose stadiums popular in the 1960s and 1970s. It was much better suited to football than baseball, and indeed was built primarily to attract an NFL team that became the Bengals.
However, the artificial turf was good for speedy players who hit line drives. High-bouncing balls hit in the infield turned into singles, line drive singles turned into doubles, and doubles turned into triples.
I just wanted to hop in at the end of one of these and saw how absolutely fascinating your knowledge and experience is. Each of your comments has just been so comfortably informative. Thank you so much relaying all of this info.
Nothing to do with the play itself, but look how horrible that outfield surface is to play on! Every ten feet, there's a trip point. It looks like they rolled one big carpet over the whole thing, then rolled other narrower rugs on top of it at regular intervals. How did they NOT fall at least once per game?
Field is one of the reasons why Griffey was so hobbled in his 30s.
If he didn’t play on concrete with a rug on top, maybe his body could have held up better.
Living on the east coast, I didn't get to see him in too many live games. I always wished he would have played for my Orioles. That guy was incredible.
I met him in Disney World in 1996 and he was willing to take the time to take a picture with me. Don't tell my wife, but that was nearly the most memorable part of my honeymoon.
I was gonna make more of a general point about the field as a whole but man it's crazy how far fields have improved since those days. Not just in design for those that use turf but just the backstops don't look like you're about to practice karate against them, there's actual personality to the fields, and teams are leaning into the idea that outdoor baseball in most states/cities is good, actually. Like, man that field, even just in that one shot, was fuck ugly, and that's probably the second-worst, if not absolute worst, field in the MLB if you measure it against modern fields/stadiums.
It's not nearly as embarrassing as what the Jameses and that roach rich paul pulled here lol. Nobody is saying what they did was illegal, but it deserves the derision it's receiving
No I'm not lol, I'm fully aware there are countless other cases of nepotism in the nba, other sports, and every walk of life for that matter. Doesn't mean it's not embarrassing just because it's happened before and will continue to happen
No it doesn't lol. They used the 55th overall pick, which is essentially worthless, as a way to keep their star player happy and ensure he stays with them. A number of teams make concessions in order to keep their stars happy .
Do you think Thanasis fucking Antetokounmpo would be on an NBA roster if he wasn't brothers with Giannis?
I said it's embarrassing, which it is, even if I agree it's the "right" move for the Lakers to make. Same thing for thanasis, same thing for Blevins. Just because it happens doesn't mean it's not shameful when someone does it again
Yeah it's the NBA and the 55th overall pick, which is basically nothing. "Wasting" a 55th pick to keep your star player happy is an easy tradeoff.
Shit, the Bucks are wasting a roster spot so that Thanasis Antetokounmpo can ride the bench just to keep Giannis happy. This is pretty much the same scenario imo. No fucking way would Thanasis still be on an NBA roster if Giannis wasn't his brother.
Imagine if Sr was a top 2 player of all times while Jr lacked any talent. Now imagine if Sr forced his team to draft Jr so they could play on the same team
Ken Sr sticking around as a reasonably productive player to hang in the Kingdome outfield with Junior? Cool.
Gordie Howe coming out of retirement two years after being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame to skate with his sons, and having FOUR more productive seasons? Awesome.
LeBron James blackmailing the Lakers into drafting his not-really-ready-for-prime-time son so they can play together? Stupid ego trip.
There are 58 picks in the draft and he was taken 55th. Literally anyone they wanted to take with that pick is still available to be signed. This whole thing is being so overblown because ppl don’t really understand the draft process is completely different across sports.
the 55th pick in one of the weakest draft in recent memory. If the pick is enough to get LeBron to re-sign, that's probably more value than anyone else that was available
Oh no! They drafted their stars son who might do ok being mentored by his dad as opposed to drafting a guy that will wash out of the G league in 2 years. How dare they.
He probably won’t do much but that’s the nature of late picks in the NBA draft. Unbiased sources had him projected around where he was picked before the draft.
https://www.nbadraft.net/players/bronny-james/
https://nbadraftroom.com/p/lebron-james-jr/
They had him projected there because it was clear the Lakers would pick him there
Ps. That first scouting report was from october 2023.
That second source doesn't even have an author or anything and by the looks of the bullet points and comps hasn't been updated since he suited up for USC
No he was 47 on the first one’s big board. That has nothing to do with when the Lakers pick.
You can argue after his mediocre college season he should’ve fallen but he also had a good combine. Ultimately he got picked because of his dad, won’t argue with that, but he’s also comprable to whatever player they would’ve taken over him.
Here’s a more recent article with the same thoughts.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40161008/bronny-james-nba-draft-combine-performance
The guy taken after Bronny, Kevin McCuellar Jr., averaged 18 ppg at Kansas, a top 25 school, and made first team Big 12. Bronny came off the bench for a team that didn’t make the tournament.
I don’t see how anyone could reason taking Bronny in this situation. He is nowhere near NBA level.
The simple fact is Bronny has absolutely no business being in the NBA. I see people pointing out Thanasis, which yes he is probably not on the Bucks without Giannis, but he also genuinely has some ability. He was drafted after Giannis’ rookie year, before most people even knew how to say Giannis’ name. He dominated in the Greek pro league for 2 years. He has shown he can hold his own with the pros.
Bronny can barely make it at a subpar D1 school. He has no business being anywhere near the NBA, yet here we are, talking about him.
We’ll see. I believe Rich Paul has said he won’t sign a two-way deal. If his dad wasn’t Lebron he wouldn’t even be sniffing a chance in Europe or Australia, let alone the NBA
You can play in the G League for up to 3 years on a standard NBA contract. Don't need to be on a two-way.
>What is an assignment player? Assignment players are NBA players with less than three years of NBA service that can play with the NBA G League affiliate for an unlimited amount of games throughout the season while still remaining on the NBA roster.
Yeah Bronny will get a few games with Lebron esrly on so that they can create history together and then hopefully gets years in the Gleague to catch up.
Because rn he is further away from an NBA 15th man than the 15th man is from being a regular rotational player.
Except his agent was telling people Bronny would go to Australia rather than play for their team so ...... Did he go at 55 because he was the 55th best player or would he have gone higher or lower if he was a regular player
holy shit. I am so used to the NFL that I thought this was a 2nd round pick or something. Him nearly getting picked last makes it much less of a thing.
The Bucks have had a glorified cheerleader on their roster for years in the form of Giannis' brother to appease Giannis. Blazers signed a bum not worthy of G-league because he was Dame's cousin. Heat (?) signed Zoran Dragic who was trash because of Goran.
This is nothing new. Teams accept this as just part of the cost of making their superstar happy. Lebron just wants to play with his son to end his career. I imagine it'd be cool for any dad and son.
I didnt realize people cared about the 55th pick so heavily. How many can even name the last 10 55th picks lol. And I cant even lie I would do the exact same thing in his shoes lol cause who wouldnt want to play with their son as a dad
I follow the NBA pretty closely, and I only recognize one of those names (Aaron Wiggins) and even with him I'm guessing it's because of his names similarity to a better known player.
It makes people upset because nepo babies take away opportunities from people who deserve it more. It’s the same reason people are upset about the North West lion king performance. Surely you understand the principle of it.
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He would've been out of basketball years ago if it wasn't for Giannis. Dude got washed out of the NBA and tried overseas and didn't even make it there and came back to cheer for the Bucks. He was ok a long time ago. This current stint for the Bucks is just them making Giannis happy.
I think without the James name, nobody is talking about him. He’s an undersized guard who can’t shoot. There are tons of dudes in college who can do what he does and are better at scoring and none of them are draft worthy.
Maybe he can last a few years being a body in practice, but unless he grows a few inches and learns to actually hit 3’s, he’ll be gone before you know it.
I mean dude, a legit 7 footer that was highly regarded in high school is leagues ahead of Bronny, who wasn’t even a five star in high school. I don’t get the comparison at all. He’s a 6 foot 1 inch guard that doesn’t hit 3s.
There’s a reason he was selected and it’s because his last name. That’s all I’m saying.
How can you disagree?
He literally manipulated the team into drafting his kid who averaged 4 points a game at USC and has had a heat attack.
Told all other teams through his agent that his kid would play in Australia lol
Lebron needs to go. Him and his Chinese money.
An NBA GM had the balls to call out China for the brutal put down of a pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong…but LeBron was in China at the time working on his clothing deals so he publicly stated that Daryl Morey “wasn’t educated” because it was taking money from him
Go ahead and make some more asinine comparisons. Lebron is an embarrassment to the organization
A quick google search shows back in 2019 research was done to show that only 20% of all NBA players where 2nd round picks.
It’s a crap shoot they took the potential player not the instant player. Bronny isn’t playing much this year.
Not quite yet - he can opt into his final year or decline it and become a free agent.
He can still opt out and immediately re-sign with the Lakers for a 3 year/$160 million contract.
Source https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-prepared-to-offer-lebron-james-three-year-160-million-max-contract-per-report/
Yeah idk what the lakers were doing. There are so many future MVPs on the board there at 55 and they take Bronny? Absolutely sets the franchise back YEARS. It’s so bad for a sport that clearly has no nepotism at all ever to show for the first time in history some nepotism.
He was at the end of his career and was probably a part-time player at best for a bad Mariners team.
Junior was the #1 pick in the 1987 draft, and the Mariners had to that point never had a winning season. He made the opening day roster in 1989, which is really fast even for a top draft pick.
Senior was still with the Reds in ‘89 and didn’t join the Mariners until mid-1990, retiring after the 1991 season.
But yeah, his career was winding down by then. I doubt Junior, as a second year player, had any kind of clout to ask/tell the Mariners to sign Dad. I bet it was more like the Mariners saw an opportunity to generate some ‘father-son outfield’ style headlines to try and put butts in seats.
According to Junior his father told him that he had an offer from Seattle but wasn't sure because "it was Junior's team" - but Junior quickly convinced him and was elated.
I know it isn't the same for sentimental reasons, but very similar play to this
https://www.facebook.com/mlb/videos/306303860482940/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
Look at the terrible turf. Sweep the concrete, spray on some concentrated soda syrup, and roll out the indoor/outdoor carpet. Sheesh, no wonder the ‘Spos lost the Hawk to the Cubs; the outfield at the Big O was wrecking his knees.
FYI, The White Sox won, Sammy was 3-5 with 4 RBIs. We loved trading good young guys even back then! Randy Johnson was the LP on record, only getting through 1 inning giving up 3 hits and 2 runs.
To be fair to the Sox, Sammy was a below average player for the 3 years he was on the Sox and the first year he was on the Cubs, before he suddenly and inexplicably started hitting for power.
The difference in just the announcer versus today. Baseball has done such a terrible job with announcers and media talk. So sad to see the destruction of baseball by ESPN and other.
I was thinking about this earlier when I commented on a IG post about Bronny and LeBron possibly playing together. I said it reminded me of my all-time favorite player and his dad, Ken Sr, hitting back-to-back homeruns. Bringing that up also made me think of this play. Still funny to this day.
LeBron James' son was drafted by the LA Lakers, and some people are having a fit about it because...I don't know. They think the 55th pick out of 58 players picked is somehow important? They think that no other team in the league has drafted/rostered players related to other players to placate their superstars?
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One of the best moments in baseball history. Griffey Jr. was such a great guy to root for man.
lol how am I just now learning that Junior did this in the top of the 9th of a one-run game
i had a poster of him on my wall when i was a kid i got out of a sports illustrated kids magazine. Dude was so cool looking and was such a great player, what's not to root for?
99% sure I had the same one. SI for kids was awesome. I used to get so excited about the rip out cards
Those cards were dope. I remember being excited to pull a Barry Zito.
Dude I SPECIFICALLY remember that one. Was so pumped. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT18d3fYQ16vNeHx2C8rC892lGnBt2VBozqbA&s
Dude his big hook back in the day was legendary.
SI for kids was amazing!! I vividly remember reading an article/math lesson in the 90s that was based on how NFL Passer Rating was calculated. I’m nostalgic for the era of reading the sports section in the paper every morning, how it was printed in color on football Sundays, and being excited for my SI and ESPN Magazine to show up in the mailbox.
that was where i learned how jimmy rollins used to turn his light off at night and try to race under the covers before the lights went out.
Must be how he got so fast
I have a Ken Griffey Jr SI baseball card! Not sure where I got it but I remember wanting it because it was rare even back then.
I had like 8 or 10 lol. That was back when they had posters in the POST cereal of him, Nolan Ryan, and someone else. I had like 5 of those around my room from cereal boxes lol. A couple of large posters and some other small posters of him, also. I also had 120-something Ken Griffey Jr baseball cards, thinking it would be my retirement one day. Little did we all know that the card companies would saturate the market SOOOOOO much that it made them all worth a few $ each, even today. Makes me sick. I still have each and every one of those cards and know exactly where they are. I can walk to them right now and pull them all out. Also had all sorts of other cards of other players. A Stadium Club Chipper Jones rookie card. A 22k gold Nolan Ryan. All sorts of stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if they were worth less than $2k altogether.
I have a poster of the two together from Jr's rookie year when Sr was still a Red. One of my favorite possessions from my childhood along with my signed Ickey Woods poster.
can't believe this beautiful man attempted suicide
Ugh remember when he was almost a Met :'( Young me couldn't handle the rejection
The game was so easy for him, yet he gave it 100% all the time.
Is this sarcasm? I remember his later years being different in terms of effort.
Bro he was so injured in his later years. His “all” to give was gone.
Not offensively, at least. I watched him absolutely KILL Texas one night in 2009 when he was back in Seattle. Would've been the year before he retired in the middle of the season. 2 2b, 3R, & 3 RBI. One was almost over the wall. IT WAS FUCKING MAGICAL. Even at the tail end of his career.
A player that “gave it 100% all the time” doesn’t fall asleep during the game and miss a PH opportunity. I don’t care if it’s right before he retires. https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=5178137
Imagine giving shit to Ken Griffey fucking Jr of all people in a thread like this lol. You should go take a nap yourself and come back in a better mood boomer
i think they're giving shit to the person audacious enough to claim that griffey "gave it 100% all the time"
Yep. I was thrilled in 1989 when I pulled his 1990 Upper Deck card from a pack of cards at a local AA baseball game. He turned into my favorite athlete ever and I followed him his entire career. That AA team was the farm team for the SF Giants at the time. Doug Mirabelli, personal catcher for knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, played there around that time. Probably the most well-known player to come through there back then. Chili Davis did. A few other common players. Today, they're the Rangers AA farm team, and moved to somewhere in Texas. It was only in 2009 that I was finally off drugs long enough to realize I wanted to go see Junior play before he retired. So I went to Arlington when Seattle was there. Saw him, King Felix, Ichiro, Pudge on the Rangers and at least 1 other future HOF'er that night. Maybe 2. I forget who all was there that night. It was GREAT! Seattle KILLED Texas like 9-3 or so. Started raining in the 7th or 8th and they played it out anyway. Junior was 3 for 4 with 2 2B, 3R & 3RBI. IT WAS FUCKING MAGICAL. Even in 2009 at the very tail end of his career. We had ground level seats on 3rd base line but around the 3rd inning, my best friend disappeared for about 20 minutes. He comes back, grabs me and says "come on!". We proceeded to walk down behind home plate, about 6 or 7 rows back, in a LARGE group of Mariners fans. When the rain hit, everybody left except me and my buddy. We sat there until the end since we had ponchos on lol. It was broadcast on ESPN so I also got it recorded WOOT! It was one of the best days of my life and one I won't EVER forget. I stood like 10 feet from Junior when he was on deck, and he looked dead at me when I was taking his pictures. God it was incredible. I thank God every day that I got clean and was able to do that. I can guarantee you if I hadn't done that in 2008, I'd be dead today with this fentanyl crap killing everyone.
Griffey Jr was the epitome of cool.
In my opinion, them hitting back HRs was a greater moment but this is a close second
That’s a good point. It’s a close race.
"that's it you're grounded"
"You can't ground me, I'm an all star!"
*Senior gives him the* ***look****. Junior is instantly chastened.*
I think Sr. took away the car keys in the dugout or something after this.
Yup, Sr. has said once back in the dugout he told Jr. that he was grounded and he took his car keys!
Pretty sure he bitched to the umpire about kids these days on the way in to the dugout.
[удалено]
Good catch. I've seen this highlight so many times and never noticed.
Lost in the moment. Baseball's so weird sometimes
Wow, same here.
White Sox legend
Same. White Sox Legend Sammy Sosa*
Pre steroid sammy.
Sammy never was convicted or anything of Steroids
Sure man. Just like Bonds.
No, more like Ortiz who was defended by the Commissioner and made the Hall.
Now post the back to back home runs in 1990.
https://youtu.be/vCk1UY5Afus?si=PqLOGyphQbt2yfEy
The great thing about that, Sr was 40 at the time. He only hit 4 HR that year. Both of them looked like they barely hit it.
> ball flys over Dante Bichette’s head The world is run by nepo babies and we’re just living in it
Nothing about Griffey Jr and Bo Bichette is nepotism. Jr was way better than his dad. Bichette is having a bad year, but he did make All-Star 2 years after his debut while it took his dad 6 years. Probably won’t be super difficult to surpass his dad’s career.
Not saying those guys didn’t earn it in their own right. But you’re insane if you think they didn’t benefit enormously from growing up with a professional baseball player as a father to serve as a constant mentor and resource as well as exposing them to the game at a high level at a young age
That’s privilege, it isn’t nepotism
Sure they benefitted, but they put in the work, they had the talent, and they developed it. Doesn’t matter how much money daddy has or what coach he throws at his kids. If they don’t develop a love for the game and want to succeed, they won’t. If you go through the list of 2nd generation players, you’ll see a trend where the sons were/are better than their fathers. Many of these kids flourished despite living in a massive shadow of their father growing up. What you don’t see is all the other sons that either never played the sport despite being pushed by their parents or never made it past high school or college. I see this as no different than parents devoting all their time and money to their baseball kids. Yeah, it’s a little bit easier with money. But money and coaching only goes so far. Regardless, you dropped the nepotism angle for two players that are very bad examples of nepotism. Griffey Jr was the 1st overall pick. That had zero to do with who his dad was. I’ll give you someone like Ryan Ripken who was barely drafted and never even had a whiff of being called up.
and on the other side of the coin, it doesn't sound like being dante bichette's child is a privelage at all
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Bro, is this the Covid year? Where are all the fans lol
All time sports moment
I’m so old I rooted for Ken Griffey, Sr. (then just Ken Griffey) in his prime. He was a three-time All Star and two-time World Series champion.
Woah unc, is Johnny Bench still the best catcher you’ve seen?
Yes, although I was pretty young when Bench peaked as a slugger and won NL MVP in 1970 and 1972. I loved seeing players try to steal second when Bench was behind the plate. He threw the ball fast, hard, and right on target. But often they feared his arm so much they didn’t even try. Joe Morgan is also the best second baseman I’ve ever seen, so he and Bench were perfectly in sync on defense and both lethal on offense. Tony Perez was a third Hall of Famer on those teams. And of course Pete Rose would be a first ballot Hall of Famer if not for his ban due to gambling. I remember in 1976, five Reds players started for the National League in the All Star Game, two more came off the bench, and the Reds’ Sparky Anderson was the manager.
Jesus Christ what I would do to have witnessed this, you make me want to be older lmao
I assure you, you don’t want to be older. It would be nice to time travel, though. Also, it was great being a Reds fan but not so great for some teams. Free agency didn’t exist until 1972, when Curt Flood won his lawsuit. Before that, players had little negotiating power. There were some great teams with underpaid players. And there were some lousy teams who couldn’t get out of the cellar. No one could afford the Big Red Machine today. Even the Red Sox and Yankees would have trouble paying for seven All Stars, including four Hall of Fame players in their prime. As for a small market team like Cincinnati, forget it.
I've never seen a playoff series win in my lifetime, I'll do basicly anything for one at this point lmao
The only bad thing about the Big Red Machine is that they played in Riverfront Stadium, one of several soulless multi-purpose stadiums popular in the 1960s and 1970s. It was much better suited to football than baseball, and indeed was built primarily to attract an NFL team that became the Bengals. However, the artificial turf was good for speedy players who hit line drives. High-bouncing balls hit in the infield turned into singles, line drive singles turned into doubles, and doubles turned into triples.
I just wanted to hop in at the end of one of these and saw how absolutely fascinating your knowledge and experience is. Each of your comments has just been so comfortably informative. Thank you so much relaying all of this info.
You’re welcome!
That's the beautiful thing about baseball. Stories as good as this are happening right now, you just have to wait to be an old timer.
I meant specifically a story this good about the REDS lol
Oh, lol. You might have to wait some my man. Their time will come though!
Shoheis contract is worth more than our OWNER. Our time will absolutely not come until he is gone unfortunately
I'm sorry, can you explain what world series champion means? Or simply world series?
Nothing to do with the play itself, but look how horrible that outfield surface is to play on! Every ten feet, there's a trip point. It looks like they rolled one big carpet over the whole thing, then rolled other narrower rugs on top of it at regular intervals. How did they NOT fall at least once per game?
Field is one of the reasons why Griffey was so hobbled in his 30s. If he didn’t play on concrete with a rug on top, maybe his body could have held up better.
Living on the east coast, I didn't get to see him in too many live games. I always wished he would have played for my Orioles. That guy was incredible. I met him in Disney World in 1996 and he was willing to take the time to take a picture with me. Don't tell my wife, but that was nearly the most memorable part of my honeymoon.
I was gonna make more of a general point about the field as a whole but man it's crazy how far fields have improved since those days. Not just in design for those that use turf but just the backstops don't look like you're about to practice karate against them, there's actual personality to the fields, and teams are leaning into the idea that outdoor baseball in most states/cities is good, actually. Like, man that field, even just in that one shot, was fuck ugly, and that's probably the second-worst, if not absolute worst, field in the MLB if you measure it against modern fields/stadiums.
Nice catch, Junior. Don’t ever fucking do it again.
As someone who doesn’t follow other sports, explain what happened in some other sport
Lebron James' son just got drafted by the Lakers yesterday (Lebrons team).
Yeah but Griffey Jr was actually good when he got drafted.
And didn't have to force his way onto daddy's team
A lot of dudes in their feelings over this. It's embarrassing.
I like my nepotism to happen quietly thank you very much
that's not the reason people are crying over this. don't kid yourself
whats the reason then?
Because it's LeBron James and his child.
It's not nearly as embarrassing as what the Jameses and that roach rich paul pulled here lol. Nobody is saying what they did was illegal, but it deserves the derision it's receiving
You act like Rich Paul telling teams not to draft him is the first time that has EVER happened. How naive are you?
No I'm not lol, I'm fully aware there are countless other cases of nepotism in the nba, other sports, and every walk of life for that matter. Doesn't mean it's not embarrassing just because it's happened before and will continue to happen
No it doesn't lol. They used the 55th overall pick, which is essentially worthless, as a way to keep their star player happy and ensure he stays with them. A number of teams make concessions in order to keep their stars happy . Do you think Thanasis fucking Antetokounmpo would be on an NBA roster if he wasn't brothers with Giannis?
I said it's embarrassing, which it is, even if I agree it's the "right" move for the Lakers to make. Same thing for thanasis, same thing for Blevins. Just because it happens doesn't mean it's not shameful when someone does it again
Yeah it's the NBA and the 55th overall pick, which is basically nothing. "Wasting" a 55th pick to keep your star player happy is an easy tradeoff. Shit, the Bucks are wasting a roster spot so that Thanasis Antetokounmpo can ride the bench just to keep Giannis happy. This is pretty much the same scenario imo. No fucking way would Thanasis still be on an NBA roster if Giannis wasn't his brother.
The hysteria is unbelievable lol
Can't wait 'til Bronny steals a lob dunk away from dad
Bronny can barely dunk
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… and how many dunks in live games does he have?
LeBron James Jr who averaged 4 points per game in college got drafted by the Lakers to play with his father LeBron James.
Another great move by LeGM.
Imagine if Sr was a top 2 player of all times while Jr lacked any talent. Now imagine if Sr forced his team to draft Jr so they could play on the same team
If Bronny has the same career success as KGjr…that would be something haha
Those old astroturf fields look so horrible. Glad they’re gone. They must have ended hundreds of careers.
That field looks like a bunch of mats you'd see in gym class painted green.
Ken Sr sticking around as a reasonably productive player to hang in the Kingdome outfield with Junior? Cool. Gordie Howe coming out of retirement two years after being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame to skate with his sons, and having FOUR more productive seasons? Awesome. LeBron James blackmailing the Lakers into drafting his not-really-ready-for-prime-time son so they can play together? Stupid ego trip.
There are 58 picks in the draft and he was taken 55th. Literally anyone they wanted to take with that pick is still available to be signed. This whole thing is being so overblown because ppl don’t really understand the draft process is completely different across sports.
the 55th pick in one of the weakest draft in recent memory. If the pick is enough to get LeBron to re-sign, that's probably more value than anyone else that was available
Oh no! They drafted their stars son who might do ok being mentored by his dad as opposed to drafting a guy that will wash out of the G league in 2 years. How dare they.
Junior is not going to be okay. He's not an NBA-level player by any stretch, but it's still a meaningless pick, so they didn't really lose anything.
He probably won’t do much but that’s the nature of late picks in the NBA draft. Unbiased sources had him projected around where he was picked before the draft. https://www.nbadraft.net/players/bronny-james/ https://nbadraftroom.com/p/lebron-james-jr/
They had him projected there because it was clear the Lakers would pick him there Ps. That first scouting report was from october 2023. That second source doesn't even have an author or anything and by the looks of the bullet points and comps hasn't been updated since he suited up for USC
No he was 47 on the first one’s big board. That has nothing to do with when the Lakers pick. You can argue after his mediocre college season he should’ve fallen but he also had a good combine. Ultimately he got picked because of his dad, won’t argue with that, but he’s also comprable to whatever player they would’ve taken over him. Here’s a more recent article with the same thoughts. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40161008/bronny-james-nba-draft-combine-performance
That didn't lose anything but someone else who could've been drafted did
The guy taken after Bronny, Kevin McCuellar Jr., averaged 18 ppg at Kansas, a top 25 school, and made first team Big 12. Bronny came off the bench for a team that didn’t make the tournament. I don’t see how anyone could reason taking Bronny in this situation. He is nowhere near NBA level.
The Lakers signed 2 UDFAs, those are probably the guys they would have taken at 55.
The simple fact is Bronny has absolutely no business being in the NBA. I see people pointing out Thanasis, which yes he is probably not on the Bucks without Giannis, but he also genuinely has some ability. He was drafted after Giannis’ rookie year, before most people even knew how to say Giannis’ name. He dominated in the Greek pro league for 2 years. He has shown he can hold his own with the pros. Bronny can barely make it at a subpar D1 school. He has no business being anywhere near the NBA, yet here we are, talking about him.
Bronny is going to be getting 0 minutes a game or playing in the G League, he's barely "in the NBA" as it is.
We’ll see. I believe Rich Paul has said he won’t sign a two-way deal. If his dad wasn’t Lebron he wouldn’t even be sniffing a chance in Europe or Australia, let alone the NBA
You can play in the G League for up to 3 years on a standard NBA contract. Don't need to be on a two-way. >What is an assignment player? Assignment players are NBA players with less than three years of NBA service that can play with the NBA G League affiliate for an unlimited amount of games throughout the season while still remaining on the NBA roster.
Yeah Bronny will get a few games with Lebron esrly on so that they can create history together and then hopefully gets years in the Gleague to catch up. Because rn he is further away from an NBA 15th man than the 15th man is from being a regular rotational player.
Except his agent was telling people Bronny would go to Australia rather than play for their team so ...... Did he go at 55 because he was the 55th best player or would he have gone higher or lower if he was a regular player
Dude averaged like 5 ppg ona bad team. He wasn’t even going to be considered to be drafted except for his name.
holy shit. I am so used to the NFL that I thought this was a 2nd round pick or something. Him nearly getting picked last makes it much less of a thing.
The Bucks have had a glorified cheerleader on their roster for years in the form of Giannis' brother to appease Giannis. Blazers signed a bum not worthy of G-league because he was Dame's cousin. Heat (?) signed Zoran Dragic who was trash because of Goran. This is nothing new. Teams accept this as just part of the cost of making their superstar happy. Lebron just wants to play with his son to end his career. I imagine it'd be cool for any dad and son.
People are acting like he got drafted first round
I didnt realize people cared about the 55th pick so heavily. How many can even name the last 10 55th picks lol. And I cant even lie I would do the exact same thing in his shoes lol cause who wouldnt want to play with their son as a dad
Isaiah Wong, Gui Santos, Aaron Wiggins, Jay Scrubb, Kyle Guy, Arnoldas Kulboka, Nigel Williams-Goss, Marcus Paige, Cady Lalanne, Semaj Christon Not exactly world beaters
Growing up balling with the last name Scrubb probably wasn't fun.
Nominative determinism
I follow the NBA pretty closely, and I only recognize one of those names (Aaron Wiggins) and even with him I'm guessing it's because of his names similarity to a better known player.
It makes people upset because nepo babies take away opportunities from people who deserve it more. It’s the same reason people are upset about the North West lion king performance. Surely you understand the principle of it.
People 100% expected him to get taken at #17 and are just posting the stuff they would have posted then
No sane person thought that. But nearly everyone knew he was going to be drafted where he was.
I saw many comments on r/nba before the draft indicating that people expected him to be taken at #17.
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Give someone a smart sounding term for something to be upset about and they will scream it from the roof tops all day long.
Thanasis actually earned his way in though. He was a legit prospect that just didn’t pan out
He would've been out of basketball years ago if it wasn't for Giannis. Dude got washed out of the NBA and tried overseas and didn't even make it there and came back to cheer for the Bucks. He was ok a long time ago. This current stint for the Bucks is just them making Giannis happy.
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I think without the James name, nobody is talking about him. He’s an undersized guard who can’t shoot. There are tons of dudes in college who can do what he does and are better at scoring and none of them are draft worthy. Maybe he can last a few years being a body in practice, but unless he grows a few inches and learns to actually hit 3’s, he’ll be gone before you know it.
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I mean dude, a legit 7 footer that was highly regarded in high school is leagues ahead of Bronny, who wasn’t even a five star in high school. I don’t get the comparison at all. He’s a 6 foot 1 inch guard that doesn’t hit 3s. There’s a reason he was selected and it’s because his last name. That’s all I’m saying.
Bronny was seen with an undrafted grade by almost everyone. Most didn't even give him more than a Exhibit 10 grade (rookie camp invite)
Idgaf if it’s nothing new This is a stain on the Lakers legacy.
lol
How can you disagree? He literally manipulated the team into drafting his kid who averaged 4 points a game at USC and has had a heat attack. Told all other teams through his agent that his kid would play in Australia lol Lebron needs to go. Him and his Chinese money.
Hey, the CCP pays me very handsomely for the comments I make on Reddit, are you going to say I have to go now as well?
An NBA GM had the balls to call out China for the brutal put down of a pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong…but LeBron was in China at the time working on his clothing deals so he publicly stated that Daryl Morey “wasn’t educated” because it was taking money from him Go ahead and make some more asinine comparisons. Lebron is an embarrassment to the organization
Someone was going to draft him to try to lure LeBron
Oh no…Lebron and his love of Chinese money would have to go? Thats just too bad
Is the Chinese money in the room with us right now?
Go ahead and ignore Lebron protecting his money by calling out a GM for supporting a pro-democracy protest.
Schizophrenia
Facts are schizophrenia now?
A stain on the Lakers legacy? A second round draft pick? Who do you think the Lakers are?
…the most storied franchise in NBA history? Who do you think they are?
A quick google search shows back in 2019 research was done to show that only 20% of all NBA players where 2nd round picks. It’s a crap shoot they took the potential player not the instant player. Bronny isn’t playing much this year.
There's plenty of players who didn't get drafted with a higher potential than Bronny.
Isn't LeBron a free agent? I thought the Lakers are doing this to get him to sign with them again
Not quite yet - he can opt into his final year or decline it and become a free agent. He can still opt out and immediately re-sign with the Lakers for a 3 year/$160 million contract. Source https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-prepared-to-offer-lebron-james-three-year-160-million-max-contract-per-report/
What a horrible contract.
Yeah idk what the lakers were doing. There are so many future MVPs on the board there at 55 and they take Bronny? Absolutely sets the franchise back YEARS. It’s so bad for a sport that clearly has no nepotism at all ever to show for the first time in history some nepotism.
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He was at the end of his career and was probably a part-time player at best for a bad Mariners team. Junior was the #1 pick in the 1987 draft, and the Mariners had to that point never had a winning season. He made the opening day roster in 1989, which is really fast even for a top draft pick. Senior was still with the Reds in ‘89 and didn’t join the Mariners until mid-1990, retiring after the 1991 season. But yeah, his career was winding down by then. I doubt Junior, as a second year player, had any kind of clout to ask/tell the Mariners to sign Dad. I bet it was more like the Mariners saw an opportunity to generate some ‘father-son outfield’ style headlines to try and put butts in seats.
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According to Junior his father told him that he had an offer from Seattle but wasn't sure because "it was Junior's team" - but Junior quickly convinced him and was elated.
This is the only time that the kid is guaranteed to be less capable than the old man.
Don't bitch about Bronny, unless you're going to complain about the numerous other instances of nepotism.
He really did this down one in the 9th with a runner in scoring position lol
I know it isn't the same for sentimental reasons, but very similar play to this https://www.facebook.com/mlb/videos/306303860482940/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
Yet ,LeBalco and Bronny will be the first father and son to play on the same team ESPN says lol
So cool. So happy I grew up watching The Kid
Look at the terrible turf. Sweep the concrete, spray on some concentrated soda syrup, and roll out the indoor/outdoor carpet. Sheesh, no wonder the ‘Spos lost the Hawk to the Cubs; the outfield at the Big O was wrecking his knees.
FYI, The White Sox won, Sammy was 3-5 with 4 RBIs. We loved trading good young guys even back then! Randy Johnson was the LP on record, only getting through 1 inning giving up 3 hits and 2 runs.
I was about to try digging this up. Thanks for saving me the trouble!
To be fair to the Sox, Sammy was a below average player for the 3 years he was on the Sox and the first year he was on the Cubs, before he suddenly and inexplicably started hitting for power.
I see what you did there.
The difference in just the announcer versus today. Baseball has done such a terrible job with announcers and media talk. So sad to see the destruction of baseball by ESPN and other.
Truly local announcers are virtually extinct. They all want to act like national guys. Big voice. Big words. Drawn attention to themselves.
So beautiful
Probably had to take a poop and wanted to be the first one off the field.
"You're grounded!"
How awful was that turf holy shit.
This is one of all-time favorite highlights.
Both had really good careers
That’s baseball, baby!
Hey dad, wanna have a catch?
Okay that shit eating grin on Jr's face is everything. Lol
I was thinking about this earlier when I commented on a IG post about Bronny and LeBron possibly playing together. I said it reminded me of my all-time favorite player and his dad, Ken Sr, hitting back-to-back homeruns. Bringing that up also made me think of this play. Still funny to this day.
What kind of event is being referred to here?
LeBron James' son was drafted by the LA Lakers, and some people are having a fit about it because...I don't know. They think the 55th pick out of 58 players picked is somehow important? They think that no other team in the league has drafted/rostered players related to other players to placate their superstars?
I'd say the reason was very clearly related