Griffey begins a remarkable streak that would see him go
yard in eight straight games, matching the record set by
Pittsburgh's Dale Long (1956) and tied by the Yankees'
Don Mattingly (1987). Griffey pops out against Minnesota's
Larry Casian to end the
streak, during which he hit more homers (eight) than 11
teams
did.
January 19, 1994
Junior's wife Melissa delivers the couple's first child,
Trey Kenneth Griffey. On October 21, 1995, the Griffeys welcome
daughter Taryn Kennedy into the clan. Don't hold your
breath for a collection of portraits -- the private,
protective Griffey won't
allow shots of him with his family. "'There are
crazy people in this world," he says. "That's why
I'm not a public person. When I want you to see me is when
I'm at the ballpark. That's
it."
June 29, 1994
Griffey makes his motion picture debut, a special
appearance in Castle Rock Entertainment's
Little Big
League. Says director Andy Schienman, "When he is on the
screen, your eyes just naturally go to him. He's like Tom
Cruise in that sense." Of course, Griffey has a very
possible mission on camera -- playing
himself.
July 11, 1994
Like any good actor, Griffey won't disappoint an audience.
The 6,079,688 votes he receives in All-Star balloting
shatters Rod Carew's 1977 mark of 4,292,740. Griffey pleases the
crowd by hitting seven homers in the Home Run Derby, five
of which sail
into the upper deck of Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium -- an area
reached only 11 times in games since
1970.
February 11, 1995
A strike ends the baseball season and takes Griffey out of
the chase for Roger Maris' home run record. Junior finishes
with 40 home runs (tops in the A.L.) in 433 at-bats. But
Griffey can take solace in what probably wouldn't have
been: At the pace he
was on, he would have needed 239 official at-bats to break
the record of 61 -- he was unlikely to get that many chances in the 51
remaining games.
May 26, 1995
Being human appears to be the only weakness in Griffey's
game. Another serious injury leads to a subpar season:
Griffey breaks his left wrist crashing into the Kingdome
wall while making a game-saving catch. Surgeons attach a
four-inch metal plate with
seven screws to the wrist the next day. After sitting out 73
games Griffey returns on August 15. He finishes the year
hitting .258 with just 17 homers and 42
RBI.
October 8, 1995
Against the Yankees in the Division Series, Griffey scores
the winning run from first base in the 11th inning of the
fifth and deciding game. But in the ALCS the Mariners bow
to Cleveland in six games. Nonetheless, Griffey bats .364
overall, and his six
postseason homers tie the record held by Pittsburgh's Bob
Robertson (1971)
and Philadelphia's Len Dykstra
(1993).
February 11, 1996
Nike debuts a $1.5 million ad campaign that says it all:
"Athlete. Family man. Six-time Gold Glove winner. Presidential
candidate." Griffey's "candidacy" is
supported by luminaries ranging
from Reggie Jackson to
James Carville. Junior's running
mate? The Mariner
Moose.
April 25, 1997
Griffey slams three homers against Toronto, the last of
which -- off reliever Mike Timlin -- is the 250th of
his career. He reaches the mark at a younger age (27 years,
155 days) than all but three other players in
history -- Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Mathews
and Mel Ott -- despite having missed 205 games because of injuries
and work stoppages. The final homer in the trio also brings
Griffey to No. 13
in April, breaking the record for homers in the season's first
month.
July 9, 1997
Two days after the All-Star Game, Griffey's mother-in-law
dies of congestive heart failure. This deepens a Griffey
slump during which he hit only one homer and drove in just
13 runs between June 23 and July 24. Stalled at 32 home
runs going into August,
it is a slide that may have cost him a shot at Maris' home
run record. "I wasn't so much worried about myself,
but my wife and my
kids," Griffey said. "I struggled, but a lot of people didn't
know why."
November 12, 1997
After a monster 56-homer, 147-RBI campaign, Griffey becomes
the 13th player in history to be unanimously selected Most
Valuable Player.
Junior declares that the trophy
will not stand on his father's mantel amid countless other
baseball trophies and banners. "This one is going to
be in my
house," Griffey said. He tacks on his eighth-straight Gold Glove
award for good
measure.
October 5, 1997
Instead of Most Valuable, Griffey challenges for Most
Vacant Player honors in Seattle's Division Series against
Baltimore. Griffey hits safely just twice in 15 at-bats,
driving in two runs. The O's cruise to a 3-1 series win,
sending Junior home
early.
March 31, 1998
Before a Kingdome-record crowd of 57,822, Griffey opens the
home run chase with a third-deck solo shot off Cleveland
ace Charles Nagy. It is Junior's sixth Opening Day homer.
However, the Mariners blow a 9-6 lead entering the eighth
and fall
10-9.
June 30, 1998
The All-Star ballots are in, and for the third straight
year Griffey draws more votes than anyone else -- more than
four million this time around. He shows his appreciation in
front of a hometown crowd by bashing his 33rd homer of the
year off the right-field
pole during a 6-4 loss to
Colorado.
July 13, 1998
After being razzed by fans during batting practice, Griffey
reverses his decision not to participate in the All-Star
Home Run Derby. And then he goes out and wins the event,
beating the Indians' Jim Thome 3-2 in the final round.
"I don't like to get
booed," says Griffey, the leading vote-getter in fan
balloting. "There were 4 million reasons why I did
it."
August 15, 1998
Griffey breaks out of a 12-game, 54-at-bat homerless streak
with an opposite-field, two-run shot against the White
Sox's Jaime Navarro in a 13-7 Seattle win. It's No. 42 of
the
season.
August 30, 1998
Griffey hits his fourth and fifth homers in the past eight
days -- giving him 47 on the year -- in a 13-3 rout of
the Yankees. More notable: In the fifth inning, a fan runs
to Griffey's spot in center field with a football, which
Griffey obligingly
autographs. But security comes out to tackle the man, and later takes
away his
souvenir.
September 25, 1998
Griffey hits home run No. 350 off Texas lefthander Eric Gunderson,
reaching the 350-homer mark at a younger age than any player in major
league history. Almost halfway to Henry Aaron's career home run record
of 755, Griffey, 29, casually predicts that he will play at least
eight more years.
April 5, 1999
Griffey hits his seventh career opening-night home run at the Kingdome; his seven Opening Day homers rank him second in major league history.
April 28-30 1999
Griffey sets Mariners club record by accumulating 11 RBIs in two days -- and 14 RBIs in three games.
May 8, 1999
Griffey hits his 361st homer, tying him with Yankees great Joe
DiMaggio at 46th on the alltime home run list. The historic homer
comes against the Yankees, off rookie reliever Jay Tessmer, on the
very grounds of DiMaggio's own heroics, Yankee Stadium.
May 31, 1999
Griffey hits his 20th home run of the season, the third time in his career he has reached 20 homers before June 1. Griffey is the first player to accomplish the feat more than once.
July 5, 1999
Griffey hits career home run No. 378, which puts him halfway to Hank
Aaron's record. Griffey is still more than three months away from his
30th birthday. Aaron hit his 755th homer at age 42.
July 18, 1999
Hits his first SAFECO Field dinger off Arizona's Omar Daal, giving
Griffey a home run in 23 different major league parks.
