Inside Baseball

Great Pains  

Another injury could cost Ken Griffey Jr. another year -- and a chance to restore his rep

By Stephen Cannella

Stay healthy -- that was Ken Griffey Jr.'s mantra this spring. He missed nearly two months last season with a torn left hamstring and hit only 22 home runs, his lowest total since a broken left wrist limited him to 72 games in 1995. With a full, injury-free season he could reclaim his place among the game's elite, and in doing that he might even lift the Reds back to respectability. Then maybe the baseball world would see a return of the youthful energy and enthusiasm that marked his salad days with the Mariners. After all, as Griffey said during camp, "who smiles all the time when they're hurt and losing?"

Four innings after hitting his first homer of the season, Griffey was brought down in a rundown. Michael E. Keating/AP

No one, and neither Griffey nor Cincinnati is smiling now. Griffey hit his first homer of the season and 461st of his career in the third inning of the Reds' 6-5 win over the Expos on Sunday. Four innings later, while in a rundown between third and home, he wrenched his right knee. The early diagnosis was a partially dislocated kneecap and a partially torn patellar tendon. As of Monday, Griffey was expected to be out for at least three to six weeks.

It was unclear if Griffey, who returned from the hospital to Cinergy Field on Sunday night to begin rehab, would require surgery. "There's the outside chance he'll need an operation," said Reds team physician Timothy Kremchek. If he does go under the knife, Griffey's season will almost certainly be finished.

Whether he misses six weeks or the rest of the schedule, Griffey's career, much like Mark McGwire's before him, has been repeatedly interrupted by injury in the prime years, inevitably leading to the question, What if? In the five seasons between 1992 and '96, when McGwire was between the ages of 28 and 32, he missed 363 games and was on the disabled list every season. By retiring at 38 with 583 home runs and an irreparably damaged right knee, McGwire lost the chance to become only the fourth player to hit 600 dingers and the possibility of overtaking Hank Aaron's alltime mark of 755.

In addition to 1995 and last season, Griffey, 32, spent chunks of time on the DL in '89, '92 and '96. When he arrived in Cincinnati before the 2000 season, he was 30 and had 398 homers. If he'd averaged 40 a season thereafter, Griffey would have passed Aaron before Junior turned 39, an easy enough pace for someone who hadn't hit fewer than 48 homers since '95. For Griffey now, breaking Aaron's mark has become a long shot, particularly if he misses the rest of this season.

Another question is, how long will he want to play beyond the end of his contract, which expires after the '08 season? Records aside, injuries may deprive Griffey of the chance to regain his status not only as the game's best all-around player but also as one of it's most popular players. He came under fire this spring from former Reds teammates who chastised him for a lack of leadership and for being a divisive clubhouse presence. Ever since Griffey engineered the trade that returned him to his hometown, the baseball world has been waiting for a return of the Junior -- on and off the field -- it revered. That wait may last another year.

Issue date: April 15, 2002

For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, April 10. Click here to subscribe to SI.

 

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