Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 28, 2008
Griffey History

Kevin Kaduk at Big League Stew discusses Ken Griffey, Jr. and his throat slashing gesture toward Jeff Brantley. Kevin is trying to remember a piece of history:

(I also seem to remember Griffey being mad at ESPN for something, but the exact details are not ringing a bell and Internet searchin' is proving fruitless.)

I was there. I believe it was during the 1997 playoffs, Griffey was upset with something Peter Gammons said, also probably about his fielding. He told ESPN he would not talk to them during the playoffs and convinced his teammates to boycott ESPN as well, getting them all F*** ESPN tee shirts. ESPN tried to smooth things over through Harold Reynolds. I remember Griffey being on speaker phone in the news room, with the coordinating producer of Baseball Tonight trying to reach an understanding with him. Griffey was unable to explain his reasons for the boycott and was unwilling to work with the higher ups at ESPN to fix the situation. (Given that ESPN broadcast the first round of playoffs at the time, not being able to talk to one of the teams was a big deal.)

Griffey may be a clean player, but he's no saint.


Posted by David Pinto at 01:35 PM | Baseball Jerks | TrackBack (0)
Comments

This just in. Ken Griffey Jr. now refuses to talk to Baseball Musings.

Posted by: Barron at July 28, 2008 02:54 PM

Don't players in the NFL get fined/suspended for making similar gestures?

http://sportslocker.blogspot.com/

Posted by: JRJ at July 28, 2008 03:15 PM

Yes.

Posted by: a at July 28, 2008 05:07 PM

Not to defend the slash... but Jeff Brantley is a horrible announcer, his 2nd banana work is hard enough to swallow, but his pBp makes Randy Hundley sound like Vin Scully.

Posted by: brian at July 28, 2008 05:27 PM

Jeff was telling it like it truly is. Most Cincinnati fans would like for him to disappear. He doesn't sign autographs unless they are from his sponser and then only infreqently. He can hardly field his position and he is not producing and rarely since he has been a Red. The 2 corners must go in the outfield. Sorry truth hurts. He can only say that the Reds got him cheap but let me tell you the Reds will be paying for his cheapness for years to come.

Posted by: Larry at July 28, 2008 06:44 PM

he is not producing

I looked at his numbers yesterday to see whether he'd be any kind of option at all for the Red Sox if they trade Manny. For the year, his OPS is closer to Julio Lugo's than J.D. Drew's.

Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at July 28, 2008 07:43 PM

Griffey got mad at Peter (The Ultimate Mediot) Gammons and ESPN? My opinion of Griffey just went up.

Posted by: Casey Abell at July 29, 2008 08:05 AM

Why should the players feel obligated to talk to any given media outlet? Media are not as important as they imagine they are.

Posted by: Matt Davis at July 29, 2008 11:52 AM
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