Just how good was Ken Griffey, Part two
Earlier this week, in part one of this story, we took a look at some facets of the career of Ken Griffey – noting that at one time the name Griffey just meant one person, the man we now know as Senior instead of the more-celebrated Junior.
Senior’s .296 lifetime batting average stands a dozen points higher than his son’s mark, even though Junior did amass more hits than his dad. Senior once came in second for the NL batting crown when he hit .336 in 1976, finishing just three points behind Bill Madlock.
A three-time All Star, Griffey ranks 205th on the all time hit list. Considering more than an estimated 16,000 men have played at the major league level, that’s highly impressive. Based on that estimate, these numbers translate into an incredible fact: only about 1.3% of every big leaguer to ever play the game was able to collect more hits than Griffey. By extension, and considering all of his statistics, one could argue that Griffey was better than 95% of those that ever played the game.
In 1980 he led the National League in stolen base percentage with a staggering success rate of 95.83%. Two years earlier he finished the year with the third best assists total by a right fielder.
Consider, too, some of his other personal highs: total bases 273; on-base percentage .401 (fourth best in the league and one of three seasons he finished in the top 10 in this category); runs scored 117; hits 189; doubles 35; triples 10; home runs 21 (at the age of 36); and runs driven in 85. Not at all shabby.
Lifetime stats of interest include: his walks-to-strikeouts ratio of 719 BB to just 898 K’s; 2,143 hits over 2,097 big league contests; 1,129 runs; 364 doubles; 77 three-base hits; 152 homers; 859 ribbies; and 200 stolen bases.
One statistic which hasn’t been employed for long, or by many members of the media— so it remains, by and large, an obscure one— is called Win Probablity Added. Griffey’s all-time ranking here is #100 (his son checks in at #42). Again, considering all of the players who have ever slipped into a big league uniform, that’s quite a laudatory accomplishment. For instance, Griffey ranks above such men as – get ready for this – more celebrated Big Red Machine teammates Johnny Bench and George Foster, as well as Andre Dawson, Lou Brock, Jim Rice, and Adrian Gonzalez.
Don’t be too surprised, though, remember none other than Sparky Anderson appreciated and recognized Griffey’s value and his ability to help his team win games. And a guy doesn’t last for 19 big league seasons (1973 through 1991) unless he’s got a lot going for him.
For the record, the Griffeys also remain the only father-son combo to earn All Star Game MVPs, and their combined RBI total, an untainted one, trails only the father-son record set by Bobby and Barry Bonds. Going off on a slight tangent, isn’t it hard to believe that Senior will turn 65 next April and Junior celebrated his 45th birthday just last month?
The excellent web site, Baseball Reference, states Griffey compares to such other hitters as Felipe Alou, Keith Hernandez, Amos Otis, and Jose Cruz, once more putting our underrated member of the Big Red Machine in with some very good company.
Anyway you slice it, Ken Griffey not only had a colorful career, highlighted by playing, and homering once, in the same contest with his son, he also had a very productive one as well. So, just how good was Griffey? Simply put, real good.