Tragedy in the DR

Today is the Birthday of Ken Griffey Sr., born in Donora, Pennsylvania, 1950.

Griffey Jr. was just one in a line of athletes in the family. His father, Joseph “Buddy” Griffey, played baseball with Stan Musial, and won a football scholarship to Kentucky State University where he met his wife, Ruth.

But unlike his son and grandson, “Buddy” never made it pro — instead, he worked for U.S. Steel at American Steel and Wire in Donora. When the plant closed, and he was transferred to Cleveland, his wife refused to go with him. They got divorced. Over the next 15 years, she raised her two boys on welfare.

Griffey Sr., himself a multi-hyphenate athlete, competing in track, basketball, football, and baseball, earned multiple scholarships to play football in college. Instead, he took an offer from the Cincinnati Reds. They offered $500 a month — money the budding 19-year-old athlete would need to support the son he was expecting in November of that year.

Sr. worked his way through the minors quickly, and became an important part of the Big Red Machine. His speed on the bases made him a constant threat to steal, and his fast bat delivered clutch hits, and in the 1975 and ‘76 World Series.

At home, he took an opposite approach to his own father, paying great attention to both of his sons as his career took him from Reds, to the Yankees, and then Braves. But there was still friction. One night, in 1988, his 17-year-old son Ken Griffey Jr. — back home from playing minor league ball for Seattle — swallowed an entire bottle of Aspirin and was rushed to the hospital.

When Sr. and his wife “Birdie” arrived, the two got into a yelling match. Jr. ripped the IV out of his arm in anger to stop the shouting match.

Sr. would later say that after the event, he learned to let his son talk out his problems and blow off steam. And Jr. realized that, “My dad wasn’t just trying to boss me around. He was trying to help me. I listen to him a lot more than I used to. It may not look it, but I do”.

When Griffey Senior was traded to the Mariners in 1990, they got even closer; batting next to each other in the order they hit the only back to back father & son home runs, and playing outfield together, where Jr. stole a fly ball from his father.

But for Sr., his son — now dubbed “The Kid” — was still just that. “A lot of times I’d look over to center field, and this is no lie, I still see the hat too big for his head, a baggy uniform, and he’s got number 30 across his chest and back. That’s a father-son game I was remembering when he was just a little kid and I was with the Reds.”

Wally Chokes Out a Fan, Tragedy in the DR, and Dangerous Wings

• Tragedy in the DR – The roof at Jet Set, a popular club in Santo Domingo collapsed early Tuesday morning. At least 124 people are dead. Among them are World Series Champion Octavio Dotel, former MLB player Tony Blanco, and seven-time MLB All-Star Nelly Cruz. Pedro Martinez says that some of his family among the missing.

• 140+ Game Combined Losing Streak – On Tuesday, two Division III teams — Lehman College and Yeshiva University — faced off for a double header. Their record? 42 straight losses, and 99-straight losses respectively. Lehman won the first game, pushing Yeshiva to 100 straight losses. The next game went to Yeshiva. Both losing streaks snapped. 

• Bellinger Swears Off Wings – Bellinger got a belly-ache after some room service, and has sworn off wings for five years. An oddly specific amount of time if you ask us.

• Before Torpedo, There Was Maple – Torpedo bats made a big stir last week — but they were far from the first buzzy bat. The Athletic takes a look at the maple craze that came before it.

• Moments of Baseball Zen – Wally chokes out a Blue Jays fan, and Japanese beer concessioners have a pitstop time to rival F1 teams.

Junior Goes Yard

• 1989 — Ken Griffey Jr. hits his first major league home run at the Kingdome in a 6-5 win over the White Sox.