Ken Griffey Jr. should have been in the lineup for the Padres when the Cardinals faced them in the 2005 and 2006 National League playoffs. Instead, Griffey remained with the Reds, a team that never reached the playoffs during his nine seasons with them.
In November 2002, the Reds and Padres agreed to a trade of Griffey for Phil Nevin. Griffey would have been a Padre if Nevin hadn’t blocked the deal by invoking a no-trade clause in his contract.
The idea of trading Griffey for a journeyman such as Nevin would have been deemed preposterous a few years earlier, but the Reds were ready to cut their ties with a player once considered to be the best in baseball.
Special treatment
With the Mariners from 1989 to 1999, Griffey four times led the American League in home runs, and won 10 Gold Glove awards and a Most Valuable Player honor, but he wanted out of Seattle.
Born in the the same town (Donora, Pa.) and on the same date (Nov. 21) as Stan Musial, Griffey grew up in Cincinnati, where his father played for the Reds, and eventually relocated to Orlando. After the 1999 season, he rejected an eight-year, $140 million offer from the Mariners, saying he wanted to play for a team closer to his Florida home.
Though the Cardinals tried to acquire him, Griffey was traded to the Reds. According to Bill Madden of the New York Daily News, Reds general manager Jim Bowden “made no secret of the fact that Griffey was going to get special treatment, a grievous mistake … Numerous Reds, past and present, have blasted Griffey as being self-absorbed and an island unto himself in the clubhouse.”
Limited to 70 games because of leg injuries in 2002, Griffey produced eight home runs and 23 RBI.
Content in California
A few days after Griffey turned 33, the Reds agreed during the Thanksgiving weekend to swap him to the Padres for Nevin, the Associated Press reported.
Primarily a third baseman and first baseman, Nevin had come to the Padres after stints with the Astros, Tigers and Angels. After producing 41 home runs and 126 RBI for the 2001 Padres, Nevin, 31, totaled 12 homers and 57 RBI in 2002.
The Reds viewed Nevin (due $31 million for the next four years) as a less expensive alternative to Griffey (due $86 million for the next six years). Also, Nevin was friends with Reds manager Bob Boone.
“Boone and Nevin have a longstanding friendship dating to Nevin’s childhood, when he grew up in the same Southern California neighborhood where Boone lived,” The Cincinnati Post reported.
Nevin’s agent, Barry Axelrod, said his client rejected a trade to the Reds because he wanted to remain on the West Coast, The Cincinnati Post reported.
Acting on orders from the Reds’ front office, Boone met with Nevin for lunch and tried to convince him to change his mind, but was unsuccessful, according to the Dayton Daily News.
Bargain basement
The Reds initially denied trying to trade Griffey, but came clean after Nevin confirmed to reporters he had blocked the deal.
Reds chief operating officer John Allen said the trade, orchestrated by Bowden, had the support of team owner Carl Lindner, The Cincinnati Post reported.
According to USA Sports Weekly, after the proposed deal with the Padres collapsed, the Reds offered Griffey to the White Sox for outfielder Magglio Ordonez, but were quickly turned down.
Among the reactions to the Reds’ attempts to peddle Griffey:
_ Mike Anthony, Hartford Courant: “How quickly Griffey has fallen off the map of baseball stars in three years with the Reds. The minute he left Seattle, he got old. He’s been injured and, at times, unhappy.”
_ Dan O’Neill, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Seems hard to believe Ken Griffey Jr., considered hands-down the best player in the game a few years back, is now being shopped like a used lawn mower.”
_ Bill Simmons, ESPN.com: “He’s 33, plagued by injuries, miserable and bitter, on the downside of his career, and his team can’t even give him away.”
_ Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati Enquirer: “Griffey can be paranoid when he has no reason. Now, he has plenty of reason.”
Still got game
Three years later, in July 2005, the Padres traded Nevin to the Rangers. He went on to play for the Cubs and Twins, too. In 12 years in the majors, Nevin hit 208 home runs. During the 2022 season, he replaced Joe Maddon as Angels manager.
Griffey had more injury-marred seasons in 2003 and 2004 (when he hit his 500th career home run versus the Cardinals), but returned to form in 2005, when he was named the National League Comeback Player of the Year with the Reds.
Griffey produced 35 home runs and 92 RBI for the 2005 Reds. If he had been with the Padres that season, he would have been their team leader in home runs and RBI. The 2005 Padres, with top producers Ryan Klesko (18 home runs) and Brian Giles (83 RBI), qualified for the playoffs but were eliminated by the Cardinals in the first round.
In 2006, Griffey slugged 27 home runs for the Reds, three more than the Padres’ team leader, Adrian Gonzalez. The Padres again were eliminated by the Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs.
The Reds traded Griffey to the White Sox in July 2008. Granted free agency after the season, he returned to the Mariners for two more years. In 22 seasons in the majors, Griffey batted .284 with 2,781 hits, 630 home runs and 1,836 RBI, but never played in a World Series.
I remember Griffey going to the Reds sort of made him irrelevant. He certainly wasn’t talked about as much, and I’m sure the small market and lack of playoff appearances were the culprits. On top of that, the Reds were hardly on television which was basically a death knell pre-internet.
Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa seemed to lap him in popularity.
Thanks, Gary. It’s been interesting over the years how some players can return to their home turf and thrive (Nolan Ryan in Texas, for instance) and others, such as Griffey, cannot.
At the time it was considered a steal for the Reds. It’s also incredible to consider that from 2000 to 2003 the Mariners won 393 regular season games, if I’m not mistaken, the most by any club. Please correct me if I’m wrong. But is it possible that Ken Griffey Jr. is still getting paid by the Reds?
Thanks, Phillip. You are correct. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, when the Reds signed Ken Griffey Jr. to a nine-year $116.5 million contract in February 2000, it was agreed that about half the money ($57.5 million) would be deferred. According to the Enquirer, the Reds would pay Griffey the deferred portion of the money over a period from 2009 to 2024.
I didn’t realize how far Griffey had fallen, both psychologically and on the field. Great to see him earn that comeback player of the year award. He deserves a comeback player for life award since he once attempted to commit suicide. Once again, great work Mark, weaving quotes and anecdotes into the story.
Thanks, Steve. Despite how far his production had fallen, and despite developing a reputation for surliness or aloofness, Ken Griffey Jr. still received the third-highest percentage of votes from members of the Baseball Writers Association of America in balloting for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Griffey got 99.3 percent of the votes (437 votes on 440 ballots cast). Only Mariano Rivera (100 percent of the votes) and Derek Jeter (99.7 percent) did better. It shows how good Griffey was at his best.
I know the HOF writers have their biases, but quite a tribute for Griffey to be in the company of Rivera and Jeter.
Great post, Mark. I had forgotten some of this, and it was nice to revisit it in the format you presented here with the quotes and info. Loved watching him play.
Thanks, Bruce. There must be something mighty magical about what’s in the water there in your state of Pennsylvania. How else to explain the mind-boggling fact that two upper-echelon Hall of famers, Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Jr., were born in the same town and both on Nov. 21? I visited Donora, Pa., about 22 years ago, and to see that humble town really makes one appreciate how truly amazing it is that Musial and Griffey emerged from there to become baseball’s best.
Western Pennsylvania seems to mostly spawn football stars, but that’s been going on for awhile now. I did not know they were both born in the same town, on the same date. And yes, I’ve been in that area also and can identify with your comments about how unlikely one Hall of Fame journey would be, let alone two.