{"id":376,"date":"2010-06-04T16:25:04","date_gmt":"2010-06-04T21:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=376"},"modified":"2010-06-04T16:25:04","modified_gmt":"2010-06-04T21:25:04","slug":"big-ups-to-the-kid-a-tribute-to-the-real-life-natural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/376","title":{"rendered":"Big Ups to the Kid: A Tribute to the Real Life Natural"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As many of you may know, a colossus of baseball has retired recently.\u00a0 It was a first for me.\u00a0 It was the first time in my life that I had witnessed the retirement of not only my all-time favorite baseball player, but my boyhood idol.\u00a0 Griffey<\/a> did more for me than most fans.\u00a0 He not only seduced me with his effortless swing, like he did millions of others, he taught me how to play baseball.\u00a0 He was a perfect combination of natural born talent, charisma, effort (I\u2019m talking to you Hanley<\/a>), and youthful vigor, all rolled into the one and only live action Roy Hobbs action figure.\u00a0 His game had the grace of an antelope fused with the spirit of a 10 year old kid.\u00a0 If Michelangelo were to paint the roof in the House That Ruth Built, Ken Griffey Jr. highlight reel catches and home runs would fill it from corner to corner.<\/p>\n

If Bo knew, The Kid did.\u00a0 Anybody out there remember how sad they were when Griffey\u2019s season was ruined by having to receive a plate and multiple screws to repair a broken wrist after making a diving\/jumping combo catch into the wall?\u00a0 Complete disregard for his body, all in the name of wanting to make the coolest play a 14 year old could think of.\u00a0 As a young, fellow south-paw, and eerily similar named kid who loved baseball, I used to mimic his every move between on the diamond.\u00a0 Shit, at one point I actually learned how to do the Griffey homer hand shake during the \u201993 season.\u00a0 I rocked the backwards hat.\u00a0 Left-handed swing? check.\u00a0 And you can bet the barn that I smiled as much, if not more than he did too.\u00a0 Oh, and that smile. That infectious smile.\u00a0 Anytime you saw a Griffey highlight you saw that picture perfect smile that was a leftover from his devilish deeds of thievery in the outfield.\u00a0 This smile is how you knew he was still just a little kid leaving a dream.\u00a0 He was fortunate enough to have gifts, so gifts are what he gave back.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For my 15th<\/sup> birthday my parents gave me a Ken Griffey Jr. card collector\u2019s gift.\u00a0 It was filled with Rookie Cards from both Upper Deck and Topps.\u00a0 It had a series of 20 cards, custom created just for this particular set.\u00a0 It was awesome.\u00a0 Combine those with about 24 more other Griffey cards I had managed to procure with Mom and Dad\u2019s deep pockets and you have one awesome Griffey card collection.\u00a0 I was one bad ass card collector in those days.\u00a0 I even had a gold, metal, Griffey pogs slammer.\u00a0 I never lost it in a keeper game; he was my go-to guy in the clutch.\u00a0 Another gift Griffey gave me was one of the greatest father-son bonding experiences ever.\u00a0 When I was in 5th<\/sup> grade and still living in Houston my dad came and checked me out of school in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week.\u00a0 He surprised me with a trip up to The Ball Park in Arlington, because Griffey\u2019s in town.\u00a0 I saw not only a diving catch, but a home run that landed to my left in the grassy knollesque hitter\u2019s eye in center field.\u00a0 These seats were tits.\u00a0 There was my idol performing like a Murcielago for my live viewing pleasure.\u00a0 I will treasure that moment for as long as I live.\u00a0 My all time favorite childhood memory, hands down.<\/p>\n

It would be easy to go on for pages and pages about what Ken Griffey Jr. meant to me.\u00a0 But if these few examples can provide any hint as to the pleasure that came with watching Jr. play baseball, well then they have done their part.\u00a0 This essay is not just for me to share my Griffey stories, but to inspire you and your friends to share them amongst yourselves.\u00a0 For I am only one of many who have them.\u00a0 A legend has left the game on his own terms.\u00a0 He provided millions of people the opportunity to see baseball as they did; not the meat-market, cash drowned bonanza it has come to be currently.\u00a0 The backwards hat.\u00a0 The perfect swing.\u00a0 The infectious smile. The Natural.\u00a0 The Kid.\u00a0 Thank you Ken Griffey Jr.\u00a0 I will forever treasure you and the memories you have given me.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As many of you may know, a colossus of baseball has retired recently.\u00a0 It was a first for me.\u00a0 It was the first time in my life that I had witnessed the retirement of not only my all-time favorite baseball player, but my boyhood idol.\u00a0 Griffey did more for me than most fans.\u00a0 He not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,6,11,13],"tags":[348,455,456],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions\/378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}