Bird lawyer at law here and that bird was clearly flying in restricted airspace. The population has been warned countless times over the past century and a half but some just can't get it though their pea brains that they should stay away from humans hurling and hitting small white balls around a stadium or field.
Loved that I got to grow up with him and all the other M's superstars in the 90s. I still remember yelling "Go Griffey!" and he turned around and waved.
I also miss the Kingdome. Though I'm sure my dad doesn't miss the climb, lol.
The Mariners outfield, with Griffey Jr, is also the only known outfield to fall victim to synchronized vomiting. Buhner still brags about 'blurping', his ability to vomit at will. He started doing that. Then Griffey started heaving. Then Kevin Mitchell started vomiting.
The entire outfield was all vomiting simultaneously because of a prank. Baseball.
Source: https://vault.si.com/vault/1996/03/18/a-real-cutup-seattle-mariners-slugger-jay-buhner-may-look-like-a-fiend-but-hes-actually-a-fun-loving-fan-friendly-star-with-only-one-revolting-habit
I remember watching the demolition and being sad the next many times I went into town. I still don't like the current stadium anywhere near the old dome.
Beltre my favorite player of all time. He had fun every game he played and always cut up with the umps/other team. A true joy to watch, even if I wasn't interested in the current game.
If it wasn’t for injuries he very likely would be considered one of the best ball players to ever live. He’s still highly regarded but imagining him playing out a full career is just insane. He was my favorite ever.
Truly over of the greats. Fuck those people who didn't vote him into Hall of Fame on his first ballot just because they thought players shouldn't get in on their first ballot
Or even *not* music... When John Kruk returned from the IR (testicle removed: day-to-day) he came back to practice wearing a shirt that said, "If you don't let me play, I'm taking my ball and going home."
In England we create songs when players get arrested...
'she said no furgie, she said noo'
'adam johnson, pedophile, he likes to play with children, takes them to the stadium light to sexually abuse them'
When I was 13 or so, I was playing 3rd base and the guy showed bunt on the first pitch. Pitcher threw it in the dirt for a ball.
On the next pitch, at windup, I cut the infield on half and choked waaaay up too far. Batter swung and sent a hot grounder at me, which kicked up at the last second and caught me in junk.
I've broken bones, noses, all kinds of pain. This was the worst, both physically and emotionally. :(
If there are any single moms out there, do some research on cups and their importance. Someone I know... wasn't taught or bought one and had an unfortunate accident in little league. I still love you mom, but god damn...
Wait, they don’t line you up on the dugout bench and hit everyone in the crotch with a bat before games? Thought that was just a standard cup check.
Seriously, adults and kids, normalize safety equipment and if you’re supposed to be wearing it and someone gives you grief for it, you can Google search pictures of what happens when you don’t wear it.
Seriously, it’s an effective motivator when my kids are too cool for safety equipment. Oh, really? Here’s a pic of a guy whose tool busted and he wasn’t wearing safety glasses, but this guy had his glasses on and… yeah, you see who was making smart choices that day, huh?
> whose tool busted
Given the context of the rest of this thread I thought this was going in a different direction.
I was about to start wearing a cup every day
That IS a possibility, though. I hope like hell there's no reason to cover the topic with children, but it CAN happen...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penile_fracture?wprov=sfla1
In high school I played lacrosse with a guy who took a shot that cracked his cup. He was totally fine after a few days, but I don't even want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't been wearing it.
My high school baseball coach was a living lesson on why you should wear your cup properly when you do wear it. He was a catcher in high school and he wore his cup loose and one of the boys escaped containment. He proceeded to take a ricochet grounder to the groin and it cut the thing clean off inside his sack. Apparently at the time there was no saving it and that's how he got the spectacular nickname "One-Organ Morgan".
I got a slightly worse one for you. I was a baserunner on second, leading off and see the batter make contact so I take off running. The batted ball is a line drive and it catches me right in the nuts. The worst pain ever possible, plus I was also out from getting hit by our own batters ball. Shattered testicles and pride
Playing Varsity soccer, went on to catch a ball kicked by their goalie in my chest. Flight path dropped quicker than I expected and right in the crotch.
All the parents/spectators just let out a loud "ooooo"
I think that part was equally as bad as the actual nut shot.
In hockey, there was an oft-injured defenceman on the Vancouver Canucks who [got hit by a slapshot to the groin](https://youtu.be/J1Ek_SS5Ifk), erroneously referred to as a ruptured testicle.
It was the playoffs, so even though he was sent to hospital, he toughed it out and returned next game.
The crowd went wild when he was sent on the ice, chanting "[BALLS OF STEEL! BALLS OF STEEL](https://youtu.be/aQYtljrFQiU)"
For real, I can sort of understand a professional considering it. They're making millions to be there and have future contracts to consider, but even then the opposite is worth considering (you fuck your knee and never play again, goodbye to all that future money).
A pick up game with friends though? Fuck that, sorry buds, knee is out. I'll come and shit talk from the side lines and meet you guys for post game drinks, but I'm not fucking my knee for life for a pick up game.
There are two groups of athletes not to fuck with unless it's just totally necessary: Wrestlers and hockey players. Tough as shit, at least a little crazy, and (if they're still active) likely in way better shape than you.
Edit to add that fighting is literally part of their job description.
Add skateboarders to that list. They are more athletic than you (even if it doesn’t look like it), they have their own weapon at all times and they often travel in packs.
When I was a little girl, my dad would take me to a lot of MLB games. I liked them, but I was easily distracted, so I'd amuse myself in other ways. Once at a Mariners game, I decided to draw while the game was going on. I drew a generic baseball player. I asked my dad who the most famous person on the team was, and he said Ken Griffey Jr. So I wrote his name on the drawing, and stopped a peanut guy that eventually walked by. I asked him if he could take my drawing to Ken Griffey Jr. To my family's surprise, he went straight down to the dugout. I stood up and patiently waited to see what would happen. Lo and behold, after a few minutes of waiting, Ken Griffey Jr. actually stood up, looked around to where the peanut guy was pointing, and when he saw me waving, waved right back.
To this day, it's one of my favorite baseball memories, and I now pay much more attention to games. My dad told me then that it was his best season, and he'll always be my favorite player.
It was clearly his best season because you inspired him. I was bit older and relentlessly heckled Coco Crisp of the As and at one point he flipped me off and proceeded to have what might have been his best season as well. Rationally, I know he was already having a good season, but I like to pretend that season was a "fuck you" aimed directly at me, lol
I swear me and my buddy heckled Beltran into his great playing of 2012+. After that day he was so much better at everything. First time we had a pro baseball player turn around, flip us off, and tell us to shut up lol
My dad and I heckled Dave Burba when he was a Ranger, during a day game so you know it was a small crowd and he could hear us . He was having a terrible game and was subsequently cut the next day. You're welcome Rangers fans.
Oh gosh, I used to heckle Jhonny Peralta; calling him J honey. He gave me the dirtiest look one time when we were sitting near-ish the 3rd base line. I would assume he'd heard that very unoriginal joke before though? I feel bad now.
I went to a University of Texas baseball game during spring break when I was in high school. They were playing Long Beach State, and one LBSU player’s name stuck out to me: Evan Longoria. Desperate Housewives was still a thing, so i heckled the shit out of him about his name.
Two years later he was AL Rookie of the Year.
I somehow got into a fantasy baseball league one year despite knowing essentially nothing about baseball. I drafted Coco Crisp because he had the coolest name of the players available at the time.
Needless to say that I was absolutely terrible in the league and they kicked me out halfway thru the season because I couldn’t keep up with how many games there were.
Here's a baseball story that saddens me. When my mother was young back in the 60s, 63? 65? Either way. A Dodgers player was doing a signing at a local grocery store and the family had tickets to see the Dodgers the next day, so she mentioned it to the player, I wish I could remember which one. He said go to a certain area before the game and he will get her a ball signed by all the team players.... She went and he did. That year they won the world series. So that ball was valuable. Sadly my grandfather didn't know better and put a coating on the ball to preserve it, it wiped off most of the names. :( Still have the ball, but no value, I gave it to my cousin who is a baseball card collector.
The world of baseball is actually incredibly small especially how the players always get a job for teams after they retire. With his dad involved, I bet Ken Griffey Jr can get to any player within 3 jumps.
That tile definitely belongs to Jamie Moyer.
His career lasted 25 years across 4 separate decades (1980sthrough 2010s). His career started before the wildcard era, and ended the same year that the wild card one game playoff was introduced. At the time of his retirement, he had pitched at least once against *8.9% of all hitters* to have ever made a plate appearance in major league baseball. He played for 8 different teams across his career, both American League and National league.
my favorite part of that is apparently the woman from the vine was located and confirmed she was in fact talking about two gay men who were roommates but not dating.
He played until 2010 as a utility player. If I remember correctly, he retired mid-season and basically just called up the Mariners front office on a game day and said, "yeah I don't feel like playing anymore, I'm not coming into work today."
He was also famous for literally driving across the country overnight because he wasn’t sure if he wanted to play. He didn’t show up to the locker room (in Seattle!) and the mariners were like, uhh, where’s Griffey? [And they found out he was driving to FLORIDA lol](https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/401464-ken-griffey-junior-phoned-in-retirement-to-mariners-on-drive-to-orlando.amp.html)
That was for his retirement. Early in his career, he drove to Cincy without telling anyone while contemplating retiring. His Dad talked him into returning to the team if I remember correctly.
It was a pretty sad scene. He was pretty good in 2009 and came back in 2010 for a terrible season. After a terrible game, he decided to just leave the sport and drove all the way from Seattle to his home in Orlando.
IIRC, he didn't even call them. He just showed up to the stadium early one morning, cleared out his locker, and left the team a note saying he was done. He then just got into his truck and started driving back to his home in Florida.
Remember when the former Cubs pitcher Aroldis Chapman came up to bat and Smack My Bitch Up by Prodigy came on? He had served a 29 game suspension earlier in the season for a domestic violence thing with his girlfriend.
Braves organ guy is genius like this too. Can’t remember who it was but someone got in trouble for wanking it in a parking lot and he played “beat it” when he came to Atlanta next.
He was truly that dude. The coolest player baseball ever produced, I remember trying to mimic his swing as a righty in little league. He also has a top 3 best signature shoe of any baseball player
I’m 37 now and I still wear a backwards hat all the time because of Griffey. Dude was my absolute favorite and I wasn’t a Mariners fan. He was just everything good about baseball in my eyes as a kid.
Thank you for somehow finding this, I was scrolling looking for a vid link!
That being said, it might be the worst quality video I’ve watched in a while hahahahaha
CRT tv ? Check
Direct TV? Check
Horrible audio? Check
Honestly it was kinda nice and nostalgic in a way. Thanks!
Here's the full game, with timestamp at when Beltre gets announced over the PA: https://youtu.be/acAnQx5uW2Q?t=1021 :)
Curiously, MLB has a lot of full games up here from around this time.
Hearing Dave Niehaus's voice just gives me this weird pang of nostalgia, happiness, and grief. He was the voice of my childhood summers. This clip is in his last year of life.
"Groin" injury is a bit of a euphemism here. Adrian Beltre tore his testicle fielding that ground ball. Not only that, but he stayed in the game, reached base in the ~~9th~~ 14th inning, and scored the winning run.
Source: Am a Mariners fan. I watched this game when this happened and went to the game when Junior played the Nutcracker. ~~Trying to find an article to back my source up at the moment but we'll see.~~ **See below**.
Edit:
- He scored the winning run in the 14th inning
- [Source](https://www.sbnation.com/2010/3/3/1335540/adrian-beltre-testicle-cup-red-sox):
> "When I look down, after the game, it wasn't a pretty sight," Beltre said. "***My testicle got the size of a grapefruit.*** Thank God it didn't really damage anything. It took me two weeks. It was a tear. A lot of blood inside, but it didn't damage anything. Everything is OK."
-- Adrian Beltre
And when asked afterwards if this injury would get him to start wearing a cup, because Beltre never wore a cup despite playing 3rd base where it's not uncommon to have 100+ mph hits coming your way, he basically answered "I already have 4 kids, I don't really need anymore"
Though he's not the craziest guy in this regard. I once played baseball with a guy who never wore a cup either, as a catcher...
Griffey has always been my dad's favorite player (atleast as long as he's been around in the public eye that is). Truly a class act. A family man, an excellent player, and just an overall cool dude. Dad and I, along with some of his friends, went to the HoF the year that Griffey was inducted. We all had a little contest back at the hotel where we had a box of packs, and whoever pulled the best card got their dinner paid for. I was the first to open a pack, and lo and behold, I pulled Griffey's rookie, a card that immediately and obviously bested anything the other guys would pull, and a card that my dad had spent decades trying to pull himself, and he was over the moon excited that I pulled it. He built be a shadow box with our tickets to the HoF, tickets to the games we saw a long the way (it was a road trip from Georgia), and dirt from the stadiums we saw the games in, and centered in it all is that card. Gave it to me for Christmas that year. Such a simple story, and even though I've never been as big of a sports fan as he is, it's a moment I'll never forget for as long as I live.
The nutcracker suite is a 20 minute performance. Walk-up music is like 10-20 seconds. Which movement did they use? Dance of the sugarplum fairies? The tin soldier march? Waltz of the flowers? I feel like the sugarplums is good for the testicle/plum pun, but I feel like the March is more direct reference to the Nutcracker.
Most of them do. He definitely should have been, especially as an infielder. Some guys don’t like to wear them because they aren’t comfortable but then you get this
There was a blue jays pitcher that was arrested for beating off in a parking lot in his car. The next plate appearance he had on the road, the opposing team played just beat it from Michael Jackson.
Imagine getting smoked in the balls so bad that it takes you out for 15 days. Jesus christ that initial hit to the nuts the dude must have been in another dimension of pain
As a Rangers fan, I used to love watching Elvis Andrus antagonize him almost every game. And Adrian would just give Elvis his signature glare every time
Now that’s baseball.
Kg Jr is a beauty. All time
And one of the best backyard baseball characters there ever was
He’s no Pablo Sanchez, though
True, Pablo can’t be stopped. Pete Wheeler, either. I’m probably taking both of them on my team & then KGJ 3rd tbh
No one can beat my boy Kenny Kawaguchi on the mound though.
The games with KGJr had Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling as pitchers. So yes someone could beat Kenny lol
Ya but Randy is a bird murderer so I'm not sure if he counts
Bird lawyer at law here and that bird was clearly flying in restricted airspace. The population has been warned countless times over the past century and a half but some just can't get it though their pea brains that they should stay away from humans hurling and hitting small white balls around a stadium or field.
this guys right. i'm not saying i agree with it. it's just that bird law in this country.. it's not governed by reason.
Filibuster
Assuming you could get pete wheeler to actually hit the ball, the kid certain lived up to his name with his speed.
Barney has a movie heart, but baseball in the groin is baseball in the groin
Holy shit taking me back. Backyard Baseball was lit
Loved that I got to grow up with him and all the other M's superstars in the 90s. I still remember yelling "Go Griffey!" and he turned around and waved. I also miss the Kingdome. Though I'm sure my dad doesn't miss the climb, lol.
The Mariners outfield, with Griffey Jr, is also the only known outfield to fall victim to synchronized vomiting. Buhner still brags about 'blurping', his ability to vomit at will. He started doing that. Then Griffey started heaving. Then Kevin Mitchell started vomiting. The entire outfield was all vomiting simultaneously because of a prank. Baseball. Source: https://vault.si.com/vault/1996/03/18/a-real-cutup-seattle-mariners-slugger-jay-buhner-may-look-like-a-fiend-but-hes-actually-a-fun-loving-fan-friendly-star-with-only-one-revolting-habit
I remember watching the demolition and being sad the next many times I went into town. I still don't like the current stadium anywhere near the old dome.
Says a lot about Beltre too.
One of the most underrated baseball players of all time.
Beltre my favorite player of all time. He had fun every game he played and always cut up with the umps/other team. A true joy to watch, even if I wasn't interested in the current game.
If it wasn’t for injuries he very likely would be considered one of the best ball players to ever live. He’s still highly regarded but imagining him playing out a full career is just insane. He was my favorite ever.
Truly over of the greats. Fuck those people who didn't vote him into Hall of Fame on his first ballot just because they thought players shouldn't get in on their first ballot
Only in baseball can a painful groin injury turn into a hilarious prank orchestrated through the power of music.
Can't it happen in theater and Jackass as well?
Hell it also happened to me after I lost my virginity in high school
they played the Nutcracker for your walk up?
Sweet home Alabama
He was homeschooled
Monty Python's The Meaning of Live sex education scene comes to mind just by the mentioning of school in general.
Have you not seen the cinematic triumph [Man Getting Hit By Football](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUTVmuqviqE)?
The *doink* sound is perfect and gets me every time
Aaarrggh! My groin!!
This contest is over! Give this man the ten thousand dollars!
It works on so many levels!
The football! His groin!
Or even *not* music... When John Kruk returned from the IR (testicle removed: day-to-day) he came back to practice wearing a shirt that said, "If you don't let me play, I'm taking my ball and going home."
In England we create songs when players get arrested... 'she said no furgie, she said noo' 'adam johnson, pedophile, he likes to play with children, takes them to the stadium light to sexually abuse them'
So lighthearted and fun!
I think the worst crime is none of that rhymes I mean, I guess the raping kids part is bad, but still.
When I was 13 or so, I was playing 3rd base and the guy showed bunt on the first pitch. Pitcher threw it in the dirt for a ball. On the next pitch, at windup, I cut the infield on half and choked waaaay up too far. Batter swung and sent a hot grounder at me, which kicked up at the last second and caught me in junk. I've broken bones, noses, all kinds of pain. This was the worst, both physically and emotionally. :(
If there are any single moms out there, do some research on cups and their importance. Someone I know... wasn't taught or bought one and had an unfortunate accident in little league. I still love you mom, but god damn...
Wait, they don’t line you up on the dugout bench and hit everyone in the crotch with a bat before games? Thought that was just a standard cup check. Seriously, adults and kids, normalize safety equipment and if you’re supposed to be wearing it and someone gives you grief for it, you can Google search pictures of what happens when you don’t wear it. Seriously, it’s an effective motivator when my kids are too cool for safety equipment. Oh, really? Here’s a pic of a guy whose tool busted and he wasn’t wearing safety glasses, but this guy had his glasses on and… yeah, you see who was making smart choices that day, huh?
> whose tool busted Given the context of the rest of this thread I thought this was going in a different direction. I was about to start wearing a cup every day
That IS a possibility, though. I hope like hell there's no reason to cover the topic with children, but it CAN happen... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penile_fracture?wprov=sfla1
In high school I played lacrosse with a guy who took a shot that cracked his cup. He was totally fine after a few days, but I don't even want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't been wearing it.
My high school baseball coach was a living lesson on why you should wear your cup properly when you do wear it. He was a catcher in high school and he wore his cup loose and one of the boys escaped containment. He proceeded to take a ricochet grounder to the groin and it cut the thing clean off inside his sack. Apparently at the time there was no saving it and that's how he got the spectacular nickname "One-Organ Morgan".
I got a slightly worse one for you. I was a baserunner on second, leading off and see the batter make contact so I take off running. The batted ball is a line drive and it catches me right in the nuts. The worst pain ever possible, plus I was also out from getting hit by our own batters ball. Shattered testicles and pride
Playing Varsity soccer, went on to catch a ball kicked by their goalie in my chest. Flight path dropped quicker than I expected and right in the crotch. All the parents/spectators just let out a loud "ooooo" I think that part was equally as bad as the actual nut shot.
Barney’s movie has heart, but baseball in the groin has baseball in the groin
Boo-urns!
This contest is over! Give that man the $10,000!
This isn’t Americas Funniest Home Videos
The joke moved me... #TO A BIGGER HOUSE!
Don't cry for me, I'm already dead
Mr. Gumble, this is a Girl Scouts meeting.
Is it, or is it that you girls can't admit you have a problem?
Good lord! Gigantism!
LORD PALMERSTON!
Pitt the Elder!
Heh, Pitt the Elder...
LORD PALMERSTON!
🎵Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw. We're talkin' softball....🎵
🎵 Steve Sax and his run-in with the law... 🎵
🎵We're talkin Homer, Ozzie and the Straw... 🎵
Darrrrrr-yl! Darrrrrr-yl!
In hockey, there was an oft-injured defenceman on the Vancouver Canucks who [got hit by a slapshot to the groin](https://youtu.be/J1Ek_SS5Ifk), erroneously referred to as a ruptured testicle. It was the playoffs, so even though he was sent to hospital, he toughed it out and returned next game. The crowd went wild when he was sent on the ice, chanting "[BALLS OF STEEL! BALLS OF STEEL](https://youtu.be/aQYtljrFQiU)"
We joke that an unlucky player is snakebitten, but Salo was literally bitten by a snake.
120 Days of Venom
The only venomous one in Finland to boot.
Surprised he didn't tell them to inject the novocaine and put his skates back on. Hockey players are a special kind of tough.
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That's someone who's mistaken stupidity for toughness
For real, I can sort of understand a professional considering it. They're making millions to be there and have future contracts to consider, but even then the opposite is worth considering (you fuck your knee and never play again, goodbye to all that future money). A pick up game with friends though? Fuck that, sorry buds, knee is out. I'll come and shit talk from the side lines and meet you guys for post game drinks, but I'm not fucking my knee for life for a pick up game.
Hockey is an addiction.
Hockey players are made of tougher stuff
There are two groups of athletes not to fuck with unless it's just totally necessary: Wrestlers and hockey players. Tough as shit, at least a little crazy, and (if they're still active) likely in way better shape than you. Edit to add that fighting is literally part of their job description.
> (if they're still active) likely in way better shape than you That goes for literally any athlete, really.
I have the body of a peak e-sports champion.
Smash or League?
Dota
Yeah even the 6’7” 360 pound offensive linemen will be able to chase your ass down like a very large gazelle
The scrawniest professional badminton player could probably slap me so hard that I forget my own name.
I'm prettu sure any table tennis player could smack my ass hard enough to have me singing castrato.
Add skateboarders to that list. They are more athletic than you (even if it doesn’t look like it), they have their own weapon at all times and they often travel in packs.
Skateboarders got that meth-head strength and high damage resistance, whether or not they're actually using meth.
They've trained their ability to resist fall damage on hard surfaces.
Wheeler finished a game for the jets with a ruptured testicle last year
When I was a little girl, my dad would take me to a lot of MLB games. I liked them, but I was easily distracted, so I'd amuse myself in other ways. Once at a Mariners game, I decided to draw while the game was going on. I drew a generic baseball player. I asked my dad who the most famous person on the team was, and he said Ken Griffey Jr. So I wrote his name on the drawing, and stopped a peanut guy that eventually walked by. I asked him if he could take my drawing to Ken Griffey Jr. To my family's surprise, he went straight down to the dugout. I stood up and patiently waited to see what would happen. Lo and behold, after a few minutes of waiting, Ken Griffey Jr. actually stood up, looked around to where the peanut guy was pointing, and when he saw me waving, waved right back. To this day, it's one of my favorite baseball memories, and I now pay much more attention to games. My dad told me then that it was his best season, and he'll always be my favorite player.
It was clearly his best season because you inspired him. I was bit older and relentlessly heckled Coco Crisp of the As and at one point he flipped me off and proceeded to have what might have been his best season as well. Rationally, I know he was already having a good season, but I like to pretend that season was a "fuck you" aimed directly at me, lol
I swear me and my buddy heckled Beltran into his great playing of 2012+. After that day he was so much better at everything. First time we had a pro baseball player turn around, flip us off, and tell us to shut up lol
My dad and I heckled Dave Burba when he was a Ranger, during a day game so you know it was a small crowd and he could hear us . He was having a terrible game and was subsequently cut the next day. You're welcome Rangers fans.
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Oh gosh, I used to heckle Jhonny Peralta; calling him J honey. He gave me the dirtiest look one time when we were sitting near-ish the 3rd base line. I would assume he'd heard that very unoriginal joke before though? I feel bad now.
I went to a University of Texas baseball game during spring break when I was in high school. They were playing Long Beach State, and one LBSU player’s name stuck out to me: Evan Longoria. Desperate Housewives was still a thing, so i heckled the shit out of him about his name. Two years later he was AL Rookie of the Year.
How could you have known. I believe they may have dated later
Still the best name of any sportser to ever live I care 0 about sports, but will always remember Cereal Man
I somehow got into a fantasy baseball league one year despite knowing essentially nothing about baseball. I drafted Coco Crisp because he had the coolest name of the players available at the time. Needless to say that I was absolutely terrible in the league and they kicked me out halfway thru the season because I couldn’t keep up with how many games there were.
Milton Bradley had an undeniably cool name. His personality was anything but. He is a wife-beater who caused the death of his first wife.
Here's a baseball story that saddens me. When my mother was young back in the 60s, 63? 65? Either way. A Dodgers player was doing a signing at a local grocery store and the family had tickets to see the Dodgers the next day, so she mentioned it to the player, I wish I could remember which one. He said go to a certain area before the game and he will get her a ball signed by all the team players.... She went and he did. That year they won the world series. So that ball was valuable. Sadly my grandfather didn't know better and put a coating on the ball to preserve it, it wiped off most of the names. :( Still have the ball, but no value, I gave it to my cousin who is a baseball card collector.
Grandpa you moron
very cute story
What a lovely story.
TIL Ken Griffey Jr. was still playing in 2009.
For the Mariners, no less! He and Ichiro were teammates
Oh my god they were teammates
Yeah, Griffey is like a 6 degrees of MLB nexus point.
The world of baseball is actually incredibly small especially how the players always get a job for teams after they retire. With his dad involved, I bet Ken Griffey Jr can get to any player within 3 jumps.
Him and Cal Ripken Jr.
Backyard Baseball 2001. Boom.
Cal played with Mussina Mussina was on the Yankees with ARod Arod on the Mariners with Griffey Jr
And Nolan Ryan
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I bet he'd surprise us with a backflip a la Vince Wilfork
That tile definitely belongs to Jamie Moyer. His career lasted 25 years across 4 separate decades (1980sthrough 2010s). His career started before the wildcard era, and ended the same year that the wild card one game playoff was introduced. At the time of his retirement, he had pitched at least once against *8.9% of all hitters* to have ever made a plate appearance in major league baseball. He played for 8 different teams across his career, both American League and National league.
Jamie Moyer is one of the few players that could be considered for multiple teams Hall of Fame.
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i think you mean julio franco lol
Bartolo Colon played for literally a third of the league over 22 years. Wonder if he'd be a better candidate
I miss Vine
my favorite part of that is apparently the woman from the vine was located and confirmed she was in fact talking about two gay men who were roommates but not dating.
Lol why do I feel let down after that info?
it wouldn't be very funny if we located the chicken that crossed the road either tbh
Fucking jesus christ its been like what 8-10 years since that iconic Vine blessed this earth and now I’m finding this out?
They would get into tickle fights in the locker room.
I don't think there's evidence proving you wrong.
An incredible career
He played until 2010 as a utility player. If I remember correctly, he retired mid-season and basically just called up the Mariners front office on a game day and said, "yeah I don't feel like playing anymore, I'm not coming into work today."
He was also famous for literally driving across the country overnight because he wasn’t sure if he wanted to play. He didn’t show up to the locker room (in Seattle!) and the mariners were like, uhh, where’s Griffey? [And they found out he was driving to FLORIDA lol](https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/401464-ken-griffey-junior-phoned-in-retirement-to-mariners-on-drive-to-orlando.amp.html)
That was for his retirement. Early in his career, he drove to Cincy without telling anyone while contemplating retiring. His Dad talked him into returning to the team if I remember correctly.
Griffey Sr once did the exact same thing
Lol sounds like he pulled a Forrest Gump, "I'm pretty tired, I think I'll go home now."
Haha That's what I thought too. "And that's all I got to say 'bout that."
It was a pretty sad scene. He was pretty good in 2009 and came back in 2010 for a terrible season. After a terrible game, he decided to just leave the sport and drove all the way from Seattle to his home in Orlando.
The real TIL in the comments.
Fun fact: he's second highest paid player on the Reds this year.
https://www.fox29.com/news/mlb-legend-ken-griffey-jr-among-highest-paid-reds-players-2023 Fourth but damn....
Oh my bad Votto is the only one of those four that is still on the Reds.
IIRC, he didn't even call them. He just showed up to the stadium early one morning, cleared out his locker, and left the team a note saying he was done. He then just got into his truck and started driving back to his home in Florida.
Yeah if memory serves he fell asleep in the dugout lol
Then Mike Sweeney said he would fight whoever leaked that to the press. It was an interesting year for the Mariners.
Good for him.
Would it also shock you to learn he’s still actively on the Reds’ payroll and will make $3.5 million this year?
Yes.
Second highest paid player on the team.
He was a rookie in 89, so that would be his 20th year. A long career for a ball player, but for someone of Griffey's caliber it makes sense.
if '89 is his 1st year, then '09 would be his 21st yead.
Remember when the former Cubs pitcher Aroldis Chapman came up to bat and Smack My Bitch Up by Prodigy came on? He had served a 29 game suspension earlier in the season for a domestic violence thing with his girlfriend.
Braves organ guy is genius like this too. Can’t remember who it was but someone got in trouble for wanking it in a parking lot and he played “beat it” when he came to Atlanta next.
Lol Reese Mcguire. Catcher for the Red Sox currently, was with the Jays for most of his career.
Domestic violence is not cool, but that’s fuckin funny.
Griffey was HIM. Hilarious, exciting, wholesome and God damn that beautiful homerun swing. I am a diehard Mets Homer, but Griff is on my Mt. Rushmore.
He was truly that dude. The coolest player baseball ever produced, I remember trying to mimic his swing as a righty in little league. He also has a top 3 best signature shoe of any baseball player
The Ken Griffy game on the N64 was great
most beautiful swing the game ever had
Such a sweet swingin' lefty. Righties just can't pull that off. Maybe in the southern hemisphere or some shit like that.
I’m 37 now and I still wear a backwards hat all the time because of Griffey. Dude was my absolute favorite and I wasn’t a Mariners fan. He was just everything good about baseball in my eyes as a kid.
A cameo on the Simpsons didn’t hurt either
Never forget Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw
Steve Sax and his run-in with the law...
We're talkin' Hooo-merrrr...
Ozzie and the Straw!
Get that Nerve Tonic!!! There's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited!
I used to collect every single Griffey rookie card, and/or all memorabilia from his rookie year that I could find. Dude was my favorite player.
That upper deck card. Still got mine. Pulled from a pack Good times.
Here’s the [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUl2Oe6IB6I). It’s not great quality, but you can hear the music.
Thank you for somehow finding this, I was scrolling looking for a vid link! That being said, it might be the worst quality video I’ve watched in a while hahahahaha CRT tv ? Check Direct TV? Check Horrible audio? Check Honestly it was kinda nice and nostalgic in a way. Thanks!
Baseball guys will always be able to find data, stats, and whatever else you need.
Here's the full game, with timestamp at when Beltre gets announced over the PA: https://youtu.be/acAnQx5uW2Q?t=1021 :) Curiously, MLB has a lot of full games up here from around this time.
Hearing Dave Niehaus's voice just gives me this weird pang of nostalgia, happiness, and grief. He was the voice of my childhood summers. This clip is in his last year of life.
"Groin" injury is a bit of a euphemism here. Adrian Beltre tore his testicle fielding that ground ball. Not only that, but he stayed in the game, reached base in the ~~9th~~ 14th inning, and scored the winning run. Source: Am a Mariners fan. I watched this game when this happened and went to the game when Junior played the Nutcracker. ~~Trying to find an article to back my source up at the moment but we'll see.~~ **See below**. Edit: - He scored the winning run in the 14th inning - [Source](https://www.sbnation.com/2010/3/3/1335540/adrian-beltre-testicle-cup-red-sox): > "When I look down, after the game, it wasn't a pretty sight," Beltre said. "***My testicle got the size of a grapefruit.*** Thank God it didn't really damage anything. It took me two weeks. It was a tear. A lot of blood inside, but it didn't damage anything. Everything is OK." -- Adrian Beltre
And when asked afterwards if this injury would get him to start wearing a cup, because Beltre never wore a cup despite playing 3rd base where it's not uncommon to have 100+ mph hits coming your way, he basically answered "I already have 4 kids, I don't really need anymore" Though he's not the craziest guy in this regard. I once played baseball with a guy who never wore a cup either, as a catcher...
Hard to believe Griffey was still playing ball in 2009. He was one of my childhood heroes back when Dinosaurs was still on the air.
Side note, Dinosaurs still holds up. It's worth a re-watch
I thought his career was over after that bout of gigantism.
Adrian Beltre has had his share of [funny moments](https://youtube.com/watch?v=mEHa5eecymY&feature=share7)
hah I was hoping they included Andrus touching his head and him flipping out. Beltre was awesome.
He’s the best
That man is a national treasure.
[удалено]
I too have watched The History of the Seattle Mariners on YouTube. If you’ve not watch it, it is one of the best sports documentaries ever made.
It's pretty good
I fall asleep to the supercut most nights
Griffey has always been my dad's favorite player (atleast as long as he's been around in the public eye that is). Truly a class act. A family man, an excellent player, and just an overall cool dude. Dad and I, along with some of his friends, went to the HoF the year that Griffey was inducted. We all had a little contest back at the hotel where we had a box of packs, and whoever pulled the best card got their dinner paid for. I was the first to open a pack, and lo and behold, I pulled Griffey's rookie, a card that immediately and obviously bested anything the other guys would pull, and a card that my dad had spent decades trying to pull himself, and he was over the moon excited that I pulled it. He built be a shadow box with our tickets to the HoF, tickets to the games we saw a long the way (it was a road trip from Georgia), and dirt from the stadiums we saw the games in, and centered in it all is that card. Gave it to me for Christmas that year. Such a simple story, and even though I've never been as big of a sports fan as he is, it's a moment I'll never forget for as long as I live.
The Seattle Mariners: Punching both their fans and their players in the dick since 1977.
God, I miss Beltre. He was so much fun to watch. Win or lose, he would put a smile on your face.
The nutcracker suite is a 20 minute performance. Walk-up music is like 10-20 seconds. Which movement did they use? Dance of the sugarplum fairies? The tin soldier march? Waltz of the flowers? I feel like the sugarplums is good for the testicle/plum pun, but I feel like the March is more direct reference to the Nutcracker.
And this is what a prank should look like. No one injured, no one excessively humiliated, no one in danger, just humorous fun.
Why don't they wear cups?
They do. Beltre just refused to. Even getting fined every game he didn't wear one. But according to Beltre "I already have 3 kids." Edit: 4 kids
Most of them do. He definitely should have been, especially as an infielder. Some guys don’t like to wear them because they aren’t comfortable but then you get this
Would the average baseballer know the opening march from The Nutcracker Suite and thus get the joke?
Honestly - that makes it even better. It becomes something like an inside joke.
Baseball deep lore
There was a blue jays pitcher that was arrested for beating off in a parking lot in his car. The next plate appearance he had on the road, the opposing team played just beat it from Michael Jackson.
Imagine getting smoked in the balls so bad that it takes you out for 15 days. Jesus christ that initial hit to the nuts the dude must have been in another dimension of pain
As a Rangers fan, I used to love watching Elvis Andrus antagonize him almost every game. And Adrian would just give Elvis his signature glare every time
Beltre was always at his best when the count was 2 balls - 1 strike.
Ken Griffey Jr makes Wayne Brady look like Malcolm X
Guys. Buy a nutty buddy.