Goodbye, Ken Griffey Jr.

I've pretty much abandoned baseball since the 1990s - some time between the strike of 1994 and the departure of Pedro Martinez and Vladimir Guerrero from our beloved Montréal Expos. In the 80s and 90s, two players had the genes to one day challenge to be the best of all time: Barry Bonds (son of Bobby Bonds) and Ken Griffey Jr. I mean, it's pretty good genes to be Moises Alou, son of regular player Felipe Alou, but to be the son of an All Star is a step up from even that.

Some time in the late 1990s, though, Bonds' stats skyrocketed - as his body mass was strangely increasing in size. His head more than doubled as he broke the single-season home run record. Griffey, on the other hand, had his body and body of work stay consistent throughout his career, and no one even alleged he had juiced up.

He retired last week sitting fifth of all time for career home runs and is tied for most consecutive games with a home run. All of this while being a steady presence defensively and in the locker room, unlike the other guy.

The prince ended up surpassing the hype and making a name for himself, and his career is ending, retiring himself from the game, unlike Bonds, who is still officially a free agent, just hasn't had any offer for the past 3 years.

Congrats.