Ken Griffey Jr.

George Kenneth Griffey Jr., known as "Junior" and "the Kid," was born on November 21, 1969, and spent 22 seasons as a Major League Baseball outfielder. His career primarily belonged to the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, with a brief stop in Chicago with the White Sox. Selected first overall in the 1987 draft, he became a 13-time All-Star and is regarded among the sport's all-time greats. His 630 career home runs place him seventh on MLB's all-time list. A standout defender, Griffey earned 10 Gold Glove Awards for his work in center field. He shares the record for most consecutive games with a home run—eight—alongside Don Mattingly and Dale Long.

Griffey grew up in Cincinnati after his family moved from Donora, Pennsylvania, when he was three. His father, Ken Griffey Sr., debuted for the Reds in 1973, and young Griffey was in the clubhouse during his father's World Series championships in 1975 and 1976. His father emphasized team success over individual stats, a lesson that stuck. An incident during his father's Yankees tenure—when Griffey was told to leave the dugout while a white player's son stayed—led him to refuse any future consideration of signing with New York. He attended Archbishop Moeller High School, same as future teammate Barry Larkin, and was named U.S. high school baseball player of the year in 1987 after hitting .478 with 17 home runs over two seasons. He also played wide receiver in football and turned down college scholarship offers from Oklahoma and Michigan.

The Mariners made Griffey the first pick in the June 1987 draft, giving him a $160,000 signing bonus. He joined the Bellingham Mariners of the Class A short-season Northwest League on June 11, debuting on June 16 and hitting his first professional home run the next day at Everett Memorial Stadium, where a bronze plaque marks the landing spot 387 feet from home plate. In 54 games, he batted .313 with 14 homers, 40 RBIs, and 13 steals, earning Northwest League top-prospect honors from Baseball America. The next year, with the San Bernardino Spirit in the High-A California League, he hit .338 with 11 homers, 42 RBIs, and 32 steals in 58 games before a late promotion to the Double-A Vermont Mariners, where he hit .279 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 17 games. Across two minor-league seasons, he totaled 129 games, 103 runs, and 27 home runs.

Over his first 11 seasons in Seattle (1989–1999), Griffey became one of the era's most dynamic players, amassing 1,752 hits, 398 home runs, 1,152 RBIs, and 167 stolen bases. He led the American League in homers four times (1994, 1997, 1998, 1999), won the AL MVP in 1997, and hit .297. His center-field defense set the standard, with 10 straight Gold Gloves from 1990 to 1999. His range allowed for frequent diving catches, over-the-shoulder basket grabs, and leaping robberies of home runs. He was a regular All-Star, led the AL in several hitting categories multiple times, appeared on Wheaties boxes, and had his own Nike sneaker line. In his first MLB plate appearance on April 3, 1989, he doubled off Oakland's Dave Stewart. A week later, in his first Kingdome at-bat, he hit his first major-league home run. Upper Deck made him the No. 1 card in its first set in 1989.

After his playing days, Griffey joined the Mariners' front office as a special consultant. He was inducted into both the Mariners and Reds Halls of Fame. In 2016, he entered the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot, receiving 99.32% of the vote—breaking Tom Seaver's 24-year-old record of 98.84%. His father, Ken Griffey Sr., also played in MLB, and his son, Trey Griffey, played professional football.