And personally, I'm not especially a Junior fan, Diderot. I think you missed several other critiques of his personality. :- ) Don't think the older crowd here is much confused about the fact that athletes are human beings.
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You could be right about the Reds. I vaguely recall his commenting on it good-naturedly throughout his time here, that before he was done he'd like to play for the Reds at some point in his career, commenting on it being where his Dad came up, his time in the locker room with Bench who remained a fixture there, etc.
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Griff went to Cincy and it turned sour pretty early, such as with the first-year kerfuffle over his number. He put in what, 10 years with a losing Reds team before thanking them for trading him into a pennant race? Could be that after a decade of missing the playoffs, it became a higher priority for him. Ten years is long enough to change your mind about a few things...
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For sure Griffey enjoyed recognition more than I'm comfortable with. No argument from me there. Would only add Mojo's essential point, that his sheer joy in baseball seemed to come first, and that was the difference-maker for me.
+1