More Griffey Memories

On the Kevin Calabro show today, some of the people close to Ken Griffey Jr. during his historic career shared some of their favorite stories:

Omar Vizquel on coming up to the big leagues along with Griffey:

“We broke in together in ’88…it was really a pleasure to have him around all the time-he was always joking around and because I wasn’t the only rookie guy. He took over all that media circus when we went to Spring Training and he was the guy that everybody wanted to talk to. He took away a lot from the other guys around him.”

Listen to the rest of Vizquel’s interview here: Omar Vizquel

Bob Boone, Griffey’s former manager on the Cincinnati Reds, on whether he feels cheated that Griffey was injured during his tenure:

“I didn’t feel cheated, I just felt bad for Kenny. It was just a combination of things one on top of the other. And yet he played quite a bit for having those serious injuries. I mean, 43 [homeruns], it took me 10 years to get 43! I love being a part of his baseball career in a little way as his manager on the Reds. That’s something I look back on and say, ‘man, I got to manage Ken Griffey Junior.’ That’s quite an honor.”

Hear the rest of what Boone had to say here: Bob Boone

Rick Rizzs on what kind of a person Griffey was off the field:

“He loved to have fun. He loved to yank your chain; that’s what he was so good at. He had fun playing the game, he had fun playing the game before he played the game. If you came in, there was something on your mind that you weren’t feeling good, he just had his own way to put a smile on your face because he had a smile on his. Unfortunately that smile wasn’t there the last few weeks, but now I hope he’s happy.”

Rick Rizzs’ full interview can be found here: Rick Rizzs