Babes Love Baseball's Top 10 MLB Stories of 2010

It was a hell of a season. In case you've forgotten what was so great about it in the aftermath of yet another year when your team did not win the World Series, here is a list of the Top 10 things that we believe made the 2010 baseball season wonderful, memorable, and oftentimes hilarious. In no particular order.

10. Suffering from Over the Hill Syndrome, Ken Griffey Jr. nodded off in the clubhouse and slept right through a pinch hit appearance. A few weeks later, The Kid retired after 21 illustrious seasons in the game. [Not Now Kids, Grandpa's Trying to Nap]

9. The New York Yankees failed miserably at acquiring the studly Cliff Lee. High fives all around. [Cliff Lee Reunites with the Philadelphia Phillies]

Ken Griffey Jr. Retires After Two Decades

Ken Griffey Jr. has retired from Major League Baseball after more than two decades of amazingly steroid-free baseball.

Okay, technically it was parts of four decades, considering he played in the 80's, 90's, 00's and 10's.

The 40-year-old Hall of Fame shoe-in has enjoyed 13 All-Star appearances, 10 Gold Gloves, seven Silver Slugger Awards, the 1997 MVP honor, and won the Home Run Derby on three different occasions.

Mariners Blackball Tattle-Tale Reporter

After a Tacoma News Tribune reporter tattled on Ken Griffey Jr. for napping in the clubhouse, the Seattle Mariners gave him the silent treatment.

For example, after the Mariners' 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday, Cliff Lee began to address the media before stopping abuptly and refusing to continue until Larry LaRue, the reporter in question, left the room.

LaRue's report stated that Griffey "was asleep in the clubhouse" according to one player, who went on to say, "He’d gone back about the fifth inning to get a jacket and didn’t come back. I went back in about the seventh inning — and he was in his chair, sound asleep."

Not Now Kids, Grandpa's Trying To Nap

Poor Junior.

There's a lot of speculation these days about how much longer future hall-of-famer Ken Griffey, Jr. is going to be playing. Nevermind the fact that he's 40 years old. Or that this is his 22nd season in the big leagues. Or that he's only hitting .208 this season. Or that he has yet to hit a homerun this year. Or that he doesn't play in the outfield these days because he's got all sorts of aches and pains.

None of that really made us sit up and take notice of the fact that he's at the end of his career like the latest Griffey headline: Junior was unable to pinch hit the other night because he FELL ASLEEP IN THE CLUBHOUSE.

Jim Thome Is a Big Boy

Jim Thome hit career home run #550 Monday night, smoking a go-ahead three-run shot in the eighth inning of the Chicago White Sox 6-2 win over the Oakland Athletics. Clutch.

This particular longball, a 1-2 pitch to left-center off lefty reliever Craig Breslow, marks Thome's ninth of 2009 and puts the corn-fed designated hitter at 13th on the all-time homer list. He also lifted the Sox to .500 on the season, bringing their record to 25-25 for a 3.5-game deficit behind the Detroit Tigers for second in the American League Central.

And I Got Mad Hits Like I Was Rod Carew

If we were in Japan right now, Ichiro Suzuki's record-tying hit Wednesday would be a very, very big deal. I mean, it's still a pretty big deal, but it was sort of over-shadowed by the awesomeness of Ken Griffey Jr.'s 400th bomb as a Seattle Mariner.

Isao Harimoto's 3,085 hits (a lone, long-standing Japanese record until yesterday) was knotted up after Ichiro went 2-for-5 including a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh during his team's 11-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Going Full Circle: Junior Tries to Save a City

Well, this story is rather heart-warming. Ken Griffey, Jr. has decided to return to Seattle to finish his 20-year career with the team that made him a star.

According to an anonymous source close to negotiations, the Mariners have agreed to give Junior at least $2 million plus incentives for the 2009 season, likely placing the future Hall of Famer at the designated hitter's spot, or possibly out in left field.

As a 19-year-old kid in 1989, Griffey made his big league debut in Seattle and stuck around for 11 seasons, 10 Gold Gloves, 10 All-Star games, 7 Silver Sluggers, 4 video games (Slugfest was pretty badass) a candy bar, a faux Presidential nomination, a guest role on the Simpsons (that's when you know you've made it) and of course, that MVP award in 1997.

Continue reading this story on Fantasy Pros 911.

Griffey Hopes to Hear a Ringing in His Ears...

To be more specific, he's waiting for his phone to ring, a la Barry Bonds.. Barry, by the way, never got that phone call. He got some prank calls, and some heavy breathing calls, to which he credits (but can't prove to be) Roger Clemens.

Back to my breaking news though.. which really isn't that shocking. The White Sox apparently have no use for Ken Griffey Jr. now that they made it to, and eventually lost in, the post-season.

Sox Advance, Get Me Drunk

Big thanks to Jim Thome’s old school bat and Ken Griffey Jr.’s older school cannon for making the Chicago White Sox the 2008 AL Central winner.

Lefty John Danks tossed eight impressive innings of two-hit ball on minimal rest, seeing Junior nail Michael Cuddyer at home and Thome smoke one in the seventh to help the South Siders beat the division rival Minnesota Twins 1-0 in their nail-biting, tie-breaking 163rd game of the season.

No One Cares About Your Fantasy Team

Somewhere between packing up my crap, cleaning the old apartment and unpacking all my crap, I've found the time to join Patrick DiCaprio and Mike Podhorzer for The Fantasy Baseball Roundtable radio show this evening at 9pm ET.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have no business on a fantasy baseball radio show this season. Freebase My Balls is consistently horrible. Consistent, though!

Anyway, feel free to listen and ridicule accordingly here.

Trade Deadline = New Players to Hate

How am I supposed to hate Ken Griffey Jr.? He was like, the first poster I had on my wall as a kid. I have a hard enough time disliking Jim Thome without another non-hatable player coming to the one team in baseball I can't stand. Except Carlos Quentin, he's awesome.

A trade is in the works this morning to bring Junior to the Chicago White Sox, possibly for leftover Griffey candy bars, to be delivered overnight, of course.

More importantly, if Griffey approves the trade by the 3pm deadline today, where the hell is he supposed to play? Center field? And how will Paul Konerko feel when he's replaced at first by Nick Swisher? This can only end in salty tears.

The 38-year-old Griffey is batting .245 with 15 homers and 53 RBIs over 359 at-bats so far this season.

Update: It came true.

[Chicago Tribune] | [Walkoff Walk] | [The Scores Report]

Griffey vs. Brantley

First of all, who doesn't want to give Jeff Brantley a beatdown?

Although, slashing his throat may be going a little overboard. Saturday night, Ken Griffey Jr. implied he'd like to do just that, making the gesture toward the booth after nailing his 607th career homer.

600 Reasons to Love Ken Griffey Jr.

Ken Griffey Jr. nailed his 600th career homer on Monday, joining Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa as the sixth member of the 600 Club, highlighted by three legendary Hall of Famers, and at least one controversial slugger who is not likely to join them.

Speculation states he'd likely be at #700 by now if not for serious injury after serious injury, but the 38-year-old Cincinnati Reds living legend still has quite a bit of gas left in his tank, even though he's batting .260 with 7 homers and 29 RBIs on the season. Okay, so he's running on fumes.

The milestone came on a 3-and-1 pitch from Florida Marlins lefty Mark Hendrickson in the first inning, sailing 413 feet inside the right field foul pole for a 2-0 lead.

...and only 16,003 people saw it live. Get out to the god damn ballpark, people!

Also, read about the Rocket's rocket here.

[USA Today]

Fun With Polls: Milestones

As you may or may not have noticed to your left or right, we're helping three very awesome veterans count down to three very awesome numbers.

Ken Griffey Jr., Manny Ramirez and Chipper Jones are all just 2 longballs away from career homers 600, 500 and 400, respectively.

So, we want to know who you think will hit the big one first?

• 
  Ken Griffey Jr.
• 
  Manny Ramirez
• 
  Chipper Jones

view results

Voodoo Sabermetrics: Ken Griffey, Jr.

Welcome to our fourth edition of Voodoo Sabermetrics. This week's subject is one we are all familiar with. A baseball staple of not only [some of] our childhoods, but a constant into our adulthoods, as well... except that one time he was injured for his entire career.

Ladies and gentlemen, the video game, the candy bar, the family man, The Natural.


Sooze, Babes Love Baseball

Jolliness - Junior's jollity officially began when he was selected with the first overall pick of the 1987 amateur draft by the Seattle Mariners based on eventuality, and it hasn't stopped yet. He's remained up-beat throughout his 21-year career, despite landing on the DL more times than anyone could possibly keep track of. (See Tuffy's Hardness Scale.) Just a few homers away from 600 career bombs, he's smiling all the way to the retirement home.

Griffey gets a Ben & Jerry's Tennessee Mud ice cream waffle cone dipped in chocolate on the jolliness scale. So good, they don't even make them anymore.

Shocker of the Century

Ken Griffey Jr. has hurt himself!

He's pulled his groin and he'll be out for the remainder of the season!

During the eighth inning of Wednesday night's game against the Chicago Cubs, Junior attempted to field a ball out in right. Lunging back to make the throw, he stopped and had to soft-toss the ball back to the infield before falling to the ground in pain.

Junior Hits Another Milestone

Sitting on a full count with two men on in the second inning, Ken Griffey Jr. hit one deep into the right field seats off Houston Astros' Matt Albers today. It was his 569th career homer, moving him into a ninth-place tie with former respected first baseman, Rafael Palmeiro.

Albers was the 362nd pitcher to give up a homer to Griffey.

The 37-year-old outfielder has been on an absolute tear since moving back to the third spot, hitting safely in seven of those eight games where he's nailed four of his six longballs.

To celebrate Junior's most recent achievement, we're gonna bust out (and dust off) the old 64 and play some Slugfest.

In other Reds news, Edwin Encarnacion was optioned to AAA for sucking at hitting and fielding. The 24-year-old third baseman is hitting only .218 with one homer and 14 RBIs.

[Sporting News] | [Red Reporter]

Ken Griffey, Jr. Passes Milestone

Ken Griffey Jr. moved up on the career home runs list with one sweet swing, bumping Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson out of the top 10.

The Cincinnati Reds outfielder moved into 10th place on the career home runs list with his first longball of the season - the 564th of his career - aiding his club in a 10-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Mr. October called the slugger to congratulate him last fall when he tied him, so another call is expected soon.

"To pass him, sometimes it's mindboggling because I didn't think when I started playing this game 19 years ago that I'd be anywhere close to where I am now," Griffey said.

The lefty outfielder is hitting .273 so far this season with the one homer and 9 RBIs. Junior is a career .291 hitter and has played in 2291 games.

[Cincinnati Post]

The Anniversary of Breaking the Color Barrier

Every player on the Los Angeles Dodgers roster will be wearing #42 on Sunday, April 15th.

The club will honor the late Jackie Robinson by having all of its players wear his number when the Dodgers face the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Robinson becoming the first African-American player to appear in a big league game.

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. called Commissioner Bud Selig and received permission to wear Robinson's number that day, as well.

Ken Griffey, Jr. is Back in Action

Ken Griffey Jr. has about a week to learn his new position and remember how to swing a bat.

Junior was in the Cincinnati Reds' lineup for the first time Saturday after breaking his left hand while wrestling with his children in December. He has been limited to taking batting practice and catching fly balls during workouts and with only eight exhibition games left this spring, he feels good enough to play.

The 37-year-old outfielder will be replaced by the speedy Ryan Freel in center field and will move to right for the first time in his career.

Since coming to his hometown team for the 2000 season, Griffey has been limited by a bazillion severe injuries, with eight different stints on the disabled list.

[ESPN]