Cincinnati Reds: Why Ken Griffey Jr. May Be the Biggest Mystery

Before you tear me to shreds about how wrong I am, take the time to hear me out.

We all know how amazing "The Kid" was as a Baseball player. His natural ability in the field and maybe the most amazing swing we've ever seen. 630 Home runs is also nothing to look over but what I mean is looking at the time Ken Griffey Jr. missed due to injury.

During Griffey's time as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, Ken averaged playing in 118.1 games a season. So, in a 162 game season, Griffey missed 44 games a year.

Now 44 games compared to an 162 game season may not seem like much, but year-in and year-out, that's quite a bit of games and it's really a takeaway from the great stats Griff put up over his illustrious Major League career.

We all know that Griffey Jr. is going to be a Hall of Famer, and anything less than first ballot is a complete disappointment, but what I'm getting at is, how do we know Griffey couldn't have hit more home runs than 630, maybe even claiming the title "Home Run King" that is controversially held by Barry Bonds?

In 2002, Griffey missed 92 games, 2003 he missed 109 and 2004 79 games. Adding those numbers up shows that Ken missed 280 games during that span – which is a season and a half worth of games.

To me I will always call Ken Griffey Jr the greatest Baseball player I've ever seen. To me we will never see that natural swing ever again, and we will never see anyone patrol Center Field the way he did.

But how scary is it that if Ken Griffey Jr didn't run into all these injuries we may possibly be talking about him as potentially the greatest ballplayer of all time. 13 All star appearances, Seven Silver Sluggers, 10 Gold Gloves, 2005 NL Comeback player of the year and the 1997 AL MVP. Crazy, isn't it?

Also let's not forget the closest any AL player has come to Roger Maris 61 home runs.

What are your thoughts on "The Kid?"

Follow me on twitter @irishunmatched

Check out my other pieces of writing timtalkseverything.blogspot.com