Visual Baseball: Homage to Ken Griffey Jr.
Lost in all the controversy about yesterday’s (im)perfect game was the sleepy retirement of Ken Griffey Jr. Here’s a look at the pitchers he took deep throughout his career.
Kevin Dame is a writer and visual designer who brings sports information to life in new and meaningful ways. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter @kevintdame.
Looks great, Kevin. Obviously, lots of really good pitchers with long careers, but one name that jumpes out for me is Glendon Rusch, who didn’t have that long a career but looks to have a pretty big font size.
Rusch gave up 4 dingers to the Kid.
How I admired this guy when I was a kid! This is a fun idea. Would’ve been nice if it was shaped like a baseball though.
Here’s a bit of Ken Griffey, Jr. home-run trivia, courtesy of Baseball Reference’s “Vs. Pitcher” feature.
Billy Brewer (about 1:30 in the diagram) surrendered three homers in seven plate appearances, which is the highest HR/PA rate for any pitcher who faced Junior 5+ times.
Two pitchers faced Griffey twice and served him up gopher balls both times: Brad Pennington and Mel Rojas.
Most times facing Griffey without giving up a home run: Todd Stottlemyre, 40, and Roy Oswalt, 38. Kenny Rogers allowed one HR in Griffey’s 56 plate appearances against him.