The Ken Griffey Jr Award

It struck me upon announcing the creation of The Isaac Bruce award that I must have been preoccupied upon mentioning Ken Griffey Jr's retirement to have not promised him the same pseudo-honor. Junior, along with perhaps Emmitt Smith, has had the single largest impact on my life as a sportsfan of any athlete. That fact makes hims largely responsible for the life of this blog. Therefore...

Let this post serve as the official announcement of the creation of Lightning in a Bottle's Ken Griffey Junior Award.

This incredibly subjective award will be given to the most popular player in baseball. This is the player whose jersey is seen on children's backs and name is heard on people's tongues in Nashville, Tacoma, Tucson, Levittown, Canton, Quebec, Tokyo and Tallahassee. It goes to the player who transcends team and is simply an ambassador of the sport to all of the fans through his play on the field. It goes to the player whose stance everyone is imitating in their backyard, whose number and position everyone is giving themselves when they create their player in MLB the Show, who is inspiring the baseball dreams that are taking shape during the year in question. Ken Griffey Jr was EVERYONE's favorite player when I was in grade school, because his play was too dynamic not to notice. Recent winners could have included Ichiro, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, etc; though the award will officially be given out for the first time at the end of the 2010 baseball season.

-APT