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Junior captivated hearts and became an instant legend with his sweet lefty swing, insane home run robberies, and an iconic Upper Deck rookie card. The backward hat-wearing rookie burst onto the scene, and looked like a legitimate threat to break Aaron’s record. Sadly, injuries robbed him of the back half of his career, much like another center field legend, Mike Trout. (Fingers crossed that Trout plays a half-season for the Phillies before retirement in 2031 so we can feature him here.)

After 11 remarkable seasons in the Emerald City, Griffey requested a trade to be closer to family, and was subsequently flipped to the Reds for Mike Cameron, Brett Tomko, and others. After accumulating ~70 bWAR in Seattle, you can call his time in Cincy a major disappointment, as he put up just 12.8 bWAR and was often hurt.

At the trade deadline in 2008, he waived his no-trade clause, and was shipped to Chicago’s South Side for no-name #1 and no-name #2. Funnily enough, no-name #1, Nick Masset (0.5), and no-name #2, Danny Richar (-0.4) combined to produce more 2008 bWAR with the Reds than Griffey did that same season (0.0).

With the White Sox, Junior played in 41 games, slashing .260/.347/.405, knocking three homers in 150 plate appearances. On August 20, batting cleanup against the Mariners, he swatted his first home run with Chicago, a two-run blast off an ineffective R.A. Dickey:

This was #609 for his career, tying him for fifth all-time with Sammy Sosa. Presently, Griffey sits seventh on the list, ultimately passed by Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez. He still had that sweet swing and trademark nonchalant bat drop, belting an upper-deck home run on September 24 off Nick Blackburn:

He also had a few defensive highlights, the most memorable coming when he nailed a runner at home in a one-game tiebreaker against the Twins—a game Chicago would win to capture the AL Central title.

While his time there was generally underwhelming, it did give him his third and final postseason. In the ALDS vs the Rays, Griffey Jr. went 0-for-4 in Game 1, but rebounded by going 2-for-2 with a walk and a run in a Game 3 win. In Game 4, facing elimination, the Kid went 0-for-4 with 3 K’s, making the final out in the series—a strikeout swinging at the hands of Grant Balfour (the hands-down best name for a pitcher with control issues). Working his second inning in a non-save situation, Balfour retired the side in order: a Jim Thome groundout; a Paul Konerko flyout; the aforementioned strikeout of Griffey, to end both the game and the White Sox season. Alas, Junior never did win a World Series in his prolific career.

After the season, he returned to where it all began, signing with the Mariners for 2009 and retiring there two months into 2010. A remarkable career in all, with his half-season in Chicago being mostly an afterthought.