To all the fathers out there, I want to wish you a sincere Happy Father’s Day!
The Illowa APBA League has ten men and roughly half of them are fathers. It’s a bit of a secret I keep from my wife but the Father’s Day greetings I treasure most are the ones I get from my fellow league members especially the fathers. I’m not sure why. It may be a paternal thing. A “guy” thing.
So this is my virtual Happy Father’s Day card for all you Dads out there.
By the way, this was all Scott Fennessy’s idea. He deserves a lot of the credit for putting this together and he doesn’t even have children.
Name the best father-son combo in baseball? Well, Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr immediately sprang to mind. I grew up in the era of Ken Sr. and he was an All-Star for the Reds. Then Ken Jr came along and surpassed even his dad’s talent.
Let’s look at the cards that Scott and I chose for this article.
1986 Ken Griffey
I don’t even remember Griffey Sr getting this strong of a card. He was more of a 0-0-0 kinda guy with maybe an 11.
In a split season between the Yankees and the Braves, he hit for some power hitting 21 homers in 532 plate appearances. He also hit .306 and stole 14 bases.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 Totals | 139 | 532 | 490 | 69 | 150 | 22 | 3 | 21 | 58 | 14 | 35 | 67 | .306 | .350 | .492 |
Pretty good for an old guy of 36.
1994 Ken Griffey Jr.
Ken Griffey Jr.’s 1994 season ranks among his best. At age 24, he already had one 40-homer season under his belt and this season was his second. The difference is that because of the labor dispute, he did it in 111 games.
But that’s not all. Grif hit .323 and slugged .674 while stealing 11 bases. Probably the most amazing stat is that he scored 94 runs in the Mariners’ 112 games.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 Totals | 111 | 493 | 433 | 94 | 140 | 24 | 4 | 40 | 90 | 11 | 56 | 73 | .323 | .402 | .674 |
Griffey Jr.’s card is very spectacular especially with runners on base. With power numbers 1-1-4-5-5 and two 10s make sure there is a runner on first with this card up to bat. On top of that, Junior is rated an OF-3.
Together, the father-son duo combined for 782 homeruns. They once hit homers on the same day for same team. Back-to-back, even. Here is a video of momentous occasion.
Son showing up Dad.
Thanks for your help on this, Scott. For all the Dads out there, have a great Father’s day!!
