9-1-90 Saturday. For the first time in major-league baseball history, a father and son played together on the same team. Ken Griffey, who played for Cincinnati during the Big Red Machine days of the 1970s, has bounced around for the past few years. The other day, after being released by the Reds (his second go-round with them), he signed a contract with the Seattle Mariners, for whom his son, Ken Jr, plays. Last night the two of them played in the outfield together. Each had a hit and scored a run. What a thrill that must be for both of them! Some critics call it a publicity stunt, designed to draw fans to the ballpark, to which I say “So what!”. Nobody doubts the elder Griffey’s ability to play; it’s not like he was taken out of an office to play right field. As far as I can see, no harm is done by hiring him. Perhaps at the end of the season, having played a month with his son, he’ll retire. [He retired following the 1991 season, having played 19 years. His son, known as “Junior”, recently retired after playing 22 years. He hit 630 home runs.] In other baseball news, Willie McGee, who is second in the National League in hitting percentage, has been traded to the Oakland Athletics, who need a replacement for the injured Dave Henderson in center field. McGee, who is hitting .335, has enough plate appearances to qualify for the National League batting title. Whether he wins the title depends on how others, such as Philadelphia’s Len Dykstra, do between now and the end of the season. Dykstra is hitting .340. If McGee wins the title and Rickey Henderson of the Athletics stays atop the American League, Oakland will have both batting titlists in its outfield. [McGee won the National League title. George Brett won the American League title.]
I didn’t think it was possible, but I broke my bicycle speed record this afternoon. I went fifty-two miles per hour on Cedar Hill, two miles per hour faster than the previous record. It must have been the tailwind, because I pedaled no harder than I usually do at the top. Now I know what it’s like to come down a mountain in the Tour de France—except they do it for much longer. My average speed for the day was 18.11 miles per hour. Unlike yesterday, when I averaged 19.11 miles per hour, there were wind gusts out of the west-northwest that slowed my progress. I worked hard near the end to reach the eighteen-mile-per-hour mark. The nice thing about riding late in the afternoon, as I’ve been doing, is that by the time I get within ten miles of home the sun is setting and the temperature is dropping. (Today the high was ninety-nine degrees [Fahrenheit].) I’ve seen some memorable sunsets during the past month. And while I’m on the subject of beauty, there were several sailboats on Joe Pool Lake today. Usually I see only motorboats, some pulling water skiers. One more note: In 1989 I rode an average of 64.6 miles per week. So far in 1990 I’ve ridden an average of 136 miles per week. What a jump! At some point I’m going to have to lower my sights, because there’s no way I can keep increasing my mileage year after year. Is there?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 