Ken Griffey Jr. Through the Years

Griffey Jr. had to grapple with following in the footsteps of his three-time All-Star father of the same name, but it wasn't long before the younger Griffey made a name for himself, starting with being the No. 1 pick in the 1987 draft.

Ken Jr. reaches the majors in 1989 while his father's career is winding down in Cincinnati, making them the first father-son duo to play in the big leagues at the same time. That August, Ken Sr. joins his son on the Mariners and in September, the Griffeys hit back to back home runs off California Angel Kirk McCaskill.

While his father was mostly a singles and doubles hitter, Griffey Jr. is a power hitter from almost the moment he sets foot in Seattle. In 1993, he wins the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game in Baltimore, and becomes the only person ever to hit a ball off the warehouse beyond the right field fence.

Griffey quickly became one of the best defensive players in the game, winning 10 consecutive AL Gold Glove awards from 1990 to '99. On this catch in May 1995, Griffey broke his wrist and missed 73 games.

In 1995, the Mariners looked like they may be headed out of Seattle, until an electrifying playoff run, keyed by Griffey, helped land them approval for a new ballpark. In the division series against the Yankees, Griffey hit five home runs and scored the series-winning run in the 12th-inning of the do-or-die Game 5. He was mobbed by his delirious teammates.

In 1997, Griffey won his only MVP award to date with a monster season: .304 average, 56 HRs, 147 RBI, .646 slugging for the AL West champion Mariners.

In 1999, still in the prime of his career, Griffey was voted to major league baseball's 30-man All-Century Team along with Willie Mays, another fun-loving star who was as talented in the field as he was at the plate.

After the 1999 season, Griffey asked to be traded back to his hometown Cincinnati Reds. The Reds acquired Griffey for four players, but the trade did not have the desired effect for Griffey or the Reds. While Seattle made the playoffs the next two years, Griffey has suffered through numerous injuries and the Reds have not reached the postseason since his arrival.

After playing 145 games in his debut season in Cincinnati in 2000, Griffey was felled by a string of injuries to his hamstrings, knees, ankles and shoulder. Over the next six seasons, he made eight appearances on the disabled list and never played more than 128 games in a season.

Griffey opened the 2004 season healthy. On Father's Day that June, he reached the 500 Home Run club with a blast off the Cardinals in St. Louis, and later shared a hug with his dad.

In 2006, Griffey played for Team USA, and his father joined him as a coach, at the inaugural World Baseball Classic. While Griffey starred, batting .524 and being named to the All-WBC team, the U.S. was a huge disappointment, failing to reach the semifinals.

It took seven years, but Griffey finally returned to Seattle in June 2007 for his first games in the Emerald City since being traded away. Ichiro was the new star in town, but Griffey earned plenty of cheers, especially after hitting a pair of home runs in the series finale.

Griffey is well on his way to Cooperstown, but he's already in the Hall of Fame of best guest appearances on The Simpsons. Playing himself in a 1992 episode "Homer at the Bat," Griffey becomes a ringer on the company softball team (along with other stars like Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith and Darryl Strawberry), but an extreme case of gigantism knocks him out of the big game.