Miami RedHawks football
Run for Vision 5K
Spotted: H.S. football Week 3
Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > June > 06 > Entry
The Family Griffey is ready for 600
Ever enter a place where you know you didn’t belong? Like the women’s restroom if you are a man?
That’s the feeling I get at the Trump International Sonesta Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. Even the name is off-putting.
And be truthful. How many hotel rooms have you been in that has a closet with a washer and dryer in it? In 36 years of travel, that’s a first for me. I would have been happy with the 10th floor patio and the two lounge chairs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
The price? Only $990 a night. I’m kidding, boss. Honest, I’m kidding about the price, but not the washer and dryer. They are right there behind the closet door. I stood and stared.
As I checked in Thursday night, a voice next to me said, “Don’t they let you travel with the team?” I was tempted to say, “No, bad table manners,” but if that were true the entire charter plane would be empty.
The voice belonged to the beautiful Melissa Griffey, wife of you know who. She said he probably was the only person happy that hubby didn’t hit No. 600 in Philadelphia.
“There wouldn’t have been anybody to give him a hug,” she said. Well, it wasn’t going to be me, Bubba. (“How about them Reds?”) The Griffey family, absent in Philly, is in Florida en masse, hoping to witness the historic blast.
Even Griffey seems anxious to get it over, and he’d like to do it in front of dear ol’ dad, Ken Griffey Sr.
“He’s going to be there because he’s got nothing else to do,” said Griffey. Senior and about 40 other relatives, friends and acquaintances are ensconced at The Trump.
“One good swing sends 40 people home happy and will take a whole lot off my wallet for the next two weeks,” said Junior. “The family is coming in and it’ll be nerve-racking. Hopefully, I can get it over with real quick and they don’t have to come up to Cincinnati and then go to New York and then go to Toronto and then go to Cleveland.”
So for Griffey, the home run will be one big financial-relieving swing. He nearly ended it in Philly in the ninth inning Thursday, sending center fielder Shane Victorino to the wall to grab a low liner.
“I would have been upset and so would a lot of other people,” said Melissa.
Speaking of the senior member of the Griffeys, he represented the Reds at Thursday’s free agent draft.
Forgive me for not getting worked-up over the draft. Never do. Marty Brennaman and I have the same attitude about it. It is not the NBA or NFL draft, where players usually go right to the big club.
The baseball draft is one big lottery. Sometimes you hit, mostly you don’t.
As manager Dusty Baker said, “Sometimes the last time you hear about a No. 1 pick is the day of the draft. And sometimes a No. 26 or No. 27 or No. 45 makes it. I’ve seen it over and over.”
Let me toss some names of former Reds No. 1 draft picks at you since 1989: Scott Bryant, Chad Mottola, Pat Watkins, C.J. Nitkowski, Johnny Oliver, Brandon Larson, Ty Howington, David Espinosa, Chris Gruler.
See what I mean?
In the Miami Herald this morning, the story about the Reds drafting Yonder Alonso was on Page 3 — and he was raised in nearby Coral Gables and attends the University of Miami. On Page 1 was a story about Kansas City drafting Eric Hosmer No. 1. He attends American Heritage High School in nearby Cooper City.
Everybody hopes Alonso does well, but he is a slow-footed, power-hitting left-handed first baseman.
How old is Joey Votto?
Speaking of slow-footed, on my ride from the Fort Lauderdale airport to Sunny Isles Beach, about a $25 cab ride, I had the only slow-footed taxi driver in captivity. We went down U.S. 1 without ever crossing the 30-mph boundary.
I got in the cab at 10 o’clock and at one point I asked, “Do you think we’ll be at the hotel by midnight?” He didn’t get my sarcastic question and smiled broadly said, “Oh, yes sir. Easily.”
He should have said, “Barely.”
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment |
Comments
By MAC
June 7, 2008 3:16 AM | Link to this
It’s not that Alonso isn’t a good pick, I’m just not sure he’s a good pick for the Reds? Considering all the problems this organization has had continually drafting power pitchers and power hitters, you’d think they’d actually go for more of a Craig Biggo type player? A player that could move to or play two or more positions has good speed and agility, makes contact and in short does all the little things right…a gamer or “a baseball player?” Likewise, remember the Reds had no 2nd rd pick this year. IMO, the 3rd catcher (college guy) or next pitcher available would have been a better options?By rob
June 6, 2008 10:53 PM | Link to this
Hal, how could you forget about Pat Pacillo and Scott Scudder. To be fair, Scudder knocked aroung for a few years but Pacillo was a complete washout.By Jim Oates
June 6, 2008 9:08 PM | Link to this
Billy Hatcher is attending his daughter’s graduation.By Jimmy1Time
June 6, 2008 8:00 PM | Link to this
Hal or anybody please tell me why t Billy Hatcher not down firstbase tonight?By Jimmy1Time
June 6, 2008 8:00 PM | Link to this
Hal or anybody please tell me why t Billy Hatcher not down firstbase tonight?By Jimmy1Time
June 6, 2008 8:00 PM | Link to this
Hal or anybody please tell me why t Billy Hatcher not down firstbase tonight?By John
June 6, 2008 5:40 PM | Link to this
Worth noting, Hal, is that all but one of those #1 picks you mention were made under one Jimmy “Leatherpants” Bowden. Could be helpful to point out some Reds who went #1 and played or are still playing in the majors.By bigdoc1
June 6, 2008 4:26 PM | Link to this
Great inside info, Hal! Keep up the great work!By emmcat
June 6, 2008 3:35 PM | Link to this
I really enjoy this blog primarily because it is the ONLY place in America that will ever trot out the name of the WORST first round draft choice in Red’s history , Johnny Oliver. As I recall, he never got out of Class A and never hit higher than 225 with every third AB a K. I’ve always wondered who the draft checkers were on him so that they would be banned from baseball. At least Chris Gruler was injured and pat watkins acyually made it to the bigs as did Scott bryant and even the noble 5 tool Chad mottola. But Jounny O… he never saw Chattanooga.By pat Monahan
June 6, 2008 3:03 PM | Link to this
I believe you stock pile your minor league teams with as many top quality guys as possible, regardless of the position. If you don’t have a spot for them on the big league team, you can use them to trade for what you do need. It’s not about winning in L’ville or Dayton. It’s about winning in the majors.By Beard
June 6, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this
Hal I know you mentioned you don’t think much of the draft in general, but did the Reds have some master plan in place when they took Alonso? By that I mean with Votto at first currently do you think they plan on moving him to left to make room for Alonso when he is ready. Now I certainly realize it will be three years or so before Alonso is coming up, but if the Reds plan on signing Dunn to an extension then there is no way to get Dunn, Votto, and Alonso on the field at the same time. (Sorry I just can’t see Votto moving to right — if so Mr. Bruce better have the range of a young Junior or Andrew Jones to sit between Dunn and Votto). I mean if you don’t plan on your first round pick working out at some point (minus the Bowden/Sowers thing) then why even bother having a scouting department. So that being said I would think you have a game plan for your number one pick. And I’ve heard all the “but they picked Bruce and they had Dunn, Griffey, and Kearns” arguements. In that case they had to know that Dunn and Kearns and Griffey would all be nearing the end of their contracts when Bruce would be ready. The only way this pick makes sense is to say that the Reds plan on losing Dunn and moving Votto to left by the time Alonso is ready.By JKL
June 6, 2008 2:10 PM | Link to this
Only time will tell about This first rounder and please stop trashing Dunn. No his defense insn’t the greatest, but that is only part of the baseball equation!By Steve
June 6, 2008 12:29 PM | Link to this
I would love to see Griffey get it over with as soon as possible but how nice it would be for him to hit it in a packed house Tuesday on Joe Nuxhall nite.By HuberTucky
June 6, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this
I don’t see any kind of media frenzy over Griffey’s 600th. Sad, really. You’d think rather than glamorizing a scumbag like Bonds and following him around and fawning over every at-bat of Mr. Barry Attitude, there would be — especially knowing what we do about the steroid cheating — sports media promoting an honest and clean player like Junior as a role model for kids in sports. I bet if he was with the Yankees or Boston they’d be all over it like ants at a picnic. So much for ethics in our culture.By Kettering
June 6, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this
I know nothing about Yonder Alonso but don’t think this is a bad pick just because he plays 1B. Votto’s defense at first is questionable and he could easily be a corner outfielder in the future. Griffey and Dunn will both likey be gone by the time any of the current draft picks are ready for the majors.