May 11

"The Worst Curse in life is Unlimited Potential."
-- sign in Ken Brett's apartment in 1972

That curse is the cloud under which Ken Griffey Jr. lives, or believes he lives. Not that he is alone, because whether it be Cal Ripken or Jason Giambi or Alex Rodriguez, insecurity is a birthmark of superstardom. They clearly live with something we never do and that is trying to balance the expectation/reality formula while trying to insure that everyone likes him.

	Ken Griffey Jr. has hit 63 home runs in parts of three seasons with the Reds.

When a Cincinnati television station prepared for the return of Griffey from knee surgery by running a crackbrained poll asking viewers whom Reds manager Bob Boone should bench in the Griffey/Adam Dunn/Austin Kearns/Juan Encarnacion outfield mix and Griffey received 74 percent of the votes, instead of boasting that not even Jerry Springer got 74 percent when he was voted mayor of that city -- the largest city Franklin D. Roosevelt never carried -- Junior was hurt. He lashed out, criticizing the city's negativity and using the expression "I don't need this" that got translated to mean he either wants to be traded or wants to go home to Orlando for good and raise his family.

"That's not what I said, but that's not really the point," says Griffey. "If they really think I shouldn't play, then maybe I should just go sit at home and collect paychecks. Of course, that's not what I want. I want to play and help the Reds win.

"But what I found so frustrating here is that it was a shot when I couldn't defend myself. If I come back and stink, fine, then go ahead and take the shot. But it's not like I want to be hurt, or I'm not trying to rehab and get back faster than they thought; I'm in there in the morning and work all day.

"Instead of being excited about the Reds winning and being in first place, someone decided to take that and turn it into a negative. And that's what upset me. Why be no negative? I came home here because I thought it would be great for the city and the fans and the Reds. Now I constantly hear about the nine years and $116.5 million (but not that 60 percent of that money is deferred and the Reds, after Griffey turned down a deal to the Mets that might have netted him at least 50 percent more in present day value, actually got a real hometown discount). No one understands how much I want the Reds to win. I offered to defer more salary if it would help keep players like Pokey (Reese) and Dmitri (Young). People say I don't smile enough. Well, I haven't exactly been on winning teams the last three years. Winning is what it should all be about, not me."

This was going to be a good week for Griffey. He and his wife Melissa adopted a baby boy, Tevin Kendall. Their other children, Trey, 8, and Taryn, 6, are healthy, and family is all important to him. If the weather had been good, he might have gotten in enough running and work to be ready by this mid-week. But the weather was cold and rainy, and the cloud that follows him never left.

"Injuries," says Griffey, "are terribly frustrating because they do not allow you to answer by performance."

Griffey has been through a wrist injury in Seattle, and now his three years in Cincinnati have been dogged by tendinitis in his knee, a torn hamstring and now this knee injury.

	“	I know one thing. Ken Griffey is not going to be traded, not as long as I'm general manager. He's one of the greatest players who ever put on a uniform. ”
		— Jim Bowden, Reds GM

Some look at this poll and see it as a setup: if the Reds don't remain in first place, then someone can say Junior ruined the chemistry and it's his fault. "I've thought about it," he says.

Whether or not the Cincinnati starting pitching can hold up is a legitimate question. So are whether Joey Hamilton can come back quickly from his hamstring pull or whether Lance Davis, Brian Bohanon or even Luke Hudson can come up and get hot, or whether GM Jim Bowden can trade one of his outfielders -- and while Encarnacion has been precisely what Bowden hoped when he grabbed him from Detroit, his gushing praise rings of marketing genius -- for a starting pitcher. Bowden believes this team is inheriting the wind.

"The way (the Reds are) playing, we're hoping to slow them down this weekend so they don't get off on one of those rolls," says Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty. "The way we, Houston and the Cubs are playing, we can't let them get too far out in front."

The Reds have one of the best bullpens in the game. And just imagine the thought of Dunn, Kearns and Griffey for the next five or six years in the outfield? Both Dunn and Kearns have come together through the system since Kearns was the first rounder, Dunn the second rounder in the 1998 draft. At Class A Dayton two years ago, Dunn said "this is the park Austin built." They live together. Dunn is a potential 50 home run guy (his HR/AB ratio of 13/5 is topped by two dudes named McGwire and Ruth). Thirty years from now, there could be people in Cincinnati who will look back and remember when those three first played together, the way folks now remember when Joe Morgan fit the puzzle with Johnny Bench, George Foster, David Concepcion, Pete Rose, et al.

Should Junior not be so sensitive? Of course. Dr. Mary Bouxsein, a friend who happens to be one of the most intelligent persons on the planet, weighed all the layers of Griffey's dilemna and said, "what he should say is 'I'm looking forward to playing with these guys and hope I can help the Reds win the pennant.' That poll is beneath him, and to let it get to him makes the fan say, 'get over it.' No public figure can win taking on his public." Dr. Bouxsein, as usual, is right. Not even Barney has a 90 percent approval rating.

"What I think will come out of this is that people will rally behind Junior and everything will turn out the way we hoped it would when he came home," says Bowden. "We've already seen that happening. The night after all this broke, there were signs all over the park supporting him." Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman, a forceful community voice, has been outspoken in Griffey's defense. Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper columnist John Fay ran snippets of hundreds of e-mails he received in Griffey's defense.

"I know one thing," says Bowden. "Ken Griffey is not going to be traded, not as long as I'm general manager. He's one of the greatest players who ever put on a uniform. He's a very good person, a model parent. He's not going anywhere, except were he wants to be --in the playoffs."