Wake Up With Ken Griffey Jr Mondays - The Kid Breaks His Wrist On Incredible Catch
Continuing the Ken Griffey Jr Monday theme but going with his leather this time around. Griffey was an incredible fielder in addition to his trademark swing. I used to run and jump into my backyard fence trying to rob homers like he did until my dad said I would have to pay for a new fence if I kept breaking parts of it. But I digress, Griffey was a blast to watch roam in center.
This catch is one of the tougher ones I’ve seen, he launches himself off the warning track, makes the catch, and knows he’s going to crash into the wall. It was al out impossible to catch that ball without breaking anything your hand or wrist. Unfortunately for Griffey Jr, he broke 2 bones in his wrist making this catch.
This video really shows off the athlete that he is. The ground he could cover, the fact that he could jump across the track and find the ball, and actually just catching it while sacrificing his body. Those walls may be padded, but when you are going full speed and jam your wrist into it, it won’t feel great. Again, these are the injuries that he would run into, the kind of freak injuries. Breaking your wrist on the wall isn’t the most common injury, but it may be a little more common if you have the speed and ability to get to those balls on the wall.
I could watch Griffey make catches like these any day of the week, but this one always stuck out in my mind, just because I remember watching the highlight and my dad saying “he knew he was going to get hurt when he caught it.” Always stuck with me because that was the type of player The Kid was, he knew he was going to get hurt, but he still went 110 MPH and did whatever he could to make the catch. Think that is what attracted a lot of fans towards him as a player.