![]() ![]() By the end of last season both Nike and Griffey Jr. Junior has been sporting Nikes since the early 1980s, when his father, Ken Griffey Sr., began wearing them while playing for the Yankees. He is a true role model, and that is something baseball sorely needs." "Ken is the type of person that kids can love and adults can respect. "We feel like Ken is going to be as big a star as baseball has ever seen," says Terdema Ussery, the president of Nike Sports Management. And as of the second inning of this year's All-Star Game, he also had his own Nike ad campaign. According to Griffey's Cincinnati-based agent, Brian Goldberg, Junior is on the verge of deals with Oakley sunglasses and a mysterious brand that Goldberg will identify only as "a national food company of considerable size." Griffey is also endorsing Franklin batting gloves, Rawlings fielding gloves, Louisville Slugger bats and Upper Deck trading cards. Presents: Major League Baseball, backed by a $4 million ad campaign. During the '93 season he signed a large endorsement deal with Nintendo, and this April the video-game maker introduced Ken Griffey Jr. 309 with 45 home runs and 109 RBIs and won his fourth straight Gold Glove, Griffey finally convinced himself that he had earned the right to start saying yes to his commercial suitors. "Before, I wasn't real comfortable doing commercials or being in the spotlight, because I wanted to establish myself on the field." "I've always felt like it isn't the fans or the press that make you a big star you have to play yourself to that level," Griffey says. Griffey has been a standout player and a fan favorite since he was a 19-year-old rookie, in 1989, but in the past he only dipped his toe in the pool of celebrity. ![]() Meanwhile, despite all the suffocating attention and weighty expectations, Griffey continues to romp around the ballpark with the energy of a colt feeling his legs for the first time. Junior's 36 dingers through Sunday have traveled a distance of 14,645 feet, putting him 235 feet ahead of Rainier and only about 10,000 feet behind Roger Maris. Griffey superseded Mount Rainier on July 23 with his 36th home run, a 381-foot blast against the Boston Red Sox. And he is now officially the biggest thing in the state of Washington. Griffey's appearance at the All-Star workout set off a skirmish reminiscent of a Lollapalooza mosh pit, as frenzied media members literally tried to elbow their way to him. How big a turn-on is Griffey? He waltzed into the All-Star Game with 6,079,688 fan votes, a mere 1.8 million more than any other player has ever received. But what they share, and this is what makes them special, is the same ability to turn the fans on." ![]() With Kenny, people come out to root for him, to be swept up by his enthusiasm and amazed by his talent. "Reggie was what I would classify-in a nice way-as a villain when he was playing," says Seattle manager Lou Piniella, who played with Jackson on the New York Yankees from 1977 to '81. While Griffey lacks Reggie's bombast, he has, like Jackson, captured the fancy of the fans with the force of his personality as much as with his exploits on the field. He and Jackson have more in common than just the fact that chocolate bars have been named for them. But now there is Griffey, the Seattle Mariners' 24-year-old centerfielder, with his sugary swing and candied smile. There have been those who were too modest (Nolan Ryan, Don Mattingly, Ryne Sandberg), too surly (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens) or too self-destructive (Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Jose Canseco) to pick up where Reggie left off. The superhero's cape has slid from the shoulders of a generation of stars. Baseball folk hero can be a thankless job, laced with peril, and it is a post that has been vacant since Reggie stopped being the straw in the early '80s. Say what you will about Jackson, but he was the last baseball folk hero, the last man who was as big as the game itself and ensured that the national pastime was exactly that. There hasn't been anyone like that since. He is creating excitement and making headlines just by his presence. He's young, he's good-looking, he's got the best smile in the world, and he's a heroic athlete. because he is everything we would like to be. So keep checking back here for more info.Reggie: "We love Ken Griffey Jr. ![]() Below is a list of stores that have already confirmed, and we’re getting new stores on board daily. So, we’re working with some comic shops to set up midnight release parties. With all the craziness and speculation surrounding the release of The Walking Dead #100, we know some fans want to get their hands on the book as soon as they possibly can. ![]()
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