When he came to camp in 1989, he had no chance to make the team,” Bradley said. “But he got a lot of at-bats early that spring because a lot of veterans don’t like to play a lot early. After 20 games, he wasn’t just the best player on our team, he was the best player in the league that spring. The Mariners basically said, ‘We don’t want this to happen, we don’t want to rush him, we don’t want him to make the team.’ So they started running him out there against every elite pitcher, against all the nastiest left-handers they could find in hopes that he would stop hitting, and they could send him out. It never happened.

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ESPN - Griffey simply breathtaking in his prime - MLB

It’s almost hard to remember how great Junior was in his prime.  It’s a shame injuries robbed him of so many games, because we could have Junior as our home run king and not Bonds.