Reds notebook: Richard Justice names Cincy 4th best baseball city

[CincyRedsFan30]

Reds notebook
Junior honored to join elite

By John Erardi

Enquirer staff writer

Ken Griffey Jr. isn't one to talk about his home runs, but when the sluggers he has tied on the all-time list are Ted Williams and Willie McCovey, well, an exception is in order.

Griffey Jr. hit his 521st career home run Sunday.

"I've tied his (Williams') number, but I don't belong in the same breath as him," Griffey said. "He served our country (as a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War)."

Williams lost about five years in his prime to the wars. Griffey has lost almost as much to injuries, but is now looking more like the slugger who hit 40 homers for the Reds when they first got him in 2000.

Griffey's 20th homer of the season Sunday came in the Reds' six-run sixth inning. It was his third homer in as many games and it was the ninth straight time the Reds have won when he has homered.

The three homers have all been laser jobs, typical of many of Griffey's 521. Williams had a slightly more uppercut swing, and it produced more moons shots than Griffey hits.

Griffey recalls talking to Williams several years ago - "I didn't have even 500 (career) hits yet," Junior said - and Williams suggested that Griffey get some lift into his swing by going with a slight upper-cut. It was one of Williams' favorite topics.

"It was at an All-Star game," Griffey remembered. "I was about 22. Tony Gwynn and (Williams) started talking. (Williams) was backstage during some awards ceremony and I happened to go by and he said, 'Hey, let me talk to you!'

"And I almost missed my next award, because I was backstage talking to him. Certain guys I just look at and say, 'Ok, this isn't a time for me to say anything. I'm just going to listen.' "

What about McCovey? Griffey said he talked to the former Giants slugger near the batting cage on a recent Reds road trip to San Francisco.

"I talked to him for about an hour," Griffey said. "I like that. Other ballclubs have their guys come in . . . Their (former players) feel welcome in the ballpark, in (the clubhouse). San Francisco has Willie Mays and Willie McCovey. St. Louis has Stan (Musial).

"Part of the tradition is allowing these guys to come back and share their experience with us - and (not just the Hall of Famers)."

Former slugger Frank Howard was one of Griffey's coaches in Seattle early in Griffey's career.

"I took fly balls from Frank," Griffey recalled. "That's the year I started wearing a cup. He'd hit rockets all day. I said, 'Frank, you ever get tired?' He said 'Naw, I don't get tired son, just a little sleepy.'"

As Griffey was holding forth with a group of writers in front of his locker Sunday after the game, Sean Casey passed by. Casey had hit his fourth home run of the season Sunday. Casey shouted in jest to Griffey: "Seriously, (do an even) longer interview why don't you?"

Griffey reminded the writers that at one time earlier this season, he and Casey were "on the same program."

The same program?

"Yeah, I hit one (home run) in April," Griffey deadpanned.

QUEEN CITY: Cincinnati is ranked the fourth best baseball city in America by Houston Chronicle columnist and baseball guru Richard Justice.

In the three categories he utilizes - fans, ballpark and passion - Cincinnati gets a 7, 9 and 6, respectively.

Justice: "Cincinnati is one of those cities where baseball is and always will be No. 1. They come out in decent numbers to see bad teams. If the Reds ever got good again, they'd pack the joint."

Justice ranks Boston No. 1, giving it perfect 10s in all three categories. St. Louis ranks second with 24 points, New York third with 23 and Chicago fifth with 19.

The worst baseball city, says Justice, is Tampa-St. Pete, with 0 total points.

The final four bottom feeders are Atlanta, 7 (1 for fans, 1 for passion); Miami, 8; Pittsburgh, 9 (7 for ballpark), and Phoenix, 12.

[CincyRedsFan30]

In the three categories he utilizes - fans, ballpark and passion - Cincinnati gets a 7, 9 and 6, respectively.

Justice: "Cincinnati is one of those cities where baseball is and always will be No. 1. They come out in decent numbers to see bad teams. If the Reds ever got good again, they'd pack the joint."

Justice ranks Boston No. 1, giving it perfect 10s in all three categories. St. Louis ranks second with 24 points, New York third with 23 and Chicago fifth with 19.
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I think he confuses idiocy with being a good and passionate fan.

Any credibility he had is shot in my book.

[Fishercat]

Every fan base has their idiots. Reds fans should be thrilled to be 4th on that list. Boston was a logical choice for first, they sell out every game (with the highest ticket prices in the bigs), their stadium is legendary, and the WS wouldn't have meant anything without the passion. Many writers (although I disagree with them) say Cards fans are the best in the game. New York? Well, there are a lot of them.

[Wally Mo Pena]

agreed fisher, and i don't really know what you're saying crf. Are you saying that cincy should have been lower or higher? For putting a crappy team out there five straight years i think it's pretty sweet that cincy still get's props along with the big boys for being a good baseball town. Red Sox, Yankees, Cardinals, Reds. Which one of these does not belong?

It's really easy to be a great fan when you're team wins all the time, and that the reds fans are recognized as good fans in this dark age really says something i think. He doesn't mention when fenway was a ghost town in the early nineties when the sox sucked.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I don't agree yet again. I think St. Louis should be # 1 on this list and Cincy # 2.

What does winning and losing due to payroll disparities have to do with what type of baseball town a city is?

The first baseball city, the one that played the first game of the year(until ESPN ruined it) and the one that has a parade before every Opening Day.

And I've been to Yankees Stadium before. I didn't think, as whole, that their fans are as knowledgeable as Reds fans.

What is Justice saying the difference is between "fans" and "passion"? Don't both involve the fans? Is he saying "fans" means how much they know if "passion" is a different category?

I personally think there is a reason many of the best players in baseball history come from the Cincy area. Baseball is different here IMO.

Unless you live in the Cincy area, you don't realize how big baseball is in town. Sometimes what you think you see isn't the reality of the situation.

[Fishercat]

This has nothing to do with the teams, Justice is talking about right now. Sox fans pay the highest prices by far in baseball (if you don't get the 300 pre-game tickets, you are paying a good 200 bucks to see a game including everything, and I think that's just two people, might just be one), they fill up the stadium every single night. Not here necessarily, but among many general baseball forums, most of the time they have a lot of Red Sox fans, and not just because they won the WS.

A filled stadium, a classic ballpark, and fans that many consider to be some of the most intelligent in baseball. I'm sorry, but until Cincinnati starts nearly filling up the GAB nightly and get some press for themselves, they don't deserve to be above Boston.

Cincy's just lucky that Chicago houses the White Sox as well as the Cubs.

[CincyRedsFan30]

A filled stadium, a classic ballpark, and fans that many consider to be some of the most intelligent in baseball. I'm sorry, but until Cincinnati starts nearly filling up the GAB nightly and get some press for themselves, they don't deserve to be above Boston.
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Cincy is a conservative town. We don't spend money on products that aren't worthy of having it spent. Although fans attending games have dropped in recent years, you will see that the radio ratings of games has done nothing but actually go UP. Just because not as many are attending the games doesn't mean that they aren't being just as good of fans.

And guess what? This is my opinion. I'm not concerned about who likes it or not.

[Fishercat]

How is Justice supposed to discern apathy from just not taking it anymore? How does not showing up because it's an inferior product make Reds fans any better then Rocky, or Devil Ray fans

[CincyRedsFan30]

How is Justice supposed to discern apathy from just not taking it anymore? How does not showing up because it's an inferior product make Reds fans any better then Rocky, or Devil Ray fans

Looking at radio ratings going up would be a start.

[Fishercat]

Doesn't work fairly though. I know Cincinnati doesn't get every game on TV, so the radio is a real option. A place like Boston has every game on TV, so there's less of a need to look at radio ratings.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Well, pretty much nothing coming from Richard Justice works fairly. Almost everything of his I've ever seen has been nothing but pure idiocy.