I zipped over to the Web sites as fast as my fingers could type Thursday to find out if it was fiction or fact.
Cincinnati Enquirer, 9:47 a.m.: “Reds trade Griffey.”
Not might trade. No “trade Griffey?” with a question mark. Did trade.
And to the White Sox yet!
The Tribune, 9:36 a.m.: “Griffey headed to Sox.”
Excellent news. I was stoked.
Oh, that Ken Williams, always something up his sleeve. If not an ace, then a king.
Ken Griffey Jr., in center field at the Cell?
A cause to rejoice — set off the fireworks.
If you can get a guy who has more home runs than Frank Robinson, Mark McGwire, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks and Lou Gehrig, hallelujah and amen.
I began to picture it.
Griffey in between Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye in the outfield?
OK, so maybe it wouldn’t be the defensive equivalent of Reed Johnson in left, Jim Edmonds in center and Kosuke Fukudome in right, but it’ll do. (Dye has been playing a mean right field, in fact.)
Ah, but Griffey right behind Quentin and Dye in the batting order? I like the sound of that.
Followed by Jim Thome sixth, Paul Konerko or Nick Swisher seventh and Joe Crede (as soon as he comes back) eighth? Pitchers will swallow their seeds and gum.
Could this be true?
Uh, oh:
ESPN, 10 a.m.: “Griffey to ChiSox: Will He Agree?”
Major League Baseball’s authorized site, 10:20 a.m.: “Griffey to White Sox, pending OK.”
Oh, no.
Junior won’t go? Say it ain’t so!
I was salivating. A pickup of a 38-year-old outfielder doesn’t usually excite me. But gimpy old Edmonds hasn’t done too badly for the Cubs, has he?
Now you’re telling me a whopper is on the line but could slip off the hook? Ken Griffey Jr., a man who needs only eight more hits to have as many as Ted Williams?
A man with more hits than Joe Morgan, Ryne Sandberg and Jim Rice?
What a sight in a White Sox suit he would be. Only 17 more hits and he can catch Nellie Fox. Only 31 more and he can catch Luis Aparicio.
More Top Picks Best Hot Chocolate Makers
But wait?
He might refuse to come?
Griffey has a right to turn down any deal to a new team? He might stay in his hometown of Cincy instead of favoring us with his presence here in Chi-town?
I checked the sites one more time.
Cincinnati.com, 10:32 a.m.: “Report: Griffey OKs deal.”
There were comments from readers, presumably Reds fans, as if Junior definitely was a goner.
“Good luck, Griffey,” wrote one. “I hope you can play in a World Series.” (He never has, so as Frank Thomas might put it, join the club.)
But was it a mirage? A false alarm? Would it be a big tease for Sox fans to come this close to having Griffey on their side?
I went to Fox Sports’ site to see what was up. Fox had been a source for that “Griffey OKs deal” report.
“OK, I’ll Go.”
That was the headline I found. Griffey approved a deal to the Sox, the story claims as fact.
A Junior achievement award for Ken Williams and company.
Awaiting confirmation, I tried to conjure up an image of Junior in the Sox clubhouse.
Would he dye his hair platinum blond like A.J. Pierzynski? Grow a goatee and dye it blond like Juan Uribe and Bobby Jenks? Wear his facial hair a different way every day like Swisher?
Or would he simply be good old, classy, mature, solid-citizen, credit-to-the-game Ken Griffey Jr., an asset to anybody’s team?
A clock is ticking and they still claim Junior is on his way.
I’ll believe it when I see him. What was that song Pierzynski and the guys played during the 2005 World Series?
“Don’t Stop Believing.”
OK, A.J., play it again.
———-