My First Junior Experience

(2009 bobblehead)

The very first time I ever saw Junior was going to a game at the Kingdome. We were in town for a week long vacation, and the Rangers were in town. Honestly the Rangers were the real reason we went to the game. At the time I had one player, and one player only I wanted to watch. He was a pitcher on that very Rangers team... One Nolan Ryan!

Being naive at the time on how to check for who the starting pitchers were for upcoming games. My cousin who we were staying with as she lived in Seattle at the time. My girlfriend, and myself all decided catching a game would be cool. Hoping Ryan would be pitching that night we decided to go to the first game of the series. Sadly we got to see another great pitcher who we knew absolutely nothing about. The pitcher we saw was none other than Randy Johnson. Nolan would end up pitching the next night, and win the game. I just had a feeling at the time we would end up missing him by one game. Sure enough I was right about his pitching schedule.

Arriving at the stadium, and needing to purchase tickets. The three of us decided to go with the general admission section in left field. Heading into the stadium we found our seats with not many people around. As the Mariners started to take batting practice we learned why. During the practice a young player named Ken Griffey Jr. stepped in, and took his turn. This youngster had the sweetest swing I have ever seen still to this very day. He hit ball after ball out to the right field seats easily. Watching him hit was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. The way he swung the bat, and hit the ball out without even trying was amazing.

(2010 "The Kid" bobblehead)

During this time frame I was mostly collecting basketball cards. What this meant is I barely knew anything about Junior. If I would have known more about baseball something tells me I'd have quite the Junior collection. Living here in the Northwest there were lots of chances to add some sweet Junior items. While very few made it into the collection. There are tons more that looking back would have been great additions.