Washington Nationals Pre-History: Ken Griffey Jr. And Mike Piazza Vs. Expos/Nats
By Ricky Keeler
Griffey Jr. Vs. Nationals
While Griffey Jr. hit five home runs in the four seasons he played against the Nationals, only one of them occurred in a Washington ballpark. That home run came in 2005 at then RFK Stadium.
On August 25, Griffey Jr. hit a leadoff solo shot in the top of the seventh against Livan Hernandez (his 30th of the season) to tie that game at three. Cincinnati scored three runs in the top of the seventh to win the game, 5-3. Griffey Jr. went 3-for-5 that day with two singles and the aforementioned home run.
In 2007, Griffey Jr. once again had home runs in back-to-back games, this time against the Nats. On May 21, he hit a solo shot to right against Levale Speigner at Great American Ball Park in the third inning. On the next night, he hit a two-run shot to right in the fourth inning against Matt Chico, but the Nationals won the game, 8-4. That was his tenth home run of the season. Griffey Jr. would go on to hit 30 home runs that season and would appear in his final All-Star Game.
While Griffey Jr. was still a good player at the latter stages of his career, it would have been a treat if Montreal had played Griffey Jr. while he was with the Mariners. The Expos did not play a game in Seattle until the Mariners moved from the Kingdome to SAFECO Field (2003). Nevertheless, he deserves to be the player with the highest percentage of votes ever to get into Cooperstown.
Next: Piazza Vs. Expos