Celebrate Ken Griffey Jr's birthday by reliving his famous ALDS sprint
Today Ken Griffey Jr. celebrates his birthday for the 47th time in his life, but just the first time since he became Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. That's as good a reason as any to go back in time 21 years and remember the joyous smile that lit up Griffey's face as he lay on the bottom of a celebratory dog pile.
It was the fifth game of the 1995 ALDS against the Yankees and an 11th inning RBI single by Randy Velarde off another Randy -- a Mariners pitcher you may have heard of named Randy Johnson -- put the Yankees three outs away from advancing to the ALCS.
Then, the Mariners led off the bottom of the inning with back-to-back singles by Joey Cora and Griffey, which brought designated hitter extraordinaire Edgar Martinez to the plate.
The then-25-year-old Griffey sprinted all the way from first to home to secure the series-clinching walk-off victory. He ultimately found himself at the bottom of the dog pile and showed the baseball world the smile we'll never forget.
He may be 47 years old today, but to us he'll always be The Kid.