Cameron on Griffey: “It’s not the fact that he was asleep”

OAKLAND, CA - APRIL 08: Ken Griffey Jr. #24 of the Seattle Mariners looks on against the Oakland Athletics during an MLB game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on April 8, 2010 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

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Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner knows the Seattle Mariners better than anyone, and last night he completely nailed the whole Griffey sleeping in the clubhouse thing. It’s not the nap per se; it’s what it represents:

. . . the fact that two teammates would talk to a reporter about Junior being asleep during a game is perhaps the more telling aspect of this story. If Griffey really commanded the respect of the entire clubhouse, and they loved having him around, no one talks about this to a member of the media. But they did, and that they were willing to bring this up to someone who they had to suspect would write about it suggests that perhaps Griffey’s influence in the clubhouse either isn’t as great as some would suggest, or perhaps more likely, that it only matters while a player is producing.

The kicker: no one bothered to wake Griffey up. Cameron: “My guess is that most of them probably didn’t want him hitting in that situation anyway, so maybe deep down, they feel like he did them a favor.”

My response to this story yesterday was that you need to cut Griffey or urge him to retire because you simply can’t be a Major League ballplayer and sleep on the job. Based on the comments to that post it’s quite obvious that many disagree with that sentiment and think that Griffey has earned the benefit of the doubt. Fair enough.

But he’s not getting the benefit of the doubt from his teammates. They’re totally fine with him sleeping on the job because it keeps him out of the batter’s box. And that’s far more damning for Griffey than the mere fact that he was snoozing during a ballgame.