During spring training in 2006, I asked a batch of Blue Jays to name the baseball player they most admired when they were kids.



The consensus: Ken Griffey Jr.



“The only time I ever watched baseball as a kid was when Ken Griffey Jr. was playing,” said Vernon Wells, whose first sport growing up was football.



Throughout the 1990s, Griffey Jr. was a west-coast player with transcontinental panache, always on the highlight reels for his homers, his graceful yet eye-popping defence and his baserunning brilliance.



Fans loved him. For 11 years in a row, he made the all-star team. His endorsements of Nike and Nintendo boosted his popularity.



The man everybody knew as Junior was the face of baseball.



The sport has not seen the likes of Griffey’s pervasive popularity since his prime.



Arguably, baseball has produced equally resplendent players since then (step up, Mike Trout), but none has achieved the same...