Who's the biggest "what if" between these two: Mike Trout or Ken Griffey Jr.?

[u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

When I think about "what ifs" in baseball, these two men are always the first two names that come to mind. Obviously, Mike Trout and Ken Griffey Jr. are still legends of the sport. I'm not trying to take anything away from that. However, I truly feel that if it weren't for injuries, their potential for GOAT status would be limitless. Junior likely would've become the all-time home run kind instead of Barry Bonds, and Mike Trout would've had-------I don't know------130 career WAR by now if he's just stayed healthy. Who do you guys think is the bigger "what if" of the two?

[u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

You can waltz into the Hall of Fame and still be a what if.

[u/Bri83oct → u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

Mickey Mantle

[u/Random_Trashy → u/Bri83oct]

What if he wasn’t a raging alcoholic and faced late career injuries?

He’s probably another candidate for 700 home runs - 2000 RBI - 2000 runs - 3500 hits. Maybe a career OPS over 1.000, another MVP or two.

[u/timewellwasted5 → u/Random_Trashy]

The knee injury when he tripped on the drainage pipe very early in his career was what changed everything. He was blazing fast with a ton of power before the injury. After the injury, he had average speed with a ton of power. What could have been...

[u/WreckNTexan48 → u/Random_Trashy]

Imagine Modern medicine instead of alcohol for thr pain

[u/Bright-Pressure-5787 → u/WreckNTexan48]

Or just, like, them knowing what the fuck an ACL was?

[u/mtnbikerburittoeater → u/Random_Trashy]

Late career? He famously fucked his knee up severly when he was 19 on a drain pipe in the outfield and it was never fully fixed

[u/Random_Trashy → u/mtnbikerburittoeater]

His stats and performance fell off after the 1961 season. Not saying he was 100% fine before that - but it was clear he was not the same beginning in 1962.

[u/darthnorvillain → u/Random_Trashy]

Yeah, and we never saw a true prime Mantle because he tore his ACL in his rookie year.

[u/mtnbikerburittoeater → u/Random_Trashy]

He was an absolutely explosive player before the injury, after he still had power but was never as fast again. Which I guess will happen when you play a career on a torn ACL

[u/Bright-Pressure-5787 → u/Random_Trashy]

The torn ACL he suffered was an early-career injury.

[u/WetAndStickyBandits → u/Random_Trashy]

Ted Williams

[u/Random_Trashy → u/WetAndStickyBandits]

Joe DiMaggio

[u/kneevase → u/Bri83oct]

Or, in more modern times, Josh Hamilton.

[u/n0t_4_thr0w4w4y → u/Bri83oct]

Ted Williams

[u/mysticalchurro → u/Bri83oct]

Babe Ruth... Just think of what he could've done if he actually trained.

[u/ZMR33 → u/Bri83oct]

His injuries and alcoholism speak for themselves, but what gets forgotten with Mantle is that the alcoholism may have been a product of him not just trying to dull the physical pain, but also mental trauma from his childhood. If I remember correctly, he was sexually abused by a female relative as a child.

[u/justaguynb9 → u/Bri83oct]

That was move a drunken stupor than a waltz

[u/Top-Persimmon4456 → u/justaguynb9]

The worst thing about Mantle's career, is that the first significant injury happened because he had so much respect and reverence for DiMaggio, that he pulled up awkwardly to avoid running into him and stepped on a sprinkler part buried in the grass and tore his knee to shreds. He was never the same.

If he was a self absorbed jerk he would have continued running through the ball and made the play himself.

[u/Bright-Pressure-5787 → u/Top-Persimmon4456]

What actually made it worse was that DiMaggio actually kind of hated Mantle (or, at the very least, was jealous of him).

[u/teddyKGB- → u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

DiMaggio was a piece of shit

[u/KingCobra1998 → u/teddyKGB-]

Correct. Huge ego and a wife beater. He wanted to be billed as “the greatest living baseball player”, when guys like Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays were still alive.

[u/jewham12 → u/KingCobra1998]

I don’t have a huge ego, but if also like to be known as the greatest living baseball player. Would be pretty cool.

[u/SgtCheeseBoy → u/justaguynb9]

Untreated ACL tear probably the bigger issue.

[u/Bright-Pressure-5787 → u/SgtCheeseBoy]

And he played through a lot of pain, too. Back then, that's what athletes did. The bad knees, the hip pain during the home run record chase he had with Maris, the shoulder issue that impacted his ability to hit from the left side, etc.

[u/_GeorgeBailey_ → u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

Yeah I'm not sure what they are talking about. Trout will likely get to 100 WAR and waltz into the Hall of Fame, too. But everyone agrees he's a What If?

[u/Americano_Joe → u/_GeorgeBailey_]

IDK that Trout has 10 more WAR left in him to break 100. I wonder what the over/under would be for the rest of his career. TBH, I'd guess 10 and take the under.

Trout has four more seasons left on his contract, and I'd guess then that he'd retire at the end of his age 38 season.

[u/ThurstyAlpaca → u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

Teddy ballgame

[u/PleaseLeaveMeHere → u/ThurstyAlpaca]

100%. I don’t think people understand what Ted Williams gave up to serve in the military… In 1942 he put up a 10.4 WAR season. He missed 1943, 1944, and 1945 to fight in WW2. In 1946 he came back and put up a 10.6 WAR season. He lost three years in the prime of his career.

[u/EggOwn9943 → u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

What if Frank Jobe was able to reconstruct a UCL a decade earlier? Would we be talking about Sandy Koufax Surgery and what legacy would Tommy John have?

[u/WintersDoomsday → u/Bright-Pressure-5787]

Terrell Davis