A Kid in the White House

Twenty years ago, Ken Griffey Jr. captured the hearts of Presidential campaign voters

After nearly a year on the campaign trail, Super Tuesday has arrived. Thirteen states will cast their primary votes March 1, and the major candidates from both sides of the aisle – along with an assortment of super PACs – have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in political advertisements.

This year’s crop of presidential hopefuls is long on personality. But their ads don’t have quite the same home-run pop as those of another former “candidate”; a man whose unlikely run for President captivated the grandstand electorate 20 years ago.

Of course, baseball fans know that one major election has already been decided this year. Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza punched their tickets to Cooperstown as the newest members of the Hall of Fame back on Jan. 6, with Griffey rocking a record 99.3 percent of the BBWAA vote. But back in 1996, Griffey was also hoping to win over voters, albeit in a slightly more tongue-in-cheek way.

“Junior has everything you look for in a President,” Clinton explained. “The power of a young Teddy Roosevelt, combined with the throwing arm of a Roberto Clemente. He knows what this country needs.

“My name might be Clinton,” he continued, “but I know what I’m talking about. Vote Griffey.”

The Seattle superstar tabbed the Mariners mascot, Moose, to be his running mate – a move Clinton said showed “his consideration for animal rights.” He also showed strong electability among Hall of Famers:

"Consciously or subconsciously, we are holding up a mirror to the political process and the way that pop culture and politics comes together in our country," Perlman told The Washington Post. "We want people to write in (Griffey’s) name. I think we'll do well in the South, I'll think we'll do well in Seattle."

Despite his overwhelming popularity, Griffey, like any presidential candidate, had his detractors. Republican candidate Steve Forbes opined, “I think Ken Griffey is spending too much time on the field, and not enough time on issues, like the flat tax.” Meanwhile, rapper Ice-T claimed Junior’s campaign was “nothin’ but a big marketing scheme” (though Nike Chairman Phil Knight quickly downplayed that notion).

Candidate Griffey even faced opposition within his own party – the baseball party, that is – when Nike rival Fila put forth its own candidate: Hall of Famer Eddie Murray. In the first national ad appearances of his career, the quiet Murray let the voice-over artists do the talking in a series of “attack ads” against the younger slugger.

“Fact: In 1977, Eddie was putting on his first uniform,” said one commercial. “His opponent? His jammies.”

In the end, the good-natured back-and-forth was a winner for all parties. Nike enjoyed a sales boost for its Air Max Griffey cross-trainer sneakers while Fila continued its rapid rise in the industry. Junior, meanwhile, did not win the election – instead choosing to focus his attention on the season’s stretch run. His campaign did, however, help raise his national profile right before his incredible 1997 AL MVP season and 1998 home run chase with Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. He even received something that not even his advisors Clinton or Carville could have envisioned: An actual write-in vote in the 1996 Rhode Island Democratic Primary.