Ken Griffey Jr. joined an exclusive club yesterday when he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame — a pretty impressive feat, considering there are only a few hundred players in there already. But what's even more impressive is the other fraternity he's in: he’s one of only three players to be in both the Hall of Fame and a member of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team, along with Wade Boggs and Ozzie Smith.
For those of you not in the know, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team was a squad of ringers that Mr. Burns wrangled together to beat the rival Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant’s team in the “Homer at the Bat” episode of The Simpsons.
The other members of the team included Roger Clemens, Steve Sax, José Canseco, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry and Mike Scioscia.
While Griffey may have technically been on the roster, he didn’t actually play in the league championship game — he sadly overdosed on Brain and Nerve Tonic and was stricken with gigantism:
Boggs and Smith also fell to tragedy, with Boggs being knocked unconscious by an enraged Barney Gumble during a heated debate over the official ranking of British Prime Ministers (Pitt the Elder? Really?) and Smith being transported to another dimension while visiting one of Springfield’s local tourist traps.
Still, that’s one hell of an elite club of which to be a part. It’s also likely that Griffey will be the last Power Plant alum to ever cross into the hallowed ground of Cooperstown.
