Mention the name Ken Griffey Jr. to Padres pitcher Carlos Villanueva and a smile races across his face.
Griffey? The Kid? The backwards hat? The looping, elegant, game-changing swing? The smooth operator who defined “five-tool player” for a generation more completely than anyone since Willie Mays?
The MVP of the 1992 All-Star Game at Jack Murphy Stadium, the last time the mid-summer carnival rolled into San Diego? The singular ballpark force elected into baseball’s Hall of Fame this year on a record 99.3 percent of the ballots?
That Ken Griffey Jr.? Yeah, Villanueva knows a little about the guy.