DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Junior's return gave Seattle chance to welcome back 'The Kid'

June 23, 2007
By Doug Orth
PA Sportsticker Staff Writer

Ken Griffey Jr. is back.

While numerous injuries and one memorable home run chase has pushed him away from the baseball limelight, it is easy to forget the kind of impact that "The Kid" had on the Seattle sports landscape and the future of baseball in general.

The Cincinnati Reds started their first three-game series at Safeco Field against the Seattle Mariners on Friday night, marking the return of a Seattle icon and the Mariners' first franchise player.

In his return, he went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts in a 16-1 win Friday night. But before the contest, Griffey was in a great mood.

"Never could I imagine that it would be like this coming back," Griffey said in a ceremony before the game. "I spent 11 years here, 11 wonderful years here. I met my beautiful wife here, two of my three kids were born here. This place will be home."

Former teammates Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez, who shared some of those memories with Griffey were on hand to welcome him back.

Buhner called it an "honor" and "privilege" to introduce Griffey to the crowd. And the Mariners' fans certainly know what Buhner was talking about. The man they used to call "The Kid" in Seattle from his major league debut in 1989 as a 19-year-old until his departure following the 1999 season, accomplished the kind of things only the greatest players of all-time are given credit for. He resurrected a seemingly dead franchise and helped the sport along enough in his time as a Mariner to allow baseball to stay in town.

"We're glad to have him back," Mariners president and CEO Chuck Armstrong said. "It's wonderful to have him back. I hope it brings closure to the fans here in the Northwest. We owe Kenny so much. I often say that in New York, they say that Yankee Stadium is the 'House that Ruth Built,' but, in Seattle, Safeco Field is the 'House that Ken Griffey Jr. Built.'"

Several years before Barry Bonds made his assault on the all-time home run record, Griffey crushed 398 homers and recorded 1,152 RBI before turning 30. He was the vogue pick as the successor to Hank Aaron's home run total of 755, all the while guiding the Mariners to their first division crowns and playoff berths as a franchise in 1995 and 1997, respectively.

"At one time, I thought Junior was the best player ever to play the game and I am not sure that my mind has changed a whole lot about that," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "When he was healthy and young and good, there was nobody better."

However, the 1997 American League MVP all but declared during his final season with the club that he would never re-sign with the team, even though Seattle offered Griffey a contract extension of eight years and $138 million to stay.

Regardless, Griffey had already made the impact that the team could have only imagined after selecting him No. 1 overall in the 1987 draft. Midway through the 1999 season, the Mariners moved out of The Kingdome into Safeco, a park Seattle designed with the sweet-swinging slugger in mind.

"I always told him that we designed it for him with the short right field porch," Armstrong said. "I always thought that if he stayed here and stayed healthy, he would be the one about to break Hank Aaron's record."

It was not meant to be.

Griffey would not be around very long to take advantage of the dimensions in the retractable-roof stadium, despite blasting 14 home runs after Safeco opened its doors on July 15, 1999. A number of bumps in the road over his last few years as a Mariner made Griffey feel like his talents would be better suited elsewhere.

-- He saw ace Randy Johnson traded to the Houston Astros at the trading deadline in 1998.

-- Griffey, who built the family house in Florida following the 1994 season, desired to be closer to home with his new wife.

-- It was clear that despite the best-laid plans of the designers, Safeco Field was no place to chase the all-time home run mark.

-- Then-general manager Woody Woodard was fired in favor of Pat Gillick after Howard Lincoln succeeded John Ellis as CEO of the Mariners. Woodard was a lifelong family friend of the Griffey family, and Griffey also liked Ellis, but had no relationship with the new management team.

-- For those reasons and more, on February 10, 2000, Griffey was traded by the Mariners to his hometown Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Mike Cameron, pitcher Brett Tomko, utilityman Antonio Perez, and career minor-league pitcher Jake Meyer.

-- But not all has gone as scripted since then.

Seattle has fallen on hard times as well. Following consecutive playoff berths - including their 2001 season in which they set league mark with 116 regular season wins - the Mariners have missed the postseason in each of the last five seasons.

While the move to Cincinnati may have been a good move for the family, Griffey's professional life has not improved since taking part in the Reds' last winning season in 2000. Maybe not so coincidentally, that season was the last time Griffey played in more than 130 games, as he ended up on the disabled list eight times since becoming a Red.

His injuries are not of the garden variety. He has been sidelined by a number of devastating injuries - torn left hamstring, torn right knee tendon (twice), torn right hamstring (twice), dislocated right shoulder, torn right ankle tendon and a dislocated toe - as well as bouts with diverticulitis and pleurisy.

During the offseason, Griffey broke his left hand while playing with his kids while on vacation with his family. Perhaps it is poetic with his injury history since becoming a Red that Griffey is having a bounce-back season. His 19 home runs have him in third place in the National League.

But for at least this weekend, Seattle will not be hosting two franchises struggling to find some level of consistency, but the two cities in which "The Kid" became "Junior", celebrating the accomplishments of a player who transformed the Mariners into a legitimate franchise during the 1990s. Teammates - past and present - seem to believe he will energized.

"I think it means a lot for him to come back here," former teammate Bill Krueger said, who now serves as a local broadcaster. "He made his career here. People love him here. He was fabulous here. I think he's probably really looking forward to it. I think he probably won't express that to us media types, but I think it means a great deal to him and he really wants to do well. He's playing well right now, so I think it's going to be a great moment for him to be recognized and appreciated and they're really going to come out and do that for him. It's very exciting."

"I know how much he's looking forward to going back," close friend and teammate Adam Dunn told the Seattle Times. "No question he's excited. He played in Seattle for a majority of his career. He had his greatest years there. I would assume the people there still absolutely love him and appreciate what he did for the city."

Expect a hero's welcome. For the energy and heart Griffey has shown baseball throughout his career, it would be the only way to greet him.

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I have a ton of respect for the Seattle organization, and their fans after watching this last night. Class act all the way around.

Sure wish he would have knocked one out............the crowd would have really went nuts...16-1 victory for the Reds............WOW!

Lots of talk about JR. being traded..............sure would hate to see him go......the fans in Seattle showed much class last night......Griffey is a class act for sure!

If Griffey gets traded, I would love to see him go back to Seattle. It would never happen, but it would be nice.

Gee the Reds waited clear to June before throwing in the towel. Wait until next year.

I saw him fairly often in his time here in Seattle and pretty much every game he seemed to do something special. He really meant a lot to the Mariner franchise and the city of Seattle. I'm not surprised at all at the reception that he received, I would have been much more surprised and disappointed if he hadn't been so well received. I will be going to see him tomorrow, so hopefully he'll save his homerun for then.

Junior was worried about his return to Seattle. After the Boos received by Randy Johnson and A-Rod on their return to Seattle, Griffey wasn't sure what the fan reaction to his return would be. I'm glad to see his fears were wrong, and the fans embraced Seattle's former star....

Rumors were the Tribe might take a run at him. Dolan must have decided we didn't need him since we already had Trot Nixon.

Griffey hits 583rd home run, ties McGwire for 7th on career list

EDIT: make it 584 he just hit one into the 2nd deck

2 today for Junior? WOW!