He's Back! Return of the Kid - Series Thread

[bedir than average]

George Kenneth Griffey Jr
The Kid
The Natural
Junior Griffey

After 8 years the man who gave us SafeCo field returns. For many of us here we would not be fans of the Mariners if it were not for this boy who became a man while playing on the disgusting AstroTurf of the KingDome.

We in the Puget Sound have been inundated by so many news stories about his past, about the legend. Lists of highlights, memories of the writers, photo spreads. He has a 4:30PM PST press conference before the game. The team has a special ceremony for the player before the game with video montage of comments from his former teammates and opponents.

Here's a small list of what's been written recently about this momentous occasion

Griffey shrugs at Mariners' plan to celebrate his return
Sports | 10 Griffey moments in Seattle | Seattle Times Newspaper
Sports | Griffey returns to Seattle | Seattle Times Newspaper
Buhner relishes old pal Griffey's return
Go 2 Guy: Come on, give Griffey a break -- and a worthy reception
Junior's back! | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA

Some here may remember, heck maybe even know where the old thread went, my post from three or so years ago "The Answer is K" In it I asserted that answer to the Mariners issues regarding lefthanded offense, and offense in general was Mr Griffey. I don't necessarily think that the dream is the answer at this time, but wish to share part of why I'm a baseball fan.

This too is about Ken Griffey Jr.

I first became a baseball fan back in the Spring of 1994. I was a freshman at community college and going nowhere with my life. I had decided to join the Army and became an Arabic linguist. Though I deferred my entry I stopped going to class. I was directionless.

Two of my friends' father was the Equipment Manager for the Mariners (he's still with the org) and as a thank you to me for joining the service he had me come down and shag balls for a few series before I left for Basic Training. Several of those memories helped me through difficult times. Two particularly related to Ken. In the first he noticed one of the other players giving me a hard time. Ken stood up for me, now I paraphrase, don't be a punk and give the kid a break.

The second occasion was when Griffey was kind enough to let me sit in his special lounge chair. It shouldn't have been a big deal, but it was. He never let anyone sit in that chair.

Several years later I worked at KJR-AM Seattle as a producer with much of my work focused on our baseball coverage, I was at the stadium quite a bit. Griffey didn't like KJR, he held a grudge. In fact in my three years there Griffey only gave live interviews with one show, the one I produced. I don't know if I was the reason but I do know that he remembered me from years before as he said several things to me about the time previous at one point even asking why I made the mistake of joining KJR.

One of his interviews wasn't scheduled, it just happened. The Mariners were in Anaheim and the show host was dogging Ken. Word got back and he called up from the visitors clubhouse down there. He was initially confrontational, but over the interview he came to like the host and eventually agreed to come on again in the future. That happened several months later when we had the only booked interview between Ken and the station.

I guess what I'm getting at that is over the past 13 years I have gone through a lot of things from the US Army, two career changes, a marriage and a home, but through it all somehow I remained a Ken Griffey Jr fan - Sometimes quite bitter.

My wife thinks that her parents are coming over Friday night, and I'm sure that they are, but I don't know if I will notice. I'll be watching the Game. The Return of the greatest player the Seattle Mariners have ever seen play. A player who if not for poor health would be challenging Barry Bonds.
A player who if not for a very poor decision to leave would be the most loved man in the Pacific Northwest - and yet he still might be.

Some more mainstream notes about his return
Griffey signed 1,000 commerative baseballs for the occassion. They will cost 100$ each. Proceeds will be evenly divided between Children's Hospitals of Seattle, Cincinati and Orlando.

There are very limited seats available, and on Friday there are view obstructed and standing room seats only.

Griffey currently is a top three vote getter for the NL All Star outfield and is having his best season yet in Cincinatti.

Again, thank you Ken for keeping baseball in Seattle, wish you could have been here this near decade. I hope you finaly Hit it Here.

[TestSubjekt]

Remember this? Fan reaction to the trade which sent him to the Reds...

Fan reactions to the Griffey trade

That really was a crappy trade.

[Slica]

I collected baseball cards as a kid, and Ken Griffey Jr. was always my favorite from those cards. I liked him because they called him the Kid, his stats looked great, and he always had a smile. Not to mention some weird attachment I had with the word 'Seattle' (which turned into my fate---im in Maryland but moving to Seattle soon).

Nonetheless, shortly after my parents divorced, I went to my dads house, and he wasnt home...so I went in and turned on the tv. I had never seen even a highlight clip of baseball, despite a few years of collecting cards, playing video games, etc. I turn on the tv and there he was---Ken Griffey Jr. Yup, he was the first thing I ever saw on tv, and I immediately recognized him. It was like fate that the frist guy I see is the one I was attached to from the cards. After picking my jaw up in a haste, I threw in a tape to record it. Little did I know what I was taping.

The Winning Run going down. I was hooked and it changed me forever. If it not for injuries I could very well be playing in college right now in either baseball and football, and thanks to him, I learned to appreciate sports at a young age. I take sports seriously, because as a kid in a terrible neighborhood, with divorced parents who alienated me, sports were all I had. Had I not been turned on towards them thanks to being mesmorized by Griffey's play, who knows where I'd be. Either dead or severely into drugs.

I taped the first two games of the ALCS that year as well. Those tapes are in great condition and I give them special treatment.

I went to an Orioles game later where they played the M's. I was in the R-CF and Griffey kept looking my way. Id yell out 'Griffey' and wave like a doofus. Eventually he smiled and waved at me. He hit two home runs in the extra inning game, including a 10th inning shot that went just above my head. Palmeiro walked off in the bottom of the inning though. Nonetheless Griffey seemed to be an awesome person, and I only hope he prolongs his career as long as possible.

If there is one thing im bitter about, its that Bonds is closing in on a record he apparently does not deserve, while Griffey turned in injury after injury. Griffey respected the game, and it bit him hard. Very similar to the saying 'the good die young'.

Hopefully tonight, for at least a brief moment, we'll all feel kids again.

[Goose]

Jeez this is turning into the west coast version of Roger Clemens.

Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey Griffey. They've been shoving this down our throats since March and for the last 2 weeks it's all they'll talk about.

Here's what Griffey had to say about returning to Seattle.

"I haven't been back, not once," he said. "No desire. And why does everybody want me to talk about Seattle? What's the big deal? What am I going to do? I'm going to Scott Hatteberg's house."

Even Griffey thinks people need to settle down.

[phredmojo]

first 3 games i'm going to miss since 1981

[bedir than average]

I was wondering if anyone is still bitter, I guess that answer is yes.

Did you know that Griffey is just 1.5 years from likely free agency?

[phredmojo]

good for him, maybe he can finally play close to home in tampa

[bedir than average]

The thing that annoyed me most about his desire to play close to home was that he chose to move his family away from Seattle.

He commented today that he was amazed at how much Issaquah has grown since he left.

[bedir than average]

I'm DVRing both the pregame and the game and about an hour after it.

[djwhokid]

Jeez this is turning into the west coast version of Roger Clemens.

Without Griffey their is no Seattle Mariners baseball team post 1995 meaning no Safeco Field.

Griffey has more value to the Mariners then Clemens does to the Red Sox. The Sox were never on the verge of being sold.

[Goose]

Bull Chippy. Edgar Martinez and Randy Johnson had WAY more to do with the 95 success than Griffey did.

Also, after tonights disgusting performance by the fans, I really hope the Mariners follow the Sonics and maybe move to Portland or something. None of those douchebags deserve them.

[Slica]

Booo party pooper.

But seriously as much as I wanted to enjoy tonight, and if the Reds score, it being on a Griffey HR, I did not want to be down 9-0 currently in the 4th (10-0 now). No player is bigger than the team, so the M's come first.

While I agree somewhat to Goose's comment on 95 (Griffey broke his wrist that year), Griffey still did alot for this team. In hindsight one of the best things he did was prolong the impending 100% East Coast bias we're stuck with today. Its always been there, but when Griffey was ruling the field, the West Coast was not forgotten.

As for him wanting out. I dont see how thats viable to hate a human being. We've seen for worse jerks in sports. Griffey is far from a jerk.

Cant we all go back to hating Bonds? Hes a jerk.

[djwhokid]

Also, after tonights disgusting performance by the fans, I really hope the Mariners follow the Sonics and maybe move to Portland or something. None of those douchebags deserve them.

Wow, disgusting?

Griffey is our Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Willie Mays.

The guy was the greatest superstar in Seattle sports... he deserves the fans gratitude.

[Goose]

For the record, I love Ken Griffey Jr. He's the greatest Mariner of all time and he helped put Seattle on the map.

I hate however the insane media hype his return is getting. Who does this kind of thing? Where was all this crap when A-Rod returned? Or when Johnson returned? Did the Red Sox hold a ceremony, and talk about him non stop for months when Pedro Martinez returned? No. He came out to the mound, the crowd gave him a standing ovation, he tipped his cap, and the game went on. When Griffey retires and goes into the HOF as a Mariner, then you can have a big thing about it. Doing it right now is retarded.

I think Jim Caple said it best(and I'm paraphrasing) "The only reason they are doing this kind of thing, is because they don't have much else to go on over the past few years. They haven't won alot of games."

In other words, this makes them a joke.

[djwhokid]

when A-Rod returned

The reason why Griffey left was because of A-Rod.

At least Griffey didn't use us like a cheap whore.... A-Rod is one of the biggest gold diggers in sports.

A-Rod deserves nothing