Junior Comes Home

Unless you're a Mariner fan or grew up in the Pacific Northwest, you don't and probably shouldn't care that Ken Griffey Jr. signed a one year deal with the Mariners yesterday. Heck, considering he's 39, and is coming off a 2008 where he hit .249/.353/.424 with just 18 HR's and an OPS+ of only 101 with well below average defense for a corner outfielder, I probably shouldn't care much either. But I do. I really, really do. I got a big smile on my face when I saw Junior was coming back to Seattle.

To put it in perspective for the Minnesotans, this would be like Kevin Garnett returning in a few years to play his last season or two as a Timberwolf. Actually, that's still not quite right, as the Wolves have never been close to the #1 team in Minnesota, even when KG led them to the Conference Finals against the Lakers. The only comparison would be if Kirby Puckett had played 10 years in Minnesota, then left in his prime (Junior left at the ripe old age of 28) to be closer to home, and then returned to finish his last year or so as a Twin. I wasn't around these parts when Puckett played here, but from everything I've seen and heard and been told, he's the most popular athlete to ever play in the Land of 10,000 Lakes (and if I'm wrong, the tell me who was more. Maybe KG after all?).

That was Griffey for Seattle and its fans, and for me he's my favorite athlete of all-time, ahead of Mario Lemieux, Shawn Kemp, Anthony Carter and Barry Sanders. In his first 10 years in Seattle, Junior was one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived, a true five-tool talent who we're 99.9% sure did it clean. He was the best player in the 1990's (while I'd hear arguments for Barry Bonds or Frank Thomas, Junior was better than both) with the sweetest swing I've ever seen. While a few players hit more bombs than Griffey, nobody has ever looked better doing it. And in the field he was just as fun to watch, with seemingly unlimited range, a cannon arm, and the ability to scale walls to rob home runs like Spiderman.

In the mid 90's the Mariners were threatening to leave Seattle for Tampa if they didn't get a new ball park (sound familiar, Twins fans?) but Griffey led the team to an unforgettable trip to the playoffs, Mariners fever swept King County and the next thing we knew ground was being broken for Safeco Field. But by the time the park opened Junior was on his way out of town, shaken by the death of his good friend golfer Payne Stewart, who died in a plane crash. Griffey wanted to be closer to family and friends in Florida, and ended up pulling a less-than-classy move by telling the M's he ONLY wanted to go to Cincinnati. At the time, Griffey was on pace to break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, and had a chance to end up as the greatest player ever.

But once he got dealt to the Reds from 2000 until last year, injuries derailed his career, and he was lost in all the hype of McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds. He returns to Seattle in 2009 as a 39 year old who should really only be used as a DH against right handed pitching (although Junior claims his knee is now 100% healthy, which he says means his power returns and makes him a capable outfielder again. I'm skeptical at best). The M's won't be the worst team in the league again, but they probably won't compete for a pennant either, so I'm not sure it makes much sense to have Junior playing ahead of younger players who need to develop. The chances of him ending his career on a high note with a strong season and perhaps one more shot at the postseason are pretty slim and yet I sit here today giggling at the thought of him hitting his first bomb into the right field seats at Safeco that were built for him. Junior is back where he belongs, to finish his career in Seattle. And just for today, that's all I care about.