Ken Griffey comes home to roost at Safeco

As anyone who has ever met me will tell you, I am not primarily a Mariners fan. The large box of 2008 World Series Champions gear that arrived last week is proof of that.

But I am a baseball fan and make it a point to try and get to a couple games at Safeco Field each year. It is a great place to see a game and there is just something magical about watching a summer sunset over the Olympics from the left field concourse at the upper level.

But it was shaping up to a tough year for this team. Squarely in the heart of a rebuilding phase (this team is kind of like the Viaduct: it’s been a series of false starts, failed ideas and terrible, terrible leadership that’s led us to several dismal seasons of adequate, but crumbling team infrastructure and play that obviously needed to be rebuilt…), there was little reason to visit SoDo this season.

Sure, Ichiro is the best player in baseball (is there anything that guy can’t do and do well?) and Felix Hernandez is a tremendous prospect who has a great future ahead in the Bigs, but we’ve been spoiled by Ichiro’s play so much the amazing has become routine and King Felix is only going to play once every five games.

Why go to the park in what is shaping up to be another middle-of-the-pack (at best) season?

But this week the word came and there was much rejoicing: Ken Griffey Jr. would once again be patrolling the outfield in Seattle.

Finally, a reason to go to Safeco!

I may not be a Mariners fan, but there is not a baseball fan my age alive who isn’t a Ken Griffey Jr. fan. When he broke into the league 20 years ago, there was no sweeter swing and no more natural-looking ballplayer in the game.

And we all wanted as many of his rookie cards as we could get our hands on. I think there’s still three or four in a box in my parents’ attic.

A few years later, when A-Ro(i)d joined the squad, the Mariners for the first time looked like a real ballclub and even made that magical 1995 run into the playoffs.

I was in college that year, surrounded by Yankee fans and was the only one in my dorm not rooting for the Yanks (just to be a contrarian) and until last year’s magical postseason run by the Phils, that 1995 series between the Yanks and the M’s was easily the most exciting postseason series of baseball I have ever seen.

It as the first year with a wild card round of playoffs and the Mariners and their “Refuse to Lose” attitude made it count, winning the final three games of the series in dramatic fashion, including the iconic moment in the bottom of the 11th when Griffey blew through the stop sign at third and slid into home, as teammates piled on top of him in celebration.

Now, Griffey is returning to end his career the way it began: in a Mariners uniform.

Unlike A-Fraud, who took the money and ran, Griffey never ruined the good will he created in Seattle. When he left, Griffey took less money to play on a team with less chance of winning, simply so he could be closer to his family.

It’s difficult to hate a guy for that.

Two years ago, Grif returned to Seattle for the first time as part of interleague play and got a HUGE ovation. He said then he wanted to come back and finish his career as a Mariner.

And with the departure of Raul Ibanez to the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies (it just feels so good to type it all out like that…), there just so happened to be room in the outfield this spring. The M’s got a great deal on the aging, oft-injured superstar and Grif gets to end his career as a hero.

(Sure, he flirted with Atlanta, which is closer to home, but any sane person given a choice would never intentionally decide to stay in Georgia in the summer…)

His contract is reportedly incentive-laden, including bonuses tied to attendance, which should be no problem, as even I am excited for the start of the Mariner season now.

Spring training is under way and by the time you read this, Griffey will be once again wearing the uniform that made him famous.

They may not be contenders (and the Mariners are not), but now you can bet it’s going to be a special season in Seattle nonetheless.

Welcome back, Kid. See you at Safeco.