Junior tantalizes M's fans, says he'd like to retire as Mariner
By GREG JOHNS
P-I REPORTER
Leave it to Ken Griffey Jr. to slam a couple of home runs against his old team Sunday, then leave the door open for a potential return to the Mariners before heading out of town.
? Thiel: Return to Seattle not based on reality
? Game photos
? Play-by-play
? Box score
One of the stranger Seattle sports scenes ever witnessed -- the home crowd joyously celebrating an opposing player's triumphant return for three consecutive days at Safeco Field -- ended with classic Griffey commotion after the Cincinnati Reds star indicated he'd eventually like to retire as a part of the Seattle organization.
In a pregame interview, Griffey told FSN's Angie Mentink, "I think I owe it to the people of Seattle, and myself, to retire as a Mariner."
Jim Bryant / P-I
Ken Griffey Jr., smiles before his team, the Cincinnati Reds, take the field against the Mariners.
Asked to clarify after the game, Griffey left it unclear as to whether he meant he'd like to come back and play for Seattle or if he was merely talking about returning when his career is over and signing a one-day deal that would allow him to retire with his original club.
Either one would indicate a far greater affinity for Seattle than was understood before the weekend series, which Griffey clearly enjoyed just as much as the fans who cheered his every move in his first return since being traded after the 1999 season.
"As an athlete, you always want to retire with the team you started with," Griffey said. "You look at (former Dallas Cowboys star) Emmitt Smith and anybody else that moves on. You want to come back and retire with the same organization. I'm no different than anybody else.
"But I've got a few more years, so I don't think it's any time soon."
Smith signed a one-day contract with the Cowboys in 2005 after being released by the Arizona Cardinals, in order to retire with the team he played 13 seasons for in his prime.
Is that what Griffey was talking about, or is he hoping to actually play again for the Mariners?
"I don't know," he said. "That depends on a lot of things, health and everything else. ... That's a lot of decisions that have to do with the front office. The only thing I can do is keep playing. If something happens, it happens. Right now I just have to try to win as many games as I can for the team I'm with now."
Asked again after the postgame news conference, Griffey remained vague.
"That's up to the front office, and I can't control what they want," he said. "A lot of things would have to happen, so I can't really answer that. But like everybody else, I want to retire with the team I started with."
Griffey has one season at $16.5 million remaining on his contract with Cincinnati. The Reds also have an option on Griffey for 2009, with the choice of either paying him $16.5 million for another season or buying out his final year for $4 million and letting him go.
Mariners president Chuck Armstrong, speaking before the game and prior to Griffey's comments, echoed the feel-good aspect of the entire weekend, which started with Friday's emotional pregame ceremony and ended with Sunday's two home-run effort in Seattle's 3-2 victory.
"It was just good to see Kenny back in Seattle and playing at Safeco Field," Armstrong said. "I think Friday night really helped bring closure, because the fans never got a chance to say goodbye before."
Griffey spent the entire weekend in a group hug with old friends and fans. He was in the dugout, still in street clothes, 40 minutes before Sunday's game, chatting and having his picture taken with old acquaintances. He then went to the Reds' clubhouse and informed manager Jerry Narron he wanted to play right field again after Narron had penciled him in at designated hitter.
"I said I'd go out there," Griffey said, "because it wouldn't be fair to the people of Seattle to just DH."
He was met with loud ovations every time he went into right field, responding with a nice, frontward-roll catch of a low liner by Adrian Beltre in the second inning, and then tipping his cap and waving to the crowd after catching the final out of the eighth on a fly ball by Yuniesky Betancourt.
"I turned around and waved, just my way of saying thank you for coming out and supporting me," Griffey said. "It was every inning that I ran out there. But they probably knew that was my last time coming out. It was just ... I wish it could be like that all the time."
That sort of wistful thinking is clearly why Griffey enjoyed his ride in the time machine over the weekend, hearkening back to the glory days of his 11 seasons in Seattle. So relaxed was Griffey that he conducted conversations with front-row fans while in the on-deck circle, spent considerable time scanning the crowd for familiar faces, and blew a kiss while coming off the field following his first-inning home run.
"It was everything I thought it would be and more," he said.
Junior continued to be cheered throughout, even when his two home runs staked Cincinnati to a 2-0 lead.
"It was awesome for him," said Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo. "To go out there and hit two homers like that ... He might not get back to this ball field the rest of his career, so it was wonderful to see that."
Or maybe Griffey will be back someday. If so, the door for his return clearly opened during this monumental weekend at Safeco Field. Though as usual, Junior played contrarian by insisting the events of the past three days hadn't rewritten his feelings toward the Mariners organization.
"It hasn't changed," he said. "I've always thought I'd be back. I didn't know when, but I'm just glad the people of Seattle welcomed me back like this."
