Last Updated on June 24, 2007 8:37 pm by admin
SEATTLE (AP) -Ken Griffey Jr.’s homecoming to Seattle got even sweeter – and more intriguing – on its final day.
Griffey hit his 583rd and 584th home runs during the Cincinnati Reds’ game Sunday against the Mariners, tying and then passing Mark McGwire for seventh on the career list.
Then, after the Reds lost for the fourth time in six games, 3-2 to Seattle, Griffey said he wants to come back again – to retire as a Mariner.
“You always want to retire with the team you started with. I mean, you look at Emmitt Smith and everybody else,” Griffey said.
Smith, the former Dallas Cowboys star running back, came back from a stint with the Arizona Cardinals to sign again with Dallas and then retire.
“But I’ve still got a few more years,” Griffey said. “So I don’t think it’s anytime soon.”
When asked to clarify whether he’d like to play for Seattle again, Griffey said, “I don’t know. That depends on a lot of things, health and everything else.”
Griffey didn’t specify whether he’d like to return as an active player or simply for a ceremonial contract before retiring, the way Smith did in the NFL. The 37-year-old former Seattle icon is signed with his hometown Reds through 2008. They hold a $16.5 million option in 2009 with a $4 million buyout.
After demanding the trade that sent him from Seattle to Cincinnati in February 2000, Griffey signed a $116.5 million, nine-year deal with the Reds.
In the first inning Sunday, Griffey hit a 2-0 pitch from Miguel Batista to left-center. The slugger took a step and hopped in anticipation of a home run that he had said he hoped to hit this weekend at Safeco Field, “The House that Griffey Built.” The ballpark opened in 1999 – the last full season Griffey played in Seattle before he was traded to Cincinnati.
As Griffey’s high drive dropped toward the wall, left fielder Willie Bloomquist leaped and appeared to catch it. For an awkward moment, no one knew if Griffey had homered or flied out to end the inning. Third base umpire Brian Runge was in the outfield but made no signal. He looked instead at his crew for help.
Bloomquist had no reaction. Griffey simply stood between first and second. And the third consecutive sellout crowd at Safeco Field stood in odd silence.
Finally, when Bloomquist began walking back to his position without the ball in his glove, Runge signaled home run and the crowd cheered Griffey’s 15th career home run at Safeco Field. Griffey pointed to the stands behind the Reds’ dugout after he crossed the plate.
His second homer was vintage Griffey, a no-doubt drive in the fifth reminiscent of so many he launched at the since-demolished Kingdome across the street. He jumped all over Batista’s first-pitch fastball and sent it rocketing off an advertisement lining the second deck beyond right field for another solo shot.
Batista said he threw the pitch down the middle because he didn’t think Griffey would be swinging after he got the first two outs on three pitches.
Griffey dropped his bat immediately and stood for a couple of seconds admiring No. 584. The crowd gasped as the ball soared. Then the fans, many of whom were wearing Griffey Mariners jerseys from his 1990s heyday, roared almost as loudly as they had Friday night when they gave him a 3 1/2-minute standing ovation during a pregame ceremony to welcome him back to Seattle for the first time since he left.
The homers, his first two against Seattle in six career games, left Griffey two behind Frank Robinson for sixth place. It also gave Griffey 1,654 RBI. That gave him sole possession of 18th place ahead of ex-Red Tony Perez.
In the weeks leading up to his return, Griffey was reluctant to talk about it and even told Mariners president Chuck Armstrong he feared getting booed.
But then he got the extended roar from the crowd before Friday’s game, just after Armstrong and others presented him with a framed picture of Safeco Field with the words “The House that Griffey Built” across the top.
“Never did I imagine it would be like this coming back,” Griffey told the crowd Friday night. “I didn’t know how much I missed being in Seattle.”