70 games may have passed but fan spirit has yet to fade away. Sure the team is only 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Texas Rangers, but this city has always lacked the attendance that teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox tend to acquire every game. Audience success can't be measured by the attendance in the stands, but rather the spirit those fans have acquired. In 2009, they have the most spirit they have carried in years.
This change can be credited to many variables. But one stands above all others, the man who has been named “The savior of Seattle.” The man who sparked the magical 1995 season that eventually led to the Mariner’s first ever playoff run.
That man is Ken Griffey Jr.
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Fans haven’t stopped worshiping Griffey since he came back to the club that he held together for a decade before leaving for the Cincinnati Reds. Fans carry signs saying, “Safeco Field: The house that junior built”. They bow down in his presence as they treat him like prized royalty.
But they don’t stop at bowing. Every game since his return, fans have acknowledged his loyalty by executing a long round of applause before every game and after every time he finds himself on base.
Home runs have seemed to steer the path of Griffey’s storied career. But this season he has only collected eight round-trippers.
Let’s face it; Griffey is not the same 19-year old kid he was when he first put on a Mariner’s uniform. He’s not even the same man he was last season. In 2008 he still had time before his anticipated return where he would presumably end his career.
He’s made that return. He now knows that he is on his last legs (Quite possibly that term is literally). Never again will he be known as “the kid”. But we can’t put a cap on his career just yet.
The Mariners are still in the pennant race, and Griffey could very easily be the heart of Seattle’s offense come September or even October.
While the sum of Junior’s hallmark moments may be already written in the history books, he himself cannot be written down just yet.
Reach Ben Brown at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
