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Ken Griffey, Jr. Inaugural Weekend


This weekend we attended Ken Griffey, Jr induction into the Mariner's Hall of Fame at Safeco Field in Seattle. Our kids grew up watching Griffey play with the Mariners and Griffey was always Nick's baseball idol. On Friday, the Mariners had a luncheon for Griffey where fans could attend so we gave Nick a ticket to it for his birthday.


Nick said it was one of the top five Mariner experiences he's had so far.



Bruce took photos of the food for me so I could put it up on my blog. He and Nick said the meal was delicious which included a chicken main entree



salad


and a red velvet cupcake for dessert.


But this day was not about food. For Bruce and Nick the best part was hearing Griffey and his fellow teammates tell stories of their times together as Mariners.


Jay Buhner told about Griffey as the practical joker which we remember with Griffey coming up through the Mariners as a kid. He was only 19 years old as a Mariner rookie, the year Lauren was born.  Nick and Lauren both grew up with Griffey playing as a Seattle Mariner with 1995 being the climax when the Mariners won the Western Division Championship and went on to play the New York Yankees in the League Division Series. But it was the way they won that will forever go into our memory banks. They went on a winning streak in September (they were playing under .500 in August) and the motto "Refuse to Lose" emerged. There were several walk-off home runs and grand slams ending the games. ("get out the rye bread and the mustard grandma, it's grand salami time" - a quote made famous by Mariner's announcer Dave Niehaus) "…and it just continues... " another historic quote.  Bruce would want go to Mariner games in the middle of the week because of the unbelievable winning streak and I'd say "We can't go tonight. There's school tomorrow!" Nick was in 3rd grade and Lauren was in 1st grade. They needed their sleep! Our friends actually traveled down to Texas to watch the Mariners series there. But the Mariner's tied for American League West so they had to play a one game tie-breaker against the Angels with Mark Langston pitching - a former Mariner, that we all knew well. Bruce actually took Nick out of school to go to that game because it was 1:38 pm start. I wasn't so sure he ought to do that but when he went to the school to check Nick out, there was a long line of dads waiting to check their kids out of school! THIS WAS HUGE! And the Mariners won with the Big Unit on the mound going the whole 9 innings. (Randy Johnson won the Cy Young Award that year)

Bruce and Nick and all the fans charged the field and got dirt from the pitching mound, as I sat on the couch at home in disbelief, thinking "it really does just continue…"  My girlfriend called me that moment, I picked up the phone and she said, "Are you O.K?"  I was so speechless, I could hardly respond.  "I can't believe it, I just can't believe it".  It had been 18 years of Mariner games and they were finally winning.  We had been season ticket holders for 9 years.  We were devoted Mariner fans despite losing season after losing season.  The Mariners weren't even very popular in Seattle so we always had great parking spaces to the games with lots of room around us in the stands.  Needless to say, we still have the dirt from that game sitting on a shelf in Nick's room.  The Mariner's went on to face the New York Yankees - our arch rival.  They beat the Yankees but again, it was the way they won.  It was Game 5, Randy Johnson - the Big Unit, came out of the bullpen (on one day rest after pitching Game 3) to pitch as a reliever to the music of Welcome to the Jungle - we will never forget.  The greatest entrance by a pitcher ever!  He retired the next 6 Yankees. The 11th inning,  Edgar's double with Joey Cora on third and Griffey on first...


and they waved him in to home...


No need to continue to describe it.  It was the #1 Mariner moment. 

 And that's what Ken Griffey's Inaugural weekend was all about.  Thank you, Ken Griffey, Jr. 

His induction on Saturday before the game also included former Mariner Hall of Fame members, Alvin Davis, Dave Niehaus' wife (Dave passed away in 2010), Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez and Dan Wilson. Griffey spoke for 25 minutes - unscripted - straight from his heart. The 1 hour ceremony (which was planned for 30 minutes) was very emotional for everybody including Griffey.



Before 1995, the Mariners were planning on leaving Seattle to go to Tampa Bay because attendance to games were usually less than 10,000. Griffey is attributed to saving baseball in Seattle and Safeco Field is known as "The house that Griffey built".
The Mariners have been popular in Seattle ever since '95. We are all waiting for the Mariners to give us another '95 experience because those who were there, will never forget and will always yearn for more.




We attended the induction with another childhood friend of Nick's who also grew up watching Griffey. Many paid tribute to Griffey at the game by wearing their hats backwards like Griffey always did, even the current Mariner players.



And the Mariner Moose wore a Griffey jersey for the special weekend.



And what better way to end our Griffey weekend than by stopping by Dick's Drive-In to reminisce all our memorable moments.

















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