BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…November 21, 1969:
The birthday of the most popular Seattle Mariner of all-time (or, at least he’s tied with Ichiro). Ken Griffey Jr. made his Mariners debut in 1989 as a 19-year-old phenom, and played 51 games alongside his dad, Ken Griffey Sr., the following two seasons. His major league career spanned 22 seasons, highlighted by four American League home run titles as a Mariner in the 1990s and the AL MVP award in 1997. In the middle of his career, Junior spent nine seasons with Cincinnati and one with the Chicago White Sox before finishing in Seattle in 2010. Griffey was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016 in his first year of eligibility.
Griffey was a 13-time All-Star, but just as impressive were his 10 Golden Glove awards. He robbed many a home run while patrolling centerfield for the M’s, and he left spike marks halfway up the pads on the outfield wall in the Seattle Kingdome to prove it. Griffey once grabbed a deep fly ball over his dad, who promptly grounded him in the dugout and took away his car keys. But history’s light shines much more on home runs than putouts, and Griffey’s 630 career homers are seventh in major league history.
In 1993, Griffey hit a home run in eight consecutive games, tying the record set by Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1956 and matched by the Yankees’ Don Mattingly in 1987. But the biggest moment of Griffey’s career, one immortalized in Seattle sports lore, came in the 1995 AL Division Series against the Yankees. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Griffey was on first when Edgar Martinez ripped a double down the leftfield line. Junior raced all the way around to score the winning run and set off a raucous celebration.
Griffey began his pro career with the Bellingham Mariners of the Northwest League after being selected first overall in the MLB Draft by Seattle in 1987. That was also the debut season for the Boise Hawks, and Griffey did indeed play against them that summer at Borah High School’s Wigle Field. Fans already knew he was something special, and his visit attracted a lot of publicity. During his one season with Bellingham, Griffey hit .313 with 14 home runs, 40 runs batted in and 13 stolen bases. Two years later, he was in the Kingdome.
Griffey’s son, Tevin Griffey, is a member of the Boise State football team this year as a redshirt senior transfer from Florida A&M. Tevin, a cornerback, hasn’t played yet this season. A Griffey playing football is not totally unexpected. Tevin’s brother, Trey, was a wide receiver at Arizona and faced the Broncos in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl. Junior played wide receiver himself at Moeller High in Cincinnati and received offers from Michigan and Oklahoma. Ken Griffey Jr. is 55 years old today.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
