Dave Clark (bedirthanaverage) sends this along:

George Kenneth Griffey Jr
The Kid
The Natural
Junior Griffey

After 8 years the man who gave us SafeCo field returns. For many of us here we would not be fans of the Mariners if it were not for this boy who became a man while playing on the disgusting AstroTurf of the KingDome.

We in the Puget Sound have been inundated by so many news stories about his past, about the legend. Lists of highlights, memories of the writers, photo spreads. He has a 4:30PM PST press conference before the game. The team has a special ceremony for the player before the game with video montage of comments from his former teammates and opponents.

Here’s a small list of what’s been written recently about this momentous occasion

Griffey shrugs at Mariners’ plan to celebrate his return
Sports | 10 Griffey moments in Seattle | Seattle Times Newspaper
Sports | Griffey returns to Seattle | Seattle Times Newspaper
Buhner relishes old pal Griffey’s return
Go 2 Guy: Come on, give Griffey a break — and a worthy reception
Junior’s back! | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA

Some here may remember, heck maybe even know where the old thread went, my post from three or so years ago “The Answer is K” In it I asserted that answer to the Mariners issues regarding lefthanded offense, and offense in general was Mr Griffey. I don’t necessarily think that the dream is the answer at this time, but wish to share part of why I’m a baseball fan.

This too is about Ken Griffey Jr.

I first became a baseball fan back in the Spring of 1994. I was a freshman at community college and going nowhere with my life. I had decided to join the Army and became an Arabic linguist. Though I deferred my entry I stopped going to class. I was directionless.

Two of my friends’ father was the Equipment Manager for the Mariners (he’s still with the org) and as a thank you to me for joining the service he had me come down and shag balls for a few series before I left for Basic Training. Several of those memories helped me through difficult times. Two particularly related to Ken. In the first he noticed one of the other players giving me a hard time. Ken stood up for me, now I paraphrase, don’t be a punk and give the kid a break.

The second occasion was when Griffey was kind enough to let me sit in his special lounge chair. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was. He never let anyone sit in that chair.

Several years later I worked at KJR-AM Seattle as a producer with much of my work focused on our baseball coverage, I was at the stadium quite a bit. Griffey didn’t like KJR, he held a grudge. In fact in my three years there Griffey only gave live interviews with one show, the one I produced. I don’t know if I was the reason but I do know that he remembered me from years before as he said several things to me about the time previous at one point even asking why I made the mistake of joining KJR.

One of his interviews wasn’t scheduled, it just happened. The Mariners were in Anaheim and the show host was dogging Ken. Word got back and he called up from the visitors clubhouse down there. He was initially confrontational, but over the interview he came to like the host and eventually agreed to come on again in the future. That happened several months later when we had the only booked interview between Ken and the station.

I guess what I’m getting at that is over the past 13 years I have gone through a lot of things from the US Army, two career changes, a marriage and a home, but through it all somehow I remained a Ken Griffey Jr fan - Sometimes quite bitter.

My wife thinks that her parents are coming over Friday night, and I’m sure that they are, but I don’t know if I will notice. I’ll be watching the Game. The Return of the greatest player the Seattle Mariners have ever seen play. A player who if not for poor health would be challenging Barry Bonds.
A player who if not for a very poor decision to leave would be the most loved man in the Pacific Northwest - and yet he still might be.

Some more mainstream notes about his return
Griffey signed 1,000 commerative baseballs for the occassion. They will cost 100$ each. Proceeds will be evenly divided between Children’s Hospitals of Seattle, Cincinati and Orlando.

There are very limited seats available, and on Friday there are view obstructed and standing room seats only.

Griffey currently is a top three vote getter for the NL All Star outfield and is having his best season yet in Cincinatti.

Again, thank you Ken for keeping baseball in Seattle, wish you could have been here this near decade. I hope you finaly Hit it Here.

- Dave