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Ken Griffey News & Rumors

Griffey and Wedge back from whirlwind trip to Japan
January 18
Seattle Times
 columnist Larry Stone
"I talked today to Mariners senior director of baseball information Tim Hevly, who accompanied Eric Wedge and Ken Griffey Jr. to Japan on what he called "a little weekend jaunt." The trio went on a whirlwind three-day (more or less) trip to Tokyo, leaving from Seattle last Friday afternoon and arriving in Tokyo on Saturday night. They left for home on Monday evening around 6 p.m. Tokyo time -- and because of the vagaries of Asia to North America travel, arrived back in Seattle at 9:30 Monday morning."
Mariners send Griffey to Japan as baseball ambassador
January 17
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
"Ken Griffey Jr.'s position as a "special consultant" to the Mariners is underway, with The Kid traveling to Japan this weekend as a sort of baseball ambassador. Griffey helped out at a baseball clinic for Japanese youngsters Sunday near Tokyo. (See photo gallery below.) The Mariners are drumming up publicity for their two-game, season-opening series against Oakland on March 28 and 29 in Japan."
Griffey receives Historic Achievement Award
October 23
MLB.com
 
"Ken Griffey Jr., whose superior performance and effervescent demeanor thrilled legions of fans throughout his 22-year career, received the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award, which recognizes achievements and contributions of historical significance. Griffey was recognized at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington during a news conference Sunday preceding Game 4 of the World Series. He became only the 12th recipient of the award, which was created in 1998, and the first since 2007, when Rachel Robinson was honored for sustaining the legacy of her late husband, Jackie Robinson, and for her service to Major League Baseball."
Ken Griffey Jr. explains: 'I felt it was right for me to leave'
March 17
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"There was no fanfare, no ceremony. Really, there was no warning. Much like the way he left abruptly last season, Ken Griffey Jr. arrived at the Seattle Mariners' spring training complex unannounced Wednesday afternoon. Suddenly he was just there, clad in a black sweat suit and visor and ready to assume his role as "special consultant" to the Seattle Mariners organization today. Even with his sudden appearance, Griffey knew that he wouldn't be able to avoid discussing what transpired last season when he called Mariners president Chuck Armstrong from a gas station in Montana to say he was retiring. So Griffey walked into the small media room at the team's complex Wednesday, sat on a"
Mariners' Ken Griffey Jr. offers no apologies for sudden exit
March 17
Seattle Times
 
"More than nine months after retiring in silence, Ken Griffey Jr. returned to the Mariners with something to say. With a hushed voice and subdued look, Griffey explained Wednesday why he drove off into retirement last June without telling his teammates, manager or general manager beforehand. Griffey is in Mariners camp in his new role as a special consultant to a team that hopes he'll make his voice heard to younger players. But before he could speak to them about the future, Griffey knew he had to address the past. His explanation to reporters at the Peoria Sports Complex was brief, and he insisted he wouldn't talk again about the topic that shocked Seattle during a disastrous 2010 season."
Junior's still Junior: Charming, stubborn and unapologetic
March 17
Seattle Times
 columnist Larry Stone
"Ken Griffey Jr. came back to the Mariners' fold on Wednesday, and it was as if he had never left. In his first public comments since he drove off into the sunset last June — 20 minutes of interrogation while sitting on a table in the press room, a solemn expression on his face most of that time — Griffey was by turns defiant, stubborn and unapologetic. He also had flashes of charm, humor and empathy. In other words, the whole Griffey package, the complicated personality mix that has polarized Mariners fans for as long as I can remember. If anyone thought nine months of reflection at home in Florida was going to lead him to an epiphany of contrition, then you don't know Griffey. In"
There's a place in Mariners' organization for Ken Griffey Jr. — after he apologizes
February 16
Seattle Times
 columnist Steve Kelley
"His leave-taking last season was like something out of a country-western song. Ken Griffey Jr. walked out of the Mariners' clubhouse last season without saying goodbye, without even leaving an explanatory note. He got in his luxury vehicle and drove off into the night, leaving Seattle in his rearview mirror. It was straight out of Nashville, all broken hearts and disillusionment. Griffey felt he'd been disrespected by manager Don Wakamatsu, and instead of going into Wak's office and asking for an audience, Griffey just disappeared. That night in early June was the beginning of the end of the 2010 season. Partly because of Griffey, the clubhouse became a house divided. Partly because of"
Mariners confirm Ken Griffey Jr. hired as special consultant
February 15
Seattle Times
 
"The Mariners just confirmed our report that Ken Griffey Jr. has been hired as a special consultant by the ballclub. A release put out by the team states that Griffey "will be involved in numerous areas of the Mariners franchise, including, but not limited to, Major League Baseball Operations, player development, our minor league system marketing, broadcasting and community relations.'' The team says Griffey will join the club in Peoria for a portion of spring training. As we told you earlier, he has prior commitments outside the country through the rest of February, so he won't be here until March. He will make trips to Seattle during the year as well as to the team's minor league"
Finger of blame in Wak firing pointed right at Junior
August 11
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 columnist Jim Moore
"Three years ago when Ken Griffey Jr. returned to Safeco Field with the Cincinnati Reds, I listened to the pre-game ceremony on the radio and damn near teared up. The lengthy standing ovation was well-deserved for the man who helped save baseball in Seattle. I loved the guy, but I'm not a Junior fan anymore. In the Go 2 Guy's estimation, Griffey is the biggest reason why Don Wakamatsu was fired as the Mariners manager on Monday. To recap some of the dysfunctional developments, Junior struggled and slept in the clubhouse and was ultimately benched and got upset because he thought that Wakamatsu planted the whole Sleep-gate story with Larry LaRue, which is completely preposterous. And then he"
Griffey's retirement stirs admiration
June 20
Buffalo News
 columnist Joseph V. Zanghi
"With the retirement of Mariner great Ken Griffey Jr., baseball has lost perhaps its last clean, steroid-free slugger from the era say from mid-'80s to the present, with Jim Thome maybe the last sole survivor. When the man with the sweetest swing ever and the infectious smile decided to hang them up from Seattle, his being clean and not mentioned in an any scandal involving HGH helps ease some of the pain that cheaters like Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, Canseco, Giambi, Palmeiro, Manny, Ortiz, Clemens, and Pettitte, to name of few of the suspect parties, inflicted on us baseball fans. As we all know, Father Time catches all of us, but it makes you feel your age when a 19- year-old breaks in for the"
What's that you say? Junior has left and gone away, hey, hey hey
June 7
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"We knew someday we would have to do this, and that someday would be this year. But when it happened, when Ken Griffey Jr. walked away from baseball, it felt so odd, so unreal, so rushed. I certainly didn't want to write this, at least not now, not two months into the season. I wanted another whole season to soak up as much time with Griffey as possible because I knew it would be my last chance. How many people get to spend the summer talking, teasing and interacting with a guy they idolized growing up? I wanted to hear the stories, relive the memories and be reminded of the Griffey I grew up on. In hindsight, I probably wanted to hear about the past from him so much because the present"
Ken Griffey Jr. in his prime will be the sight to remember
June 6
Seattle Times
 columnist Larry Stone
"Roger Jongewaard doesn't want to dwell on the awkward ending to Ken Griffey Jr.'s career, which grinded to an uncomfortable halt on Wednesday. Jongewaard prefers to think about Griffey's glorious beginnings. It was Jongewaard, as the Mariners' scouting director, who made the recommendation in 1987 to select the high-school outfielder from Cincinnati's Moeller High School with the No. 1 overall pick. Granted, it didn't take a baseball Einstein to recognize the burgeoning phenomenon that was Griffey. But Jongewaard had to convince skeptical M's owner George Argyros that Griffey was the right man. Argyros, it seems, was still irked about the slow progress of Jongewaard's previous year's No."
If Griffey returns, it will be in 2011
June 5
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
"Ken Griffey Jr. will be back in Seattle at some point this season for a much deserved tribute from the team and its fans, but if he's going to return to the team in any other role, it will likely be next year. Agent Brian Goldberg and team president Chuck Armstrong were scheduled to talk today about possible roles for Junior with the Mariners beyond this season, but none had been determined. There was some confusion Thursday over whether Griffey might return in some role this year, and that report caught the Mariners off-guard because it hadn't been mentioned when Junior told them of his retirement."
Borbon fondly recalls boyhood idol Griffey
June 4
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
"Julio Borbon's jaw nearly hit the floor of the visitors' clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday night. He had just been told that Ken Griffey Jr. had announced his retirement after 22 seasons.A day later, Borbon was still a little shocked that his favorite player growing up had put an end to his illustrious career.Griffey started playing when Borbon was 2, but the Texas Rangers' center fielder vividly remembers watching Griffey with Seattle, Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox before returning to the Mariners."He was my favorite player ever," Borbon said. "I grew up in the Dominican watching him play. I collected all his baseball cards. I tried to imitate everything he"
Griffey's agent may have jumped gun just a bit
June 4
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"Surprised by Ken Griffey Jr.'s sudden retirement a day earlier, the Seattle Mariners were caught off-guard again Thursday when Griffey's agent said Junior would return to the team in some capacity this season. Agent Brian Goldberg, talking to the Associated Press, said "I promise you, he will be around plenty." He said Griffey's new role is going to be long term. Goldberg said it's unlikely to be one that has Griffey in uniform daily as a coach, at least initially. Goldberg said the actual role for Griffey will be settled after the 40-year-old and the Mariners exchange "wish lists" of what they want his role to be. "He will be back in the near future, and Seattle's fans will have the"
A Baseball Natural Just Wanted to Be Normal
June 3
New York Times
 columnist Tyler Kepner
"His name and his talent forged a destiny for Ken Griffey Jr. He was going to be famous, whether he liked it or not. Yet in many ways, Griffey, who retired on Wednesday after 22 major league seasons, simply wanted to be normal. The inherent contradiction is part of what made him as fascinating a person as he was a ballplayer. And let's make no mistake: from 1989 through 1999, with the Seattle Mariners, Griffey was truly incandescent. He oozed potential and lived up to it. The choices his contemporaries made in the steroids era have saddened or angered so many fans, yet Griffey stands apart. He was the best of his day, no asterisks needed. At this point, a reporter is obligated to note that"
Griffey rides into sunset - on a cloudy day
June 3
Tacoma News Tribune
 columnist John McGrath
"Of all the imagined conclusions to Ken Griffey Jr.'s baseball career, the least satisfying was an abrupt goodbye. We suspected Griffey would quit after hitting a final home run, perhaps, or playing a symbolic inning in center field one last time. We suspected he'd appear in his Mariners uniform in front of a sold-out Safeco Field crowd, doffing his cap, giving thanks to teammates and fans and the organization before walking down a red-carpet path toward the rest of his life. But there was no chance to acknowledge a Hall-of-Fame career with the future Hall-of-Famer on hand. At some point, between the moment he left the clubhouse Tuesday night and the moment he was supposed to show up"
Teammates cherish time spent with their hero
June 3
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"Most people would love to meet their childhood hero. But for many of the younger players on the Seattle Mariners, they got to play alongside him. And as the marathon that is a baseball season wore on, that opportunity and privilege to wear the same uniform as a man they idolized growing up never once grew stale or routine. The simple sight of Ken Griffey Jr. in the clubhouse made them all as giddy as 12-year-olds. So on the day that Griffey announced his retirement, those players already were reminiscing about the time they spent with the greatest player in Mariners history, a player whom they grew up idolizing. "It was amazing," infielder Matt Tuiasosopo said. "In the six years I've"
To fans, Griffey was Jordan, Montana, Gretzky rolled into one
June 3
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"It was a time for goose bumps and tears. Fans attending Wednesday's Seattle Mariners game only got about an hour's advance notice that the greatest player in team history had retired. With Aerosmith's haunting anthem "Dream On" echoing throughout Safeco Field, fans stood and watched a montage of Ken Griffey Jr.'s highlights. Realistically, Junior has provided enough highlights to require an entire Aerosmith album to get through them all. The scene was so moving that both the Twins and Mariners players watched from the top step of their dugouts. As the montage ended - fittingly - with the Kid's mad dash from first to home plate in the 1995 playoffs against the New York Yankees, with the"
Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez remember Griffey
June 3
Seattle Times
 columnist Larry Stone
"When Jay Buhner found out his old Mariners buddy, Ken Griffey Jr., had retired, he had one overriding thought. It wasn't about Griffey's transcendent talent, not the mind-boggling catches and majestic home runs, though those came to mind soon enough. It wasn't even about how Griffey, in his glorious prime, captivated the baseball world and turned Seattle — isolated, neglected old Seattle — into his personal playground. "I hope to God that he's really and truly happy," Buhner said Wednesday evening. "That's all I care about at this stage. He is the most beloved Mariner ever. He dedicated his whole life to the game, and you can ask anyone — there were times he played in a whole different"
Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr. retires
June 3
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
"Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr., has retired, the team announced Wednesday. "I've come to a decision today to retire from Major League Baseball as an active player," Griffey said in a prepared statement. "This has been on my mind recently but it's not an easy decision to come by. I'd like to thank the Seattle Mariners organization for allowing me to finish my playing career where it started." Griffey had seen his playing time drastically reduced in recent weeks, a factor that appears to have contributed to his decision. "While I feel I am still able to make a contribution on the field and nobody in the Mariners front office is asking me to retire, I told the Mariners when I met with them"
Ken Griffey Jr. announces retirement
June 3
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"The players didn't hear the news – Ken Griffey Jr. had just announced his retirement – until manager Don Wakamatsu huddled his Seattle Mariners around him just before batting practice Wednesday. Milton Bradley glanced at the gray sky above Safeco Field and turned to teammate Mike Sweeney. "It ought to rain on this day," he said. The face of the Mariners organization since being drafted as a teenager in 1987, Griffey retired Wednesday with a telephone call to friend and team president Chuck Armstrong. "While I feel I am still able to make a contribution on the field, and nobody in the Mariners front office has asked me to retire, I told the Mariners … I will never allow myself to become a"
Ken Griffey Jr. caps three-run ninth as Mariners end losing streak
May 21
Seattle Times
 
"This wasn't the first time the Mariners have seen a game end with Ken Griffey Jr. getting his bat on a ball. But it was the first occasion in recent memory in which the Mariners began a winning rally because their manager flapped both his gums and arms with equal vehemence. History will note that manager Don Wakamatsu received his first major-league ejection an inning before his team rallied for three runs in the ninth for a stunning 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Wakamatsu getting tossed, on the day of his 100th career victory, seemed to ignite a Seattle lineup that had spent much of the previous eight frames looking poised to lose for the sixth consecutive time. "In hindsight, it"
Griffey comes through in 9th as M's end losing streak
May 21
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
"It took a little old-fashioned Ken Griffey Jr. magic -- and perhaps the inspiration of Don Wakamatsu's first career ejection -- but the Mariners finally snapped out of their recent funk with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Toronto on Thursday afternoon at Safeco Field. Griffey drove a run-scoring single to right field with one out in the bottom of the ninth to cap a three-run rally that ended Seattle's five-game losing streak. The winning rally came shortly after Wakamatsu got tossed in the eighth inning by umpire Andy Fletcher after Ichiro Suzuki was thrown out trying to steal second with the M's trailing 3-1. "I'll get tossed every night if I need to," said Wakamatsu, who thus wasn't on the"
Ken Griffey Jr. back in lineup in Mike Sweeney's place
May 16
Seattle Times
 
"Ken Griffey Jr. will get another chance to play here in Florida, where he makes his home. Griffey is back in the lineup at designated hitter today despite the fact the Mike Sweeney has hit home runs in three consecutive days as the starting DH. "A couple of different thoughts,'' Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "One is that it's important that Griff play at least one game here. The other thing is, with Sweeney playing three days in a row, night-day, then travel to Oakland, he might need a day off too. So, it gives Griff an opportunity to get back in there.'' Wakamatsu was going to watch Rob Johnson in the warm-ups today and see whether the team needed to make a move to put Adam Moore"
For aging superstars, end is rarely welcome
May 16
Seattle Times
 columnist Larry Stone
"Bill Bradley, former New York Knicks star and later U.S. senator, wrote in his autobiography "Life on the Run" that a professional athlete "approaches the end of his playing days the way old people approach death. Behind all the years of practice and all the hours of glory waits that inexorable terror of living without the game." Ken Griffey Jr. is hardly the first superstar to endeavor to stave off career mortality. In fact, it often turns melancholy for great athletes in their waning days. And for their fans, too, who must reconcile the desire to keep watching their heroes with the realization that the old guy is a dim facsimile of what made him a hero in the first place. Rarely, of"
Griffey classic case of superstar diminishing legacy
May 16
Chicago Tribune
 columnist Phil Rogers
"Branch Rickey knew what he was talking about when he said he would rather trade a player a year too soon than a year too late. He wasn't speaking about franchise icons specifically, but that wisdom carries over to the mess the Mariners find themselves in with Ken Griffey Jr. It's no huge surprise Griffey's pride and addiction to the lifestyle allowed him to overstay his ability. The steady decline of his batting average (.277 in 2007, .245 in '08, .214 in '09) exposed his diminishing skills. The Mariners should have saved him from himself. But because of Griffey's popularity and stature, they brought him back while letting their leading home run hitter, Russell Branyan, leave as a free"
Griffey not contemplating retirement
May 15
MLB.com
 
"Ken Griffey Jr., who was not in the Mariners' starting lineup for the third consecutive game against an opposing right-handed pitcher on Friday night, says he is not contemplating retirement. "I haven't gotten to that point," he said after taking early batting practice at Tropicana Field. "What would it take? I don't know. I haven't thought about anything but coming here and getting ready for a game." Griffey has been in the middle of a firestorm since Monday after a story in the (Tacoma) News Tribune quoted two unnamed teammates as saying the Mariners icon was sleeping in the clubhouse during a recent game against the Angels at Safeco Field and therefore was unavailable to pinch-hit for"
Griffey, Goldberg and a story that won't die
May 14
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
"The latest development - and I use that word very loosely - in the Ken Griffey Jr. story occurred thanks to his agent, Brian Goldberg. Goldberg told KIRO radio today that a story about his client napping during a game was published prematurely by The News Tribune. He also added some details about Monday that were not true. Because of this, I feel compelled to answer those allegations so that everyone can be clear with what has happened. First of all, a little about me. I am Darrin Beene, the Sports Team Leader at The News Tribune. I've been working at The Trib for over 10 years now. I've been an assistant sports editor, and I've covered Washington State football, the Seahawks, the Sonics"
Ken Griffey Jr.'s grand career overshadows low points
May 14
Cincinnati Enquirer
 columnist Paul Daugherty
"Ken Griffey Jr. was the greatest player I never saw. The Reds had grand plans for Junior, right down to tailoring the ballpark dimensions to give him an easier ride past Babe Ruth. That it didn't happen was everybody's fault. And nobody's. "They should call the Moon Deck in right field Griffeyville,'' I suggested to Griffey, one day early in 2003, the first season of Great American Small Park. "I'm not a home run hitter'' was Junior's tart reply. All right, then. Whether or not Griffey dozed in the Seattle Mariners' clubhouse last week is relevant only as a metaphor for the absent season he is having, not for the career he has made. He was the best player of the 1990s and the best of the"
Sleepgate is a talker, but Ken Griffey Jr. should stay
May 13
Seattle Times
 columnist Jerry Brewer
"I don't want to see Ken Griffey Jr. go out like this. Don't want to see a superstar who radiates joy depart wrapped in woe. Don't want to see a player who loves the clubhouse environment exit after some clubhouse members betrayed him. Don't want to see the game he once mastered turn around and pound him until his goodbye feels more like a banishment. Don't want to see The Kid undid. Admittedly, these are emotions, not facts to support a well-reasoned argument. It's an undeniable truth that Griffey doesn't have it anymore, that he's done being a productive everyday player and that, if he wanted to leave with his ego intact, he should've said adios a long time ago. There's no sane case to be"
Sweeney smells two rats, so he makes a list
May 13
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
"After challenging the two snitches who tattled on Ken Griffey Jr. to a fight before Tuesday's game against the Orioles, Mike Sweeney was back on the bench Wednesday night. It was an impressive display of manhood. Sweeney probably sat there pretty pleased with himself after talking his teammates into a boycott of Larry LaRue, the News Tribune beat writer who reported that two unnamed players told him that Griffey slept through part of Saturday night's game against the Angels. Sweeney thinks it's impossible that there's any truth to this story, calling it "fabricated propaganda" in an interview with 710 ESPN Seattle reporter Shannon Drayer. "To get treated that way, it's unfair and"
Sadly, it's time for Ken Griffey Jr. to go
May 12
Seattle Times
 columnist Steve Kelley
"Jose Lopez stood on second after a leadoff double in the second inning of Sunday's game against the Angels. Ken Griffey Jr. came to the plate, but instead of the wild, expectant cheers that have greeted Griffey's plate appearances since his arrival in Seattle in 1989, there was just a smattering of polite applause. Instead of anticipation in the crowd there was resignation. This wasn't Junior any more. There was no more magic left in the wand. The thrill was gone. This is what I was afraid would happen, what I knew would happen if Griffey returned this season. Hope would die like his fly balls to right field. Cheers would be muffled. Griffey stayed one season too long. Nobody wanted to see"
Ken Griffey Jr. denies he was asleep
May 12
Seattle Times
 
"There was no laughter, nor joking, from Ken Griffey Jr.'s corner of the clubhouse on Tuesday as he dealt with his biggest crisis since rejoining the Mariners more than a year ago. Griffey usually employs humor and one-line quips to diffuse tension and controversies whenever one of his teammates finds himself at the center of questioning. This time, though, on a gray, wet Tuesday afternoon, Griffey's mood was as dark as the skies outside as he was quizzed about whether he had been sleeping in the clubhouse at Safeco Field during the latter stages of Saturday's game. The future Hall of Famer denied that he'd been sleeping in the eighth inning and insisted he was in the dugout and available"
It's cut and dried: There's no sleeping in baseball!
May 12
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 columnist Jim Moore
"Is this even a debatable issue? Apparently so. Apparently I'm missing the argument on Ken Griffey Jr.'s behalf, that it is somehow acceptable to sleep in the clubhouse during a game. The Junior apologists say he's been doing it for years, that it's never been a problem before. Here's my favorite part - the Junior lovers want to know why no one woke him up instead of asking a better question: "Why is he asleep in the first place?" You've heard the story, and maybe you're sick of it by now, but it all began with Larry LaRue's blog in the Tacoma News Tribune on Monday. The Mariners' beat writer quoted two unnamed players who said that Griffey was sleeping during Saturday's game against the"
Griffey still exudes confidence
May 12
Foxsports.com
 columnist Ken Rosenthal
"Only one thing matters, and it's not whether Ken Griffey Jr. is napping in the clubhouse. It's whether Griffey can still play. Griffey says yes. His statistics suggest otherwise. And the Mariners are caught in a trap of their own making, a trap from which there is no easy escape. Stick with Griffey and the M's might remain stuck with the worst designated hitter production in the American League. Release Griffey and the M's will risk offending not just a future Hall of Famer, but also their biggest legend and most beloved figure. The solution, if Griffey fails to come around, is for the team and player to find an appropriate middle ground — a midseason retirement that would allow Junior to"
Mariners rally around Griffey, team says he wasn't sleeping in clubhouse
May 12
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"The nap that launched a thousand internet comments – including those who wondered whether Ken Griffey Jr. ever slept in the Seattle Mariners clubhouse at all – continued as an issue Tuesday. There was a players-only meeting, partially in hopes of stopping what many considered inappropriate anonymous-source interviews. There was Junior, saying he wished whatever teammate had talked to the News Tribune for its Monday story about his sleeping in the clubhouse would be "man enough" to come to him directly. And there was this from manager Don Wakamatsu about whether Griffey was available to pinch-hit in the eighth inning of a home game Saturday: "What I know is that he was not sleeping when"
Wak on Junior: "He was not sleeping"
May 12
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"Ken Griffey Jr. was dropped to seventh in the Seattle Mariners batting order today, and expressed unhappiness with the report that his tenure with the team might be ending. "I'll know when I get to that point," he said quietly, speaking to about a dozen members of the media. Most of the questions didn't deal with his bat speed or batting average, but the report that he'd been napping in the clubhouse during a game last week when he could have been asked to pinch hit - and wasn't. Was he available, he was asked. "I'm available all the time," Junior replied. Was he sleeping? "I can't win this, and I'm not trying to," Griffey replied. "I don't have a blog. I'm just hoping that whoever said it"
Someone wake up the pinch-hitter
May 11
Baltimore Sun
 
"Question: Who needs a double-latte from Starbucks more than Ken Griffey Jr.? Answer: Apparently no one. Just in time for the Orioles' three-game series with the Seattle Mariners that starts tonight at Camden Yards comes word that the aging M's superstar was asleep in the clubhouse during a recent game when he was needed as a pinch-hitter. Don Wakamatsu, the Mariners manager, reportedly was vague about the incident last week when asked why he didn't use Griffey to pinch-hit for Rob Johnson late in a game. But according to a blog by Larry LaRue in the Tacoma News-Tribune, two young Mariners players, who asked not to be named, confirmed Griffey was asleep in the chair in front of his locker"
If this is his final act, let Junior make graceful exit
May 11
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"People aren't animals. So I don't want to go all-out Darwinian on you as we examine the physical decline of Ken Griffey Jr. and speculate on the final act of his career. He's not an aging wildebeest who can no longer keep up with the herd and needs to be culled by predators. But the Mariners are struggling and Griffey is one part of a larger problem. We may only ask - the Mariners and Junior - if these are the final days, please find a way to end this gracefully. The debate over Griffey's continued worthiness to hold a roster spot intensified Monday when staff writer Larry LaRue reported that his days appear numbered. And also that teammates said he had fallen asleep in the clubhouse"
'The Nap:' Time to put this career to bed
May 11
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 columnist Art Thiel
"If things get any weirder around the Mariners, fans should prepare for a return of the upside-down trident logo as well as Maury Wills as manager. Last week, combustible left fielder Milton Bradley melted down so far that the team took him off the active roster indefinitely, producing multiple press conferences and national headlines. His backup, Eric Byrnes, was thrown off the team for failing to offer on a suicide-squeeze bunt attempt, an episode so strange that the opposing manager was ejected for arguing, indirectly, that no major leaguer could be so preposterous as to not get a strike on a missed squeeze. Now we learn that Ken Griffey Jr. slept through a potential opportunity to"
Griffey's bat far more troublesome than his nap
May 11
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
"All the squalor about Ken Griffey Jr. reportedly being asleep in the clubhouse during a game last week at Safeco Field was interesting, but let's not forget the real issue at play. The problem hanging over the 2010 Mariners is not sleeping players, it's slumbering bats. This Seattle ballclub hasn't just been bad offensively, it's been historically awful. Its current pace of 3.29 runs per game would be the worst in franchise history, breaking the mark of 3.44 runs in 1983. Even with two home runs on Sunday, the Mariners are on pace for just 63 this season. The club record for fewest long balls in a year is 97 set in 1978. This team is batting .229, well below the record low of .240 in 1983."
Report: Griffey slept in clubhouse
May 11
ESPN.com
 
"Though he may be 40 years old now, sometimes "The Kid" needs to sleep. Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. missed a chance to enter an unspecified game last week as a pinch hitter because he was asleep in the clubhouse, according to a report from the Tacoma News Tribune. When pressed following the game as to why he had not used the left-handed slugger as a pinch hitter, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu was evasive."
Time for Griffey to go? Lack of production may force Mariners into tough decision
May 11
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"They fired their hitting coach because they weren't getting any offense, and the Seattle Mariners may soon have to make an even tougher decision on what to do with Ken Griffey Jr. The best player in franchise history, a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer, Griffey is 40 years old and well past his most productive years. What the Mariners are dealing with now is an icon with a surgically repaired but still troublesome knee – an injury that has left the possibility of his playing the field moot. At the plate, facing only right-handed starting pitchers, Junior is batting .208 in 77 at-bats, with four runs scored and five RBI. Coming off a full season in which he hit .213 in 117 games with 19"
For Griffey and Mariners, end is near
May 10
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"If life were as simple as fiction, the book on Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners would have closed late last summer, with him being carried around Safeco Field on the shoulders of his teammates. Adored by fans, appreciated by one and all, his place in baseball history secure. We're rarely that lucky – any of us. Junior wanted one more year, the Mariners thought it might work and gave it to him. And now, less than 35 games in the 2010 season, Griffey is in his final days as a player. He could lose his job as the left-handed designated hitter within the week. He might lose his position on the 25-man roster nearly as soon. If you want to see Griffey in a Seattle uniform again, watch"
Jack Zduriencik on Ken Griffey Jr. and his future
May 4
Seattle Times
 
"During Jack Zduriencik's presentation to the Associated Press Sports Editors Northwest Regional meeting in Tacoma, he was asked, point blank, how long the team would wait for Ken Griffey Jr. to produce. Griffey is hitting .224, hasn't had an extra-base-hit since Opening Day, and is posting a .527 OPS. Zduriencik gave a long pause before answering, as is his habit when asked weighty questions. My impression has always been that he really wants to gather his thoughts and have it come out the way he wants. Here's what he finally said:"
Griffey kicks a habit by going 'cold turkey'
April 13
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"He has been through the shakes, the almost overwhelming physical craving, and survived a full eight days. Ken Griffey Jr. has given up soft drinks. "I was drinking 10-12 a day, and Chone Figgins challenged me to give 'em up eight days ago," Junior said. "I'm drinking a lot of apple juice, a lot of cranberry juice, a lot of water …" Figgins used to love fruit-flavored carbonated drinks, but gave them up in 2004 when he read how bad they were for him. "I didn't really challenge Junior, I just talked to him about it," Figgins said. "I know how hard it is. He'd come in, pop a grape soda, and I'd smell it across the clubhouse. Grape soda, orange sodas - I loved those.""
Griffey: friend, mentor, giver of novelty T-shirts
March 14
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"It was just another day in the life of Ken Griffey Jr. on Saturday, which is to say he had a lot of fun, played a little baseball and was quietly revealed to be a thoughtful friend. The fun? Junior had T-shirts made for Seattle Mariners pitchers of pitching coach Rick Adair - with a vintage photo from his days pitching in Cleveland - and wound up with quite a few extra. So he carried them into the spring training ballpark and threw them into the crowd behind the Mariners' dugout, with Mike Sweeney urging the recipients to put them on over their clothing and stand when Adair came in from the bullpen. Everybody enjoyed the little prank - the fans, Adair and Junior."
Just another day at the yard for Junior
March 14
Tacoma News Tribune
 
"It was just another day in the life of Ken Griffey Jr. on Saturday, which is to say he had a lot of fun, played a little baseball and was quietly revealed to be a thoughtful friend. The fun? Junior had t-shirts made for Seattle Mariners pitchers of pitching coach Rick Adair - with a vintage photo from his days pitching in Cleveland - and wound up with quite a few extra. So he carried them into the spring training ballpark and threw them into the crowd behind the Mariners dugout, with Mike Sweeney urging the recipients to put them on over their clothing and stand when Adair came in from the bullpen. Everybody enjoyed the little prank - the fans, Adair and Junior. The baseball? Griffey was"