COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The Kid got a little choked up as he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
So did this kid sitting in the crowd.
Being a part of Sunday’s ceremony in Cooperstown was worth the hundreds of dollars it cost to fly across the country. Worth the mammoth line at airport security. Worth my pale face — and arms and neck and legs — getting baked by the sun in the 90-degree heat.
It was worth it for The Kid.
Ken Griffey Jr. was baseball when I was growing up. I’m not sure I wore a baseball cap straight from age 10 to my senior year of high school. It was always backward because Griffey wore his backward. I even tried — quite unsuccessfully — to bat left-handed because Griffey batted left-handed.
I went to Cooperstown this weekend because, with near unanimous approval (don’t get me started on that), Griffey went to Cooperstown.
I made a pact with my fellow Herald prep writer, Aaron Lommers, the day Griffey announced his retirement that I would go with him to Cooperstown on the day Griffey got inducted into the Hall of Fame. In the six years between those two events, I had forgotten our deal. Aaron reminded me not long after Griffey was elected to the Hall of Fame on Jan. 6. Less than a week later, our plane tickets were booked.
Despite what my parents may say, it’s not important how much those tickets cost.
I had never been to the Hall of Fame, a site I’ve long aspired to visit. What better time to go than when the pride of Seattle was making his glorious entrance into its exclusive membership?
There was no way we were going to miss it.
Griffey made his major-league debut with the Mariners on April 4, 1989. I was 4 days old, so you might say I’ve been a fan my entire life.
I have a Griffey jersey, roughly 3,000 Griffey bobbleheads and I packed enough Griffey t-shirts celebrating his election to the Hall of Fame to make sure I could wear a different one every day during our five-day sojourn in upstate New York. And my Griffey collection has grown considerably on this mini-vacation.
It’s possible I have a Griffey problem, but I’m OK with that.
And it’s not just Griffey. I loved everybody on those Mariner teams of the mid-1990s and early 2000s. And when Edgar Martinez finally gets elected to the Hall of Fame, Aaron and I are going to have another potentially expensive discussion.
But it was Junior who Seattle — and I would argue America — fell in love with. He was a bonafide baseball superstar. And he was ours.
Seattle’s been spoiled in recent years by other bright stars — King Felix, Russell Wilson, etc. — so it’s been easy for Griffey to get lost as memories dim. But this weekend was rightfully all about Junior.
The Seattle Mariners plan to retire Griffey’s No. 24 in a ceremony on Aug. 6. No Mariner will ever wear No. 24 again, but I wore the number proudly Sunday in Cooperstown as I — along with Aaron and thousands of other Mariners fans who packed the lawn — cheered Griffey’s induction speech.
Griffey closed his time in front of the microphone in typical Griffey fashion. To the delight of the crowd, and after thanking Mariners fans for “making this kid’s dream come true,” he reached below the podium, pulled out a Mariners cap and placed it on his head.
Backward, of course.
He’s still The Kid.
David Krueger covers high school sports for The Herald.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
