He’s had enough of the minor leagues. Doesn’t want to go back. Feels he’s ready for the major leagues. Even if he is just 19 years old. Even if he has spent just two seasons in the minors.
It’s spring training in 1989.
Ken Griffey Jr. is asked if he thinks he can make the Seattle Mariners’ big-league roster this spring.
“Yeah, I do,” he replies. “I’m going to do everything I can (to make it). This (the big leagues) is the place to be.
“Even if I don’t play every day and have to come in at certain times, I will do it because I don’t want to go back to the minors.”
And, of course, he doesn’t. He’s the M’s starting center fielder coming out of camp.
Needless to say, the kid is confident. And, maybe a little cocky. But what are they without talent? And the ability to turn that talent into good results? Just empty words.
Griffey, the baseball world would soon find out, had tremendous talent and can-do ability. He began to show it soon after the Mariners made him the No. 1 pick in the 1987 amateur draft. That year, he tore through the Northwest League with a .313 batting average, 14 home runs — his first professional hit was a home run in Everett Memorial Stadium — and 40 RBI.
The next year, it was more of the same. A .338 batting average with 11 homers and 42 RBI with San Bernardino in the California League. The kid was making pro baseball look easy.
“My dad made it seem like everything would be totally impossible,” Griffey said in that 1989 spring camp.
His father, Ken Griffey Sr., had a long and distinguished major-league career.
“He made it seem harder than it’s been,” Junior said. “I guess it’s good because it made me work harder. I worked harder and got better.”
OK, the kid could hit minor-league pitching. Hundreds of players have. And then went home and got real jobs.
A whole new world awaited Ken Griffey Junior in the big leagues. Would Griffey be just another Mr. Big in the minors and another bust in the majors?
He got off to a slow start, getting only one hit in his first 18 at-bats. Then he remembered something his dad told him: “Just go out and swing the bat and let your natural ability take over.” And, “have fun.”
Which he did.
Fun was hitting a home run on the first pitch he saw in the Mariners’ home opener. Fun was hitting 10 home runs in his first 50 games, five of them game-winners. Fun was going 4-for-4 with a two-run single and a game-winning home run in late April. That prompted a call to his dad back home in Cincinnati — in the middle of the night.
Often, such calls by teenagers are to report bad news.
“Two things he’d be worried about,” Junior said. “If I’m all right and if my car’s all right.”
Both were in tip-top condition.
After the rookie’s perfect night, a veteran pitcher jestingly asked, “How old is he?” Nineteen and just a rookie … playing like a veteran. And gaining a fan club faster than any Seattle pro athlete ever had. Two months into the season, you could buy a Griffey candy bar, a Griffey T-shirt and a Griffey poster. On his Poster Day at the ballpark, it seemed fitting that he should do something dramatic, and he did — he hit a game-winning home run to beat the Texas Rangers 2-1. Even more impressive, he hit it off knuckleball pitcher Charlie Hough — the first time he had ever seen a knuckleball in a game at any level.
Griffey was that good. He could hit for average, he could power the ball into the seats, he could dazzle in the outfield with acrobatic catches, he could steal bases. And, he could figure out the game.
In short, he could do it all.
Oh, there were things he still had to learn. Such as, after he hits a home run and the crowd rises to its feet and demands a curtain call, it is customary for the hero to come out of the dugout and tip his cap. But not until all of his teammates are back in the dugout. Junior was reminded of this by veteran outfielder Jeff Leonard.
“It’s your first (curtain call),” Leonard said, “and it may be your last.”
Little did he know.
Larry Henry, who lives in Monroe, is a former Herald sports columnist who worked for the newspaper from 1977 until his retirement in 2006. He covered Ken Griffey Jr.’s first 11 seasons in Seattle.
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