Griffey Watch Heats Up Just Where And When Will Ailing Mariners Star Resume His Career?

An enquiring mind back East wants to know how we in America’s tree house are regarding the 1995 baseball season as it spins toward the home stretch.

“With high anxiety,” I say. “It’s as if we’re on this ruthless emotional roller coaster: One day you’re on top of the world, the next you’re a worthless, crabby wretch. You never know what to expect when you pick up the paper or turn on the radio. It’s crazy.”

“Really? An emotional roller coaster alternating between elation and dejection? Wow! You people are taking this wild-card stuff pretty seriously. I never thought …”

“Wild card?” I interrupt. “Who said anything about the wild card? I’m talking about the possibility of Ken Griffey Jr. playing in Tacoma.”

As we speak, conflicting reports about The Junior Rehabiliation Tour are as rampant as bulging veins at a Mr. America tournament. One rumor has Griffey testing the left wrist he broke in May at Port City, the Mariners’ Class AA affiliate. Seems a visit to Port City - Wilmington, N.C. - not only would enable the Michael Jordan of baseball to play in the home town of Michael Jordan, but also give Ken Griffey an opportunity to work alongside an outfielder named Craig Criffey.

Other scuttlebutt has Griffey hooking up with the Rainiers … on the road, to avoid the 24 tons of hoopla he would step into at Cheney Stadium. The other night ESPN, citing The Associated Press as its source, had Griffey planning to balance his rehab duty between Port City and Tacoma.

And, finally, we can’t dismiss the wholly logical chance Griffey will be healthy enough to forego the training-wheels portion of his comeback and immediately resume his competitive baseball career with those who covet him most: The Seattle Mariners.

To add to the confusion, Griffey is having some fun playing the artful dodger. There may be a few more boom mikes and minicams in the clubhouse today, but, really, we here at The Daily Planet are as gullible as our predecessors were 60 years ago - when Dizzy Dean granted simultaneous “exclusives” to three different New York City newspapers, and gave each paper a fictional birthplace and fictional birthdate. Justifying his penchant for changing his tune, Dean explained: “Them ain’t lies. Them’s scoops.”

Between all the scoops, lies and videotapes, the only certainty about Griffey’s rehab assignment is that he’ll be playing baseball somewere in a few weeks. Unless he isn’t.

“It may be the all-time rumor,” Rainiers general manager Dave Bean said Tuesday of the possibility Griffey soon will suit up in Cheney Stadium. “But we haven’t heard one word yet on anything official. We’re in the same boat you are.”

Perhaps. Only the phone in my boat isn’t ringing off the hook, line, and sinker.

“Every third call we get,” estimates Rainiers ticket manager Dan Graham, “is about Ken Griffey Jr. People have been halfway patient. We tell them there’s not a lot we can do until Seattle determines what they can do - and Ken decides what he wants to do.”

Said Bean: “We’re getting calls from literally everywhere. People have called from Vancouver, Phoenix, Montanta, all over the Northwest. The attitude of some of the fans is kind of funny. They’ll say: ‘If he doesn’t play, we want our money back.’ And our response is: ‘We haven’t said he’s playing. He may only DH (designated hitter). He may not play at all.”’

Given all the attention his rehab assignment has garnered, it’s easy to forget the biggest Kingdome crowd that came to see a healthy Griffey this season was a Replica Jersey T-Shirt night audience of 40,653. A more typical turnout was between 15,000 and 20,000. What gives?

“I think fans are realizing they took a healthy Griffey a little bit for granted,” said Bean. “Besides, the idea of Ken Griffey Jr. in a minor league park is unique. When Michael Jordan returned to basketball, he really couldn’t go to the CBA first. And there’s nothing like this in pro football. But the thought of Griffey in a minor league uniform is incredibly intriguing.

“It could give the people in the community a chance to say: ‘I saw him play in Cheney Stadium and lead the Rainiers to a win.’ I think it’s great for the sport. And there’s no doubt it would help the hype his actual return to the Mariners.”