Griffey Breaks Hand Tiny Hamate Bone Will Be Removed; M’S Star May Begin Rehab In Two Weeks

Ken Griffey Jr. broke a bone in his right hand in the third inning of Wednesday night’s 9-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays and will be out at least two weeks.

Griffey will undergo surgery today to remove the broken hamate bone from his right hand. The bone is so small that it routinely is removed rather than repaired.

His hand will be placed in a splint and Griffey will be able to begin rehabilitation in two weeks.

The six-time All-Star hurt his hand on the first pitch of his second at-bat. Griffey was not hit by the pitch, but fouled the ball off the hand. He was replaced by Darren Bragg.

On May 26, 1995, Griffey fractured two bones in his left wrist while making a spectacular catch against the Kingdome’s right-center field wall. Griffey missed 73 games, but returned to play the rest of the season with a 4-inch metal plate and seven screws attached to his wrist.

Griffey is the third major-league player to suffer a broken hamate bone this season.

Twins catcher Matt Walbeck had surgery on April 5 and returned this week.

Cubs shortstop Rey Sanchez was hurt in early June, had the surgery and was expected to be out six to eight weeks.

Stadium talk

Fewer than two dozen people came to a hearing in Tacoma on Wednesday on a $1 million environmental impact study of the new $320 million Mariners baseball stadium.

During the planning of most multimillion-dollar, taxpayer-financed projects, such hearings usually draw roomfuls of angry opponents and enthusiastic boosters.

Just two months ago, for instance, more than 70 people lined up to tell the seven-member stadium board which of three possible sites near the Kingdome was best for the stadium. The board preliminarily chose a 19.3-acre, county-owned parking lot one block south of the Kingdome, known at the Ackerley site.

The impact study takes a comprehensive look at how putting the stadium on three potential locations - a parking lot north of the dome, a parking lot south of the dome and the Ackerley site - would affect the businesses, traffic, land-use patterns and quality of the surrounding neighborhoods.