Money Talks, But Not As Loud As Buhner Coast-To-Coast Conversations Help Junior Make His Decision

A year ago, the conversation between neighbors sounded fiercer than it was.

Ken Griffey Jr. told Jay Buhner that if Buhner left the Seattle Mariners he would personally kick his butt. Thirteen months later, the two men had the same conversation - only they switched roles.

“We were talking on the telephone every night last week and I reminded him of last year,” Buhner said. “I told Ken, ‘This time it’s my turn. If you leave I’m going to kick your ass.”’

Griffey stayed, and after agreeing to a four-year, $34 million contract extension on Wednesday, the center fielder admitted Buhner’s threat had some impact.

“He’s a large person,” Junior said. “I’d have had to try and talk him out of that.”

Buhner, the Texas redneck with the buzzcut, and Griffey, the franchise player who’s into clothes and cars and rap music, have become best friends over the years against the odds. Griffey’s extension through the year 2000 was a huge relief to Buhner.

“People only talk about him as a player, but he’s every bit as good a person as he is a player,” Buhner said. “He cares about Seattle, about the community and the team. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like not having him there.

“For a lot of years, the big days in Mariners history were few and far between. This is one of them.”

Half a country away from Griffey, who’s in Florida, and Buhner, who was in Seattle, reliever Norm Charlton weighed in on the contract from his ranch in Texas.

“I hadn’t heard,” he said, “because I was out working on one of my trucks. But I’ll tell you something about Ken Griffey Jr.

“When I first came up in Cincinnati, I played with his dad - and Junior would do his homework in the clubhouse. He was still in high school. He hasn’t changed. I mean, he’s grown up. We’ve all grown up. But his love for the game, the way parents brought him up, he really hasn’t changed.”

Charlton laughed. “And if he tried to change, his mom would kick his butt. Junior met us back then, and he still calls my wife ‘Mrs. Charlton.”’

Mariners CEO John Ellis flew to Florida to be on hand for the announcement of Griffey’s extension, and was clearly delighted with the outcome.

“Ken is the man around whom this team will be built,” Ellis said. “The decision he made was important to him, to us and to the game of baseball. We proved our commitment to baseball, he showed his to this team.”

“I can’t imagine baseball in Seattle without Junior,” Alex Rodriguez said. “Who could?”

Not Charlton.

“He’s one of those players you can’t trade,” he said. “You do, your attendance drops, period. Why? Because he’s better than anyone else. He’s better than the rest of us. I have an ego, but I have no trouble saying that.”“He hates losing, but he doesn’t change as a person when he loses. A lot of young kids could learn from that.”

“The kind of person he is gets overlooked,” Buhner said.

“He does a lot of things for his teammates no one knows about. Last year we had an off day, and he has two buses pick the whole team up and take us to Pebble Beach. He picked up the greens fees for 20 guys.

“This year he wanted to have that section in center field for underprivileged kids,” Buhner said. “I know this town appreciates him as a player, but I hope they can appreciate the kind of person he is, too.”

Graphic: Top sports salaries