Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Like Father, Like Son

Episode Date: April 30, 2020

D.C. Lundberg looks back at the tail end of the 1990, when the Mariners signed Ken Griffey Sr. to play left field along side Ken Griffey Jr. in center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. You know, one of these days, I will get myself back on track. Thank you, J.M. for introducing the show. I am D.C. Lundberg. This is Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. You may download rate and subscribe to this program on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or Locked-on Team Name Here podcast.

Follow the show on Twitter at L-O-O-U-N-Score Mariners, and remember also to follow me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, for those who are scoring at home. Today begins our week speaking about the greatest moments in franchise history. There's quite a bit to choose from, but the problem that I've been running into is deciding what to speak about that I haven't spoken about already. since many of these great moments came during the 1990s and early 2000s, and I've already spoken about them having done year-by-year lookbacks at that decade's worth of Mariners baseball.

There is one very unique moment, however. It occurred in late 1990. After being released by the Cincinnati Reds on August 24th, Ken Griffey Sr. was signed by the Mariners on August 29th. He was introduced at a press conference on August 31st prior to, to that night's game at the kingdom. Junior was at this press conference as well, and he was brought up to the lectern

behind which was displayed both Griffey's seniors and Junior's jerseys. Senior with his number 30 and Junior with his soon-to-be legendary 24. Senior joked that since both nameplates simply read Griffey, that his sons should read Griffey Jr. Junior then said,

I was here first. You should get senior. The two went back and forth for a little bit to the laughter of the press gathered in the room, before posing for a couple of pictures in front of their jerseys, and finally heading to the clubhouse to prepare for the game against the Kansas City Royals. Senior started the game in left field batting second, while his son batted third at his customary centerfield position.

In his first at-bat against Storm Davis, senior hit a sharp single up the middle, which nearly took Davis's head off. Not to be outdone, Junior hit a low-line drive between first and second base, for a single of his own. They would both score later in the inning, Senior on an Alvin Davis single,

and Jr. on a wild pitch. Two weeks later, on September 14th, it happened. At Anaheim Stadium, facing the California Angels, Griffey Sr. was once again batting second while Junior occupied the number three spot. In the first inning, with Harold Reynolds on first base, following a walk, senior took Kirk McCaskill,

deep to center field for a quick two-nothing lead. I know you know what happens. next. On a 3-0 pitch, Griffey Jr. hits one out to left field with his father beaming with pride in the dugout, and the two became the first and only father and son to hit back-to-back home runs in a major league baseball game, a very unique and super cool accomplishment. Our Mariners trivia question for the day is the following. On June 15, 1993 at the kingdom, Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 100th career home run, becoming the fourth quickest to accomplish this feat. Off whom did he hit this home run? Answer coming up in just a minute. The answer to today's

Mariners trivia question, Ken Griffey Jr. hit the 100th home run of his career off Billy Brewer of the Kansas City Royals. Brewer was a left-handed pitcher, and incidentally, Griffey hit his 200th career home run off a Southpaw also. The late Vaughan Eshersh. of the Boston Red Sox. More locked-on mariners after a word from Postmates. If you're the type who starts thinking about what to eat for dinner while you're eating lunch, you'll love using Postmates. They deliver food from just about any restaurant you can think of right to your door.

But Postmates just doesn't deliver chicken, burgers, sushi, whatever you can think of. They can make your life easier with grocery delivery, whatever type of delivery you can think of. Convenience, stores, clothing stores, you name it. So no more trips to you. to the store, no more late-night fast food runs. You won't even have to worry about where to grab lunch any longer. Just download Postmates for iOS or Android, find your favorites, and get anything you want delivered within the hour.

For a limited time, Postmates is giving our listeners $100 of free delivery credit for your first seven days. To start your free deliveries, download the app and use code locked on. That's code locked on, L-O-C-E-D-O-N for 100. $100 of free delivery credit with no minimum purchase for your first seven days when you download the Postmates app. Anything you need, anytime you need it. Postmate it. Now time for the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Once again, your host, D.C. Lunberg. Thank you very much, J.M., second half of Lockedon Mariners is about to commence speaking about Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. playing alongside

one another in 1990. They were the first father and son to play for the same team. There is one more father-son combo to do this, though it was more of a publicity stunt. In 2001, the Baltimore Orioles called up Tim Raines Jr. late in the season, and he made his major league debut on October 1st. Two days later, the club acquired Tim Raines Senior from the Montreal Expos. They played four games together and senior only started two of them, and they never hit back-to-back in the order, so they never did anything like back-to-back hits or back-to-back homewines, anything like that. Again, this was a total publicity stunt.

While Ken Griffey Jr. was an established big league starter and a very good one at that, Raines Jr. was clearly not ready for the show, and he wasn't even that much of a prospect. He had started the year in Advanced A Ball, went to AA, AAA, and then the big leagues at age 21. He spent the entirety of 2002 back in AA, and he played parts of 2003 and 4 in the major leagues, appeared in 75 total games with a 213 career batting average. Raines Sr. had had a decent season in Montreal coming off the bench and did okay in Baltimore in a similar role. He signed with the Florida Marlins in the offseason and spent one season there batting 191. Griffey Sr., however, was the Mariners' primary left fielder when he was

in Seattle and was hitting very well. In 21 games in 1990, he hit 377. clearly reinvigorated after a poor first part of the season with Cincinnati, in which he hit only 206 in limited duty in left field, first base, and as a pinch hitter. He played well in 1991 also hitting 282 and 30 games as the regular left fielder before his career came to an end because of injuries sustained during an automobile accident. He remained with the M's as a coach for the next couple of seasons. Everyone listening to this program knows what a tremendous player Ken Griffey Jr. was. I will most likely do an episode pretty soon talking about his career, like I did Ichiro's and Edgar Martinez's last week. But I want to give Ken Griffey Senior his due because everyone forgets what a great player he was. Maybe not Hall of Fame caliber great, but man, was he talented?

He and Junior had different skill sets too. While Junior was more of a power hitter, who could also hit for contact, Senior was much more of a contact hitter and had a higher career average than Junior. Senior ended his career at age 41 with a 296, 359-431 slash line. Among his 4,143 career hits, 593 of the win for extra bases. Junior obviously has more home runs than that. But again, Senior wins in the batting average department. Senior had a short, quick swing with a decent batting eye and didn't strike out very often. In fact, he only struck out once in every eight at bats. To put that in perspective, Edgar Martinez struck out once every six at bats, and that is not to take a rip at Edgar, quite the opposite. That's simply to point out just how seldom Senior struck out. Senior made a run at the National League batting title in 1976, but finished second to Cubs second baseman Bill Madlock, who hit 339 to Griffey's 336.

1976 was the first of seniors three all-star appearances and the second of his world championships with the Big Red Machine. He also got a ring for the 1990 Reds World Series title, even though he was no longer a member of the team. If you have not looked into Ken Griffey Sr.'s career numbers, do it. His career may have been overshadowed by his sons, but Senior was a very, very good Major League Baseball player in his own right and an oft overlooked part of the Big Red Machine of the 1970s.

Tomorrow we'll go back a few years more to a time when I wasn't even born yet, to look at the career of a Hall of Fame pitcher who didn't spend all that much time as a Mariner, but who achieved one of his biggest accomplishments in Seattle. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to Locked-on Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, any podcasting app your brainhead can think of. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners and me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, have a great day. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.

Ask your smart device to play locked on MLB upon the conclusion of this program.