[nfbwatlk] Willie Mays helped steer Griffey back to Seattle

[Mike Freeman]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/400661_mays19.html

Willie Mays helped steer Griffey back to Seattle
Last updated February 18, 2009 11:03 p.m. PT

By JOHN HICKEY
P-I REPORTER

PEORIA, Ariz. -- It took a 24 to land a 24.

Hall of Fame center fielder Willie Mays, the man who inspired Ken 
Griffey Jr. to wear the No. 24 as a Mariner, helped inspire Griffey on 
Wednesday to return to Seattle.

Mariners president Chuck Armstrong was driving from the team's Peoria 
complex to Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport Wednesday afternoon and not 
feeling good about the Mariners' chances of landing Griffey. The Atlanta 
Braves had been putting on a big push, and many thought the Braves would 
prevail.

It was during the drive down Loop 101 that Armstrong got a call from 
former Mariners second baseman Harold Reynolds, now an analyst for MLB 
Network.

"Harold wanted to know if I wanted to talk to Willie Mays," Armstrong 
said. "He wanted to know if it was an imposition. An imposition? He's 
conceivably the best player of all time. Who wouldn't want to talk to 
Willie Mays? So he gave me Willie's number and I called him. And 
although Willie and I had met a few times, he's talking like we're old 
friends.

"He goes on and gives me a list of reasons why Junior should finish his 
career in Seattle. And then he asked if I minded if he called Junior. 
Did I mind? So I gave him the number, and Ken told me later that he had 
talked to Willie."

Late Wednesday on his "Hot Stove" show on MLB Network, Reynolds picked 
up the story.

"Obviously, (Griffey) ... has been bombarded by friends and different 
players from all over the league calling him, trying to help him make 
this decision. Late today, Willie Mays calls him.

"Willie basically said, 'Ken, at the end of the day, at the end of your 
career, your legacy is going to be with the Seattle Mariners.'

"And it really hit home with (Griffey). And I think that really made him 
understand that Seattle is the place that he needs to be. His heart has 
always been there. I know for the 10 years he was in Cincinnati, he 
continued to follow the Mariners."

Armstrong said he and Reynolds talked several times a day during the 
past week or two about ways to reunite Griffey with the Mariners.

"Harold and Willie, too, have given us great assists in getting this 
done," Armstrong said.



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P-I reporter John Hickey can be reached at 206-448-8004 or 
johnhickey at seattlepi.com. Read his Mariners blog at 
blog.seattlepi.com/baseball.

© 1998-2009 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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