I read somewhere (I think In Gammons' column) that Jay Buhner has rebuked offers to have his number retired because he thinks Junior should be the first Mariner to have his number retired.
That is way cool.
"And that little boy that no one liked grew up to be ... Roy Cohn. Now you know the rest of the story." -- Pesudo Paul Harvey, "The Simpsons," Cape Feare
Actually, the most important person to baseball history and nomenclature ever to wear a Mariners uniform may have been Mario Mendoza. :>
"And that little boy that no one liked grew up to be ... Roy Cohn. Now you know the rest of the story." -- Pesudo Paul Harvey, "The Simpsons," Cape Feare
Originally posted by Eddie FamousThat is cool on Buhner's part, but the first mariner to have his number retired should be either Edgar Martinez or Diego Segui.
Since Diego also played for the Pilots, that would be way cool. Not necessarily deserving, but cool.
Ken Griffey Jr. can wait. I like Ken - but he chose to bolt for Cincinnati, and NOT vice-versa. If he'd been heartbroken to leave Seattle, I can understand but that wasn't the case.
Jay Buhner is more Seattle then Ken Griffey Jr. could hope to be. I'll give Ken credit - he put Seattle on the baseball map in the early 90's, but Jay's been there the whole time.
If they chose to retire his number - let them do it.
Peter Gammons said that? They haven't mentioned it going down like that here that I know of.
If they start retiring Mariners' players numbers, I think it's gotta go (1) Edgar, (2) Buhner, (3) Alvin Davis, (4) Harold Reynolds, (5) Griffeyboy. Isn't there some by-law that you can't force your way off a team then come back and have your jersey retired? They'd better wait a while to have Griffey come back because the crowd at Safeco might get on him like he was Kobe.
Edit: I forgot to put Lou in front of AD. Actually Lou probably deserves to first more than any of those other guys.
I wouldn't retire Griffey's number for a long time. What he did to Seattle was pretty bad. Wait until he's retired and in the Hall before you retire his jersey.
-The Big Kat "It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care." -Peter Gibbons, Office Space
Hold on a second. Retiring a number is a BIG deal. The player should have been either incredible or beyond valuable for the franchise.
That said, how in the hell can JayJay advocate retiring the numbers of Harold Reynolds AND Alvin Davis??????
Harold had a decent/good career. What did he do to have his number retired? Alvin Davis had five good years, and I might be generous with that number. That's it.
For a comparison, I'm a Mets fan and I don't want Dave Kingman's number retired. Nor would I want Wally Backman's #6 on the outfield wall of Shea.
Alvin Davis and Harold Reynolds were the first decent players the Mariners had for a while. Do I personally think the M's should retire their numbers? No. There is sentiment here in Seattle for those two guys, especially Davis, to have that honor. Remember the Mariners were baaaaaaad for a looooooooong time.
Note: I live in a town where Nate McMillan had his jersey retired by the Sonics. I thought it was stupid. I mean, c'mon, I like Nate and all, but get real. I can't name one thing the guy did in his entire career. But Seattle loves the guy and they love AD and Reynolds because they're good guys. I don't understand it or agree but that's how it is. Jim Rice was three times the player either of those guys were but I don't hear of the Red Sox looking to retire ol' #14. It's a Seattle thing, I guess. I think they will get their jerseys retired if they do it fairly soon. They've pretty much been informally retired anyway.
I mostly put Griffey after those guys because the thought of sitting in Safeco and looking up and "24" is fairly nauseating, not because I personally think that Reynolds and Davis should have their jerseys retired.
Ok, I thought that was your opinion. I completely agree about Griffey as well. I guess karma's a bitch bc he hasn't had a healthy or productive season since.
There is no way Buhner, Davis and Reynolds should have there numbers retired. If you want to honor them then that's fine, but don't go overboard. Buhner did have quite a cult following in Seattle though so if I had to pick one of the three I'd go with him.
Now if your gonna really honor someone it should be the voice of the Mariners Dave Neihouse. Also you have to look at Randy Johnson. Other than that I agree with Griffey, Lou Pinella and Edgar Martinez.
Being a huge Reds fan, and living in the Cincy area all my life I can tell you the Grif has dreamed of playing in a Reds uniform all his life. If he ever gets healthy again he will rock the banks of the Ohio and not get his number retired in Seattle but here in the 'Nati.
For whatever reason Griffey hated Seattle and cried the whole time he was there. He complained that the Dome wasn't condusive to his hitting, so they built him a new park, and he didn't like that either. So he left.
I have heard that that the Reds actually had Griffey help decide the dimensions for Cincy's new Great American Ballpark that opens next year. If so, that is weak.
If I lived back in the wild west days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody would get real quiet and ashamed, because they had made fun of the soldering iron of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.
They didn't built Safeco Field for Ken Griffey, I assure you. In fact, as they got finished building it they had a round of BP in there and all the hitters bitched about how far out the fences were. In spite of that insight from the Mighty Ken Griffey (and A-Rod and other guys who stayed M's too) they left the fences just the way they were meant to be.
Ken Griffey may someday rock the house for the Reds but there is NO WAY I would trade him for Mike Cameron, especially if Cameron would strike out a little less. I'll take his lower offensive numbers and his better (since Junior got hurt) defense and his *positive* clubhouse leadership any day.
The only reason I wouldn't do a Griffey for Cameron would be for salary. Other than that I would love to see Griffey back on the Mariners. I'm happy I got to watch him for so long doing *his* thing day in and day out. He was truely an amazing player.
Bonds is hanging his entire being on that HR record. I just hope he realizes his worth isn't as high as it used to be and that a significant paycut will be coming his way.
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