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Mariners and Reds agree to trade; Griffey returns home

Associated Press

CINCINNATI-Ken Griffey Jr. stepped behind a lectern overflowing with microphones, put on a Cincinnati Reds cap, ran his fingertips across the bill and took a breath.

"Well, I'm finally home," he said.

With one of the biggest financial concessions of all time, Junior finally made it back to his old stomping grounds yesterday and reunited with his father and the city where he first developed that sweet swing of his.

The Reds ended three months of often deadlocked trade talks by sending four players to the Seattle Mariners and agreeing to a contract extension with Griffey that fit comfortably with the team's small-market limitations.

The final piece of the deal came when Griffey agreed to a nine-year contract worth $116.5 million, the richest package in baseball history but only a fraction of what he could've gotten as a free agent. The pact covers from 2000-08, and the Reds even have an option for a 10th season.

With his father, Reds bench coach Ken Griffey, needling him throughout a half-hour news conference last night, Junior recalled how he had always wanted to play for his hometown team.

"The last time I put on this uniform, I think I was eight - for a father-son game," Griffey said, pulling on a Reds jersey at a news conference.

"This is something I dreamed about as a little kid, being back in my hometown where I watched so many great players," he said.

He got his first idea of what the trade meant to the city when he arrived a few hours after the deal was announced. Griffey was picked up in Florida by a private plane belonging to owner Carl Lindner and flown to Cincinnati, where a crowd awaited.

When the trade was announced, euphoric fans honked horns on the streets, put up "Welcome Home" signs in their yards and reveled in the moment.

"There were 200 people at the airport, which I didn't think I'd see," Griffey said. "I thought I'd sneak in and sneak out, but that was not the case."

The city hadn't reacted to a trade with such enthusiasm since the one that brought Pete Rose home as player-manager in 1984.

"His name comes up like Pete Rose's name as far as Cincinnati," said coach Ron Oester, a native who played for the Reds. "That's the magnitude he's at for Cincinnati fans."

And for all of baseball, too.

Widely regarded as the best all-around player in the game, the 30-year-old Griffey is considered a threat to break Hank Aaron's career home run record of 755. Junior already has hit 398 with his sweet, left-handed swing, and was voted onto baseball's All-Century team last fall.

Perhaps never before has such a great player been traded in his prime. Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby and Frank Robinson are others that come to mind.

Cincinnati is the only place the 10-time All-Star center fielder wanted to play. And when spring training begins later this month, his trademark backward hat will have a "C" on it.

"I didn't want to move around," he said. "I wanted to be able to stay put."

Pitcher Brett Tomko and outfielder Mike Cameron were sent to Seattle for Griffey, along with a pair of minor leaguers: infielder Antonio Perez and right-hander Jake Meyer.

"It's like being traded for Jordan or something," Tomko said.

Indeed, Griffey could be his sport's Michael Jordan. No wonder the Mariners were so reluctant to lose him.

"We hope that Ken decides to go into the Hall of Fame as a Mariner," Seattle president Chuck Armstrong said. "We might not have baseball here except for Ken, and we might not have Safeco Field."

The Mariners, though, had little hope of keeping him after this season. He was eligible for free agency, and said he wanted to be closer to his home in Florida.

He eventually limited his list of eligible teams to one - Cincinnati, where he grew playing in the clubhouse during the days when his father was part of the Big Red Machine.

Ken Sr. is now the Reds' bench coach and a candidate to eventually succeed manager Jack McKeon, who has a one-year contract. The son put in a plug for the father.

"He's been around baseball for 20-plus years. He knows what it takes to be a manager. I hope he gets the chance," he said.

Griffey turned down an eight-year, $148 million contract extension last summer with the Mariners, and trade talks with the Reds heated up during the winter meetings in December. Along the way, Griffey blocked a trade to the New York Mets.

He repeated yesterday that the money was never the issue.

"It doesn't matter how much money you make, it's where you'll be happy," he said.