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Heartbreak in Seattle

Seattle Mariners' center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. was traded Thursday to the Cincinnati Reds.

In a related story, a 10-year-old boy had his heart broken.

This child, who worships the 10-time All-Star, but isn't old enough to understand the business side of Major League Baseball, only knows that his favorite player will be suiting up in an unfamiliar uniform when Spring Training begins later this month.

To the depressed kid, Griffey is now forever linked in the same category as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens - once-heroes who left their teams for greener pastures.

He is a bum, a traitor, a paycheck player.

But, although Griffey left the Pacific Northwest in somewhat of a huff, he is really none of the above.

Griffey spent 10 years in Seattle playing for a team that would have had trouble winning against the Tacoma Rainiers in many seasons. Griffey suffered through six losing seasons, as the M's qualified for the postseason only in 1995 and '97.

Many Mariners' players, including Andy Benes, Tino Martinez and Paul Sorrento, jumped ship during Griffey's reign in Seattle.

The perennial Gold Glove winner mentioned several reasons for leaving Seattle, but none of them included money.

In fact, Griffey's new eight-year contract with the Reds is estimated to be worth $116 million. A lot of money, yes, but a far cry from the $150 million that Seattle was said to be offering to keep The Kid.

Griffey longed to be traded to Cincinnati because that's where he grew up. His father, Griffey Sr., was a member of the 70's Big Red Machine, a team that Jr. used to watch from the dugout.

Griffey's wife and two children live in Orlando, which put them at opposite ends of the country for seven months every year.

Perhaps most respectable is the method in which Griffey handled the trade. Had he waited until after the 2000 season, he would have become a free agent and could have signed with the Reds then.

But Jr. chose class over selfishness.

By allowing the Mariners to trade him, Griffey made sure that his former team got something instead of nothing. The future Hall of Famer could have kept quiet and played out his contract, which would have left the M's empty-handed.

Unfortunately, all of this means squat to the millions of Griffey fans around the country. Kids who worshipped his baseball cards more than summer vacation will take little solace in knowing their hero is happy playing baseball in his hometown.

Unlike Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, baseball is thought of by so many kids as pure and real far beyond their seventh birthday.

Baseball is, in fact, real.

It is as authentic as mom's apple pie, drive-in movies and Microsoft.