"A Dream Come True!": Seattle Mariners New Part-Owner Is A Very Familiar Face

When Ken Griffey Jr. played for the Seattle Mariners, he "owned" the Emerald City. Heck, he pretty much owned all of baseball. Now, the Mariners have made it official: Ken Griffey Jr. is a part-owner of the team.

A historic day for our franchise!

Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. has joined the Mariners Partnership Group.
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) October 25, 2021

Griffey had been a special consultant for the Mariners, and has now purchased shares in the franchise and joined the ownership group. And he seemed pretty speechless at first...

He did find plenty of words, eventually. "This is a dream come true because of the relationship I’ve always had with the team, its fans, and the city of Seattle," said Griffey. "I view this as another way to continue to give back to an organization and community that has always supported me, and my family. I’m looking forward to continuing to contribute to this organization’s success in any way possible.”

The legendary Mariner and Cincinnati Red, Griffey spent the first 11 of his 22 years in the majors in Seattle, and then finished up with two years as a Mariner as well. In those first 11 years, there were 10 All-Star games, a Rookie of the Year Award, two division titles and an MVP. The latter came in 1997, the first of two straight 56 home run seasons, to go along with 147 RBIs and an OPS of 1.028.

Overall, he was a 13-time All-Star, a 10-time Gold Glove winner, a 7-time Silver Slugger winner, a 4-time AL home run leader, a 3-time MLB All-Star Home Run Derby champion, and his 630 career home runs places him 7th on the all-time list (or 5th, depending upon how you feel about Barry Bonds' and Alex Rodriguez' totals).

"The Kid" even got to play in the majors with his dad.

Griffey was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016, with what was at that time, the highest percentage ever for an electee, of 99.32%. He was also named a senior advisor to commissioner Rob Manfred earlier this year.