What Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners Could Have Been

Everyone always has their own “what ifs.” Mine in particular is what the Seattle Mariners and Ken Griffey Jr. could have done this past decade together.

I am pretty darn sure that I am not alone on this one either, and I’m not just talking about my fellow Mariner guys. Would Hank Aaron’s record still stand? Would the Mariners have a World Series under their belt? Would Griffey not have had so many injury-riddled seasons in a Seattle uniform? Had he stayed in Seattle would he then be considered the best baseball player to ever grace America’s sport?

I believe so.

Now this writer is assuming that the baseball gods don’t punish Junior for staying in Seattle like they did when he left for the Cincinnati Reds. If so, then “The Kid” and the Mariners own this past decade like he did the majority of the '90s. Griffey owns it staying clean too, in a time where steroids rule.

When Griffey left Seattle, where he had turned the organization around by taking them to their first playoff appearance in 1995, and again in 1997, Junior had hit 398 homers, 1,152 RBI, and won the 1997 MVP award. That is some serious production for the M’s. He didn’t have quite the same success in a Reds uniform, where he only played two seasons with over 140 games, and only bopped 40 home runs once.

Let’s say Griffey stays in Seattle. We know things would be different for the kid, but how different? Griffey is currently entering his 22nd season in the Majors. Had he continued his production he had with the M’s in his first 11 seasons, he would be just behind Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, or he would have already broken the most worshiped record in all of sports.

Let’s take a look. In Griffey’s 11 seasons with the M’s he had 398 home runs, as mentioned above. That gives him an average of a little over 36. This includes his injury year of ’95, and the first four years where he was a 22-homer guy a year. Now multiply 36 by 10, well you get 360. Now take that, and add it to 398. Wow, 758. What was the record again? 762?

I am not saying this would have happened no matter what, but I believe he would have had a far better chance to do so. You can read this, and say that I am well-wishing, but I truly think that Junior would at least be in the neighborhood of that number. You definitely can’t say that Griffey and the Mariners wouldn’t have gone to the promise land at least once, could you?

Ken Griffey Jr. is a Hall of Famer no matter what, but would we have been thinking of him as the greatest ever? I haven’t even mentioned his ability with the glove. That is something I will be asking myself, while helping myself to some cold beer, for the rest of my years.