Griffey returns for another season

(Photo by Elaine Thompson, AP Photos)

Ken Griffey Jr. announced yesterday that he will be returning to the Seattle Mariners for another season. Although Griffey will never surpass Hank Aaron as many thought he would, he still has a chance to move past Willie Mays’ 660 home runs for No. 4 overall. Ken needs only 30 more to tie the Say Hey Kid, but he’ll need to have a better season than last year if he wants to do it. In 2009, Griffey had the worst year of his career: .221 batting average, 19 homers and 43 RBI. However, he only played in 60 games -- and while a lack of health would normally be a concern for Griffey -- it shows that if he were to stay healthy, it’s not impossible for him to hit 25-30 homers.

Next season, Griffey Jr. will turn 40 years old. When he plays in a game for the M’s, he will become just the fourth baseball player ever to play with the same team -- at least once -- in his teens, 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s. The three previous men to do that are Eddie Collins (a member of the A’s “$100,000 Infield”), Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles, and Tim Raines with the Montreal Expos. Of those four, only Raines is not a first-ballot Hall of Famer -- though he may one day get in himself. Griffey himself only barely qualifies for this list; had he not signed on with the Mariners last year (when he was 39) and returned with them next year (when he will be 40), he’d have only done it in his teens and 20’s.