SEATTLE -- One of the many faces who will be in Cooperstown for Ken Griffey Jr.’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame will be Jr.’s former teammate and very good friend, Jay Buhner. Buhner played alongside Griffey for many years as a member of the Seattle Mariners.
“I think he’ll go down as arguably the greatest player to ever play, there’s no doubt,” Buhner said. “When you go down through the top 10 greatest players ever and he’s on that team.”
“If Junior wouldn’t have signed and worn the 'M' on his hat we wouldn’t be standing here in this beautiful ballpark right now. So I think at the end of the day he’s the main reason why we’re all here,” Buhner added. “From the time I saw him take B.P., from the time we first signed him, from his first time in the big leagues, to him and his dad going back to back, you can go down to the Spiderman catches in the outfield; he was the total package. You could tell he was a special player from day one.”
Griffey and Junior lived next to each other and formed what many people believe is a very unlikely friendship.
“He liked rap I like country. The complete opposites,” Buhner said. “He’s black, I’m white, obviously. I’m bald he’s not, so I’m his bald-headed brother from a different mother. But close families, still close, so I always enjoyed hanging onto his coattails, still will.”
Once the Hall of Fame weekend comes to a close in Cooperstown, Buhner said it is time to think about what we will re-name for the legendary centerfielder back in Seattle.
“I’m going to go and spray paint my own signs on I-5 and I will definitely rename it Ken Griffey Junior Highway, maybe I-24 in certain sections. Can you do that? Are you allowed to do that?,” Buhner joked. “I know it’s Safeco Field so you may not be able to rename it Ken Griffey Junior Field because Safeco wouldn’t like that, but there better be something named after him that’s rather large, I think there’s something planned that we all don’t know.”
And even though Buhner likes to joke with the soon-to-be Hall of Famer, he knows he will be shedding some tears on the day of his induction.
“I’ll be wearing a tie so I can wipe away all my tears, kind of like when he went into the M’s Hall of Fame,” Buhner said with pride. “I’m excited for it, anxious; I’m sure Junior will kill it.”
KING 5's Alex Rozier will be in Cooperstown, New York, this weekend reporting on Ken Griffey Jr's Induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter @AlexRozkierK5
