Griffeymania grips Seattle once again

Thursday morning, Jerry Thornton stopped work on some youth team jerseys his company was lettering, and told his crew he was switching to a rush, rush order:

The Seattle Mariners needed Ken Griffey Jr. No. 24 jerseys for their Safeco Field store, and needed them ... like in a few hours.

STT Sports Lettering on First Avenue South, a few blocks south of the baseball field, has 10 employees.

The company takes shirts, jerseys, caps — you name the clothing item — and either sews on twill lettering, or embroiders. Its customers include the Mariners, the Seahawks, the Thunderbirds, "and the Sonics, when they were in town," said Thornton.

And so starting at 10 a.m., four sewers and a couple of other employees who heat-press letters and numerals began the production of Griffey jerseys that'd retail for $230 (the exact kind of jersey worn by current Mariner players) or $265 ("retro" jerseys harking back to 1989, when Griffey first played for the Mariners).

"We're excited. We like challenges. It makes the day go faster," said Tonya Easley, one of the heat pressers.

Using an arch-shaped cardboard cutout, she carefully lined up the polyester letters that spelled out G-R-I-F-F-E-Y on the back of a jersey. Then the sewers stitched the letters on.

The whole process took about a half-hour per jersey.

By the end of the day, Thornton hoped to have a couple hundred jerseys made; the first batch of three dozen went up for sale at the Mariners store at 3 p.m.

On Thursday, the Mariners sold 16,000 tickets, when various combinations of 16-game tickets and other partial season tickets were added up. Single-game tickets go on sale March 14.

At the Mariners sales department, said Rebecca Hale, director of public information, "when someone would disconnect from a phone call, there was another waiting. We've not had a day like this in a very, very, very long time."

At KJR Sports Radio, the phone calls and e-mails were flooding in about Ken Griffey, said Rich Moore, program director.

"This is one of those water-cooler topics. Everyone wants to chime in," said Moore.

This was a story that got the reaction of the Seahawks going to the Superbowl, the Sonics leaving town, of University of Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel getting fired, he said.

"And this one might be in a different category," said Moore about Griffey coming back home. "It's a good-news story. People love to have relationships with players."

On craigslist, the Ken Griffey listings began to appear.

There was a Ken Griffey poster, "never been unwrapped," for $600. There was a Ken Griffey rookie card, "make me an offer."

A couple of collectibles seemed like deals.

Celena Kathan, of Seattle, was getting rid of a bunch of her folks' stuff. She was selling a Ken Griffey Christmas ornament for $15 but would take $10.

There was Pat Newton, of Issaquah, selling a 1989 Ken Griffey candy bar, never opened, "but probably not too tasty."

He said $10 or $20 would take it off his hands.

"Or if I found a really Griffey freak who deserves it more than I do," said Newton, he'd just give it to that person.

Then there was the person hustling four tickets to the Mariners Opening Day — a pair for $700 or $1,300 for all four — apparently not a hardcore Griffey fan, or maybe just someone who types fast.

Said the posting title: "See Griffy's home coming. ... "

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com