Ken Griffey Jr. won't let feuds carry onto field

PEORIA, Ariz. — It was about the only tangible goal Ken Griffey Jr. would admit to on the day he returned to where it all began.

Griffey walked into the Peoria Sports Complex just before noon Saturday, met some of his new teammates, then flashed his trademark smile for reporters at a crowded news conference. On the podium, just before regaling Mariners optimists with the hope that he and Ichiro could team to win a World Series this season, the 39-year-old "Junior" talked more realistically about things he could achieve.

"I may not hit 50. I may not hit 40. I may not hit 30," Griffey said of his home-run totals on his first day back with a Mariners club he left 10 years ago. "But I can do the little things that baseball is about. Getting a guy over. Getting him in. Where you [media] guys may not look at it in the box score as a stat, but it helps the ballclub win.

"And I think that the biggest thing is to win ballgames," he added. "It's not what one person does. One person is going to get to be the star of the game. But it might have been the guy who got the guy over that's the real star of the game.

"It's not so much what one person does. It's what we do as a team."

And that goal, like winning the World Series, will almost certainly involve Ichiro as well.

Griffey's words came at the end of a hectic week for the Mariners that began with former Mariners closer J.J. Putz and current third baseman Adrian Beltre commenting about how some teammates last year were not doing all they could to win. Putz made a direct comment about Ichiro, while Beltre also seemed to be making an obvious reference to the leadoff hitter from Japan.

Former managers Jim Riggleman and John McLaren talked of jealousies and resentment in the Seattle clubhouse. The week's comments have not been lost on Griffey, who arrived here apprised of the situation and made it clear Saturday that he intends to make sure the game is played the right way.

He talked of how former Mariners like Dave Valle, Harold Reynolds, Alvin Davis, Jim Presley, Mickey Brantley and Phil Bradley showed him how the game was played at the major-league level and kept him in-line when needed.

"I had all these guys that didn't care that I was better than them," he said. "They always wanted me to get better. They treated me like I was a 19-year-old sometimes. I'd get in a little trouble, but it was all good. And that's what you have to do. There are going to be some things that I may say to a younger player that you [media] guys will never hear about. And you shouldn't. It's between me and him. On what he should do and what he shouldn't do."

Things could get a little trickier when it comes to Ichiro, the clubhouse's ranking member and himself putting up numbers that could prove Hall of Fame worthy.

"I plan on having him take me to dinner at least four or five times a week," Griffey said. "Being that I haven't been in the American League, I figure that there are some new restaurants he can take me to. ...

"But no, I'm looking forward to this. I saw him at the All-Star Game when I gave him his inside-the-park home run, so it will be all right."

It's clear that Griffey has something to bring to the clubhouse, whether its humor or the clout that comes with 611 career home runs. Some have suggested he's the perfect liaison to patch things up between Ichiro and some teammates who believe he's more interested in stats than winning.

Griffey made it clear he isn't about to be a passive observer. And when the question was asked about whether the Mariners could overcome their clubhouse differences from last year, he did not hesitate.

"They're going to have to," he said. "We're here for one reason, and that's to win ballgames. You're going to have your feuding in there. But that is not going to carry over to the field. That's just the way it is.

"I mean, you're just not going to like somebody and he's not going to like you. But you're going to go out there and play. And you're going to give the other seven or eight guys on that field a chance to win. And that's just the way it's going to be."

The message was clear and is unlikely to be challenged by any holdovers from a 101-loss season. It may be 2009 instead of 1999. But the Seattle Mariners, at this very moment, are once again Ken Griffey Jr.'s team.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com