Seattle Weekly: The Real Reason “King” Felix Chose to Stay In Seattle

Chace’s Pancake Corral, for real. (NYT backgrounder on the star who stayed)

Seems our favorite M, who dazzles us with the K, makes it a point to visit the Pancake Corral a couple of times a week, in fact, whenever the team’s in town.

“Yes, he comes in with wife and cute little boy and he always has the strawberry waffle with bacon and eggs and orange juice,” says owner Jane Zakskorn, whose dad, William Chace, now deceased, opened the cozy little breakfast and lunch joint 55 years ago on Bellevue Way.

After Felix’s exit, Yanks pounce on Mariners

The Yankees couldn’t solve Seattle’s ace—a common cause celebre among American League teams—but they took advantage of his early exit. Hernandez left with a two-run lead after six innings, and the Yankees used a key seventh-inning rally to earn a 4-3 victory over the Mariners.

Granderson went hitless in the victory, his first game after starting the season on the disabled list.

The Yanks looked like they were destined to lose until Felix went out with back tightness. Wedge said after the game that he didn’t expect Felix to miss any time. This was a big win for the Yanks and they’ve already got Granderson back, which will lead to them cutting Ben Francisco (.128/.244/.205 while platooning at DH) and moving Ichiro! (.246/.289/.341 as a RFer) to the bench.

Even more importantly, today is May 15th, which means the Yanks can call up David Adams (.316/.407/.490 at AAA Scranton) today and get rid of Chris Nelson (.222/.243/.278). So the team tied for the best record in the AL just got a whole lot better.

U.S.S. Mariner (Jeff Sullivan): Felix Hernandez and Learning to Pitch

Jeff Sullivan enjoys his semi-retirement with some thoughtful musings on the maturation of Prince Felix into King Felix:

There are throwers, and there are pitchers. Felix has been amazing as both of them.

This is all to set up just a few factoids. The following, courtesy of Baseball Info Solutions, won’t take you by surprise:

2005: 96mph average fastball
2013: 91mph average fastball

Every so often Felix used to rush it up there in or near the triple digits. Somewhat alarmingly, now I feel good when I see him hit 93. I say “somewhat alarmingly,” because while velocity loss is cause for alarm, it’s hard to panic when the results look like Felix’s results. He’s clearly not broken, and now for another comparison, updated to include today’s eight-inning gem:

2005: 2.67 ERA, 2.85 FIP, 2.77 xFIP
2013: 1.53 ERA, 2.16 FIP, 2.66 xFIP

Felix is all the way back to his incredible rookie results with a fraction — albeit a big fraction — of the stuff. More generally, this year stands as continuing evidence that Felix has evolved as he’s needed to as the years have gone on. No longer capable of doing what he did, Felix is doing what he did, in another way. In a more polished, intelligent way.

With less of a fastball, Felix worked on his patterns. With less of a fastball, Felix worked on his location. With less of a fastball, Felix mastered the changeup, then he mastered that mastered changeup. We aren’t to the point yet where we can say that Felix is thriving as a finesse pitcher, but what’s crazy is that such an idea isn’t wild or unrealistic. Ten years from now, that could be Felix. He’s lost five ticks off his heater — what would be five more? He’s slowed down without slowing down. [...]

[W]hat needs to be appreciated is that this is what it looks like when a prospect reaches his ceiling. Prospects are always being evaluated on their ceilings by idiots, and those people are idiots because prospects don’t actually reach their ceilings. Ceilings are virtually unreachable, but here’s Felix, who got there and who then figured it out. His stuff was unbelievable, and it all still moves like pitches shouldn’t. Felix has demonstrated maturity and dedication, and there’s no questioning his loyalty, and while I remember Felix getting blasted by Will Carroll for having violent mechanics, Felix to this point has stayed almost perfectly healthy. When Felix got to the majors, he was great. When he struggled in the majors, he actually made all the adjustments that he needed to make. It took him a few years, but Felix was 23 when he was the Cy Young runner-up. He was 24 when he actually won it. At just about every fork in the road, Felix has followed the right path. There’s no question he’s unusually blessed, but Felix put his work in. He actually learned to pitch, when he found out what’s what he needed to do.

U.S.S. Mariner: What *IS* Jesus Montero?

just alright.

The larger point of course is that Jesus Montero probably isn’t a catcher at all, and thus it doesn’t matter if his bat may compare well with Wilson Ramos’ or even Miguel Montero’s. Catchers generate so much value because of their scarcity; this makes Montero’s 123 wRC+ elite. But give the same hitting stats to a 1B, and he’s barely above average (Paul Goldschmidt’s 123 and position got him 2.8 WAR last year). Add in the base-running penalty because, well, you know, and the gap between where Jesus Montero stands now and where he needs to be looks massive. To have any hope, the power projections that many saw in the minors need to start showing up. His blast in Houston shows that he’s got power, but he’s going to have to show he can drive breaking balls, at least occasionally (he hit a cutter out of Safeco on 4/27, which was pretty encouraging).

The name I keep coming back to is Ryan Doumit (aka “No-Mitt”), the “C” who came up with Pittsburgh, and has bounced between catching, 1B and corner OF spots with the Pirates and now the Twins. While Doumit developed late (as the Pirates kept trying to improve his defense), at his peak around age 27, he was a well above average hitter who paired good contact skills with some power. Improvement in plate discipline with significant growth in ISO he moves into his mid-late 20s…this is a good blueprint for Montero, and it’s good to see that MLB’s been able to wring some value from a catcher-in-name-only in the recent past. But at the same time, we’re assuming fairly big improvement in both power and contact, and we *still* don’t have a legitimate impact bat. Doumit still catches more than he plays other positions, and that helps get his value up towards average. If Montero moves off the position for the majority of his PAs (as he’d have to with Zunino on the team), it’s going to be awfully tough for him to add meaningful value above an average player. So, any time you want to push that ISO over .200 or so, that’d really help, Jesus.

Jayne: The numbers keep climbing on Felix Hernandez

While Hernandez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for several years, it’s premature to say he’s on his way to the Hall of Fame.

According to baseball-reference.com, the pitchers with the most comparable statistics through their Age 26 season (Felix’s age last year) are: Larry Dierker, Dennis Eckersley, Greg Maddux, Frank Tanana, Bret Saberhagen, Joe Coleman, Ken Holtzman, Milt Pappas, Mike Witt, and Catfish Hunter.

Eckersley and Hunter are in the Hall of Fame — although Eckersley would not have made it if he hadn’t become a dominant reliever — and Maddux soon will be there. But the others have no chance of being inducted in Cooperstown.

...Felix has a career ERA+ of 128, which essentially means his park-adjusted ERA is 28 percent better than the league average. That ranks fifth among active starting pitchers, behind Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, Adam Wainwright, and Justin Verlander.

And finally, does Felix have a shot at 300 wins? Well, he’s 27 years, 19 days old and has 100 victories.

At that age, Roger Clemens had 90 wins, Greg Maddux 97, Tom Glavine 75, and Randy Johnson 24. Those are the last four pitchers to win 300 games.

Thanks to Los.

U.S.S. Mariner: When Do People Start Getting Fired?

It can’t all be Brendan Ryan’s OPS+ of *6*!

My sense is that the guys in charge needed a non-embarrassing season to keep their jobs, to keep organizational faith in the process, and show that there were positive steps in the right direction, even if those steps didn’t result in a winning season just yet. They needed Jesus Montero, Dustin Ackley, and Justin Smoak to hit. They needed Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen, and James Paxton to pitch well enough in the minors to justify the hype. They needed to get Mike Zunino to the big leagues without it feeling like he was rushed to try and save someone’s job. They needed to establish that the young players were worth building around.

They needed this April to not happen. Embarrassing is the only word I can use to describe this. The team is publicly stating that they think they can win while starting Endy Chavez, Raul Ibanez, Robert Andino, and Kelly Shoppach. They traded for Aaron Harang to save the pitching staff. This roster is embarrassing. This roster is probably going to get everyone fired. This roster should get everyone fired.

...The time for change is coming. If ownership decides its here already, I’m okay with that. If they decide to wait a while, I’m okay with that too. I’d rather have them make an informed decision after seeing all the evidence over a longer period of time than see an emotional reaction to 23 bad games. If they don’t need any more time to make a rational, informed decision, so be it, but that’s a different reason for firing everyone than “this team sucks and you’re going to pay for building it.”

Tigers 2, Mariners 1: Pitchers’ duel ends in 14th, masterful Scherzer strikes out 12

AL SO/9 is now up to 7.6. Ho-hum…K’s are becoming the HR’s of the 90’s.

The Detroit Tigers needed 14 innings, 19 strikeouts, eight pitchers and ended the game by throwing out a runner at the plate, all in order to beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1. The two teams combined for 40 strikeouts (Mariners 19, Tigers 21), the second-highest single game total of all time.

Neither starting pitcher was eligible for a decision, but Max Scherzer and Felix Hernandez deserved better. Scherzer and Hernandez dueled for eight innings, each allowing just one run and striking out 12.

Then, our worst fear. An extra base hit! NO!

Ackley lined a double off the wall in right. Smoak was going to try and score, no matter what, and was waved around. Hunter flagged down the ball, and overthrew Infante. But he hit the second cut-off man, Fielder, who fired to Pena, who was slightly up the third base line.

Smoak was going to be out by ten feet, so he lowered his shoulder and tried to run through Pena.

The Tigers’ backup catcher had his bell rung in a huge collision…but he held onto the ball like all of our lives depended upon it.

At 2:38 AM, the marathon came to an end, the Tigers finally winning 2-1.

Morse matures from excitable pup to accountable veteran | Seattle Mariners - The News Tribune

“You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever.”

“You know, this game has so many ups and downs, the only way to survive is to be humble,” he said. “You take the good with the bad, and the big thing I’ve learned over the years is to just enjoy it; enjoy the game, enjoy what it brings you. Because when it’s said and done, you’re going to have a lot of great memories.”

Lundegaard: Why Don’t the Mariners Retire Edgar Martinez’s Number?

I haven’t seen an Edgar treated this badly since Edgar Buchanan in “Framed”!

The next year Edgar won the PCL batting championship (.363) and got another September call-up. In 1989, he actually made the team out of spring training but was still seen as a backup to Jim Presley, who hit 28 home runs in 1985, and was seen as the third baseman of the future. But ’85 was Presley’s high-water mark and the M’s finally traded him in January 1990. But even then, the club didn’t know what it had with Edgar.

“I think Darnell Coles is going to surprise a lot of people,” manager Jim Lefebvre told The Seattle Times in February 1990 about his new starting third baseman. “He knows there is no one in the wings, just Edgar Martinez to back him up. I think it is time for him to realize that he belongs at third, because to play that position you have to be an athlete. And Darnell Coles is an athlete.”

Edgar? Not an athlete. He’s just a backup. He’s no one in the wings.

Other people knew. That same spring, stats guru Bill James wrote the following about Edgar: “What a sad story this one is. This guy is a good hitter, quite capable of hitting .300 in a park like Seattle, with more walks than strikeouts. Martinez has wasted about three years when he could have been helping the team.”

Those were three years when he could have been adding to his counting numbers, too. Instead, he didn’t play regularly until May of that year. He was 27. He hit .302 with an OBP of .397. Two years later he won the batting title. Three years later he won it again. Never has an organization’s persistent obtuseness been so unjustly rewarded.

But Edgar’s chances for the Hall were probably gone for good. Because the M’s didn’t bring him up soon enough.

Lookout Landing : Lookout Landed

“I’ve thought about writing this post a bunch of times before. I thought about writing this post when I interviewed for a job with a baseball team. I thought about writing this post when I interviewed for what turned out not to be a job with a baseball team. I thought about writing this post when I applied for a job with an area brewery. I thought about writing this post during ordinary downtime, and I thought about writing this post during my most stressful, latest nights. I always figured this post would have to be something sensational, but the more I think about it, the more I think that isn’t necessary. That would be nothing but a masturbatory exercise, and nobody ever masturbates on the Internet.”

Sad news for Mariners fans as Jeff Sullivan leaves Lookout Landing, one of the best team specific blogs there is….

Derek Jeter’s struggles in 1996 spring training almost cost the Yankees Mariano Rivera

Fermin had, of course, already been traded for a future Hall of Famer…

Yes, general manager Brian Cashman said, the unthinkable nearly happened.

It was spring training 1996, and the Yankees weren’t sure what they had at shortstop.

“We were going to go with the young shortstop that turned out to be Derek Jeter,” Cashman said Saturday. “Derek wasn’t having a good spring training.”

Cashman said there were some people in George Steinbrenner’s “circle” who raised concerns about how ready Jeter would be. Then, Cashman said, infielder Tony Fernandez and Pat Kelly got hurt, leaving the team with few alternatives at shortstop “if Jeter failed as a rookie.”

So the Mariners came calling with a trade proposal.

“They had Felix Fermin they wanted to move,” Cashman said. “They wanted either Mariano Rivera [who had pitched against Seattle in the 1995 ALDS] or Bob Wickman. One of those two guys for Felix Fermin, and The Boss was honestly considering it and forced us to have some serious conversations about it.”

Cashman recalled the talks—held in then-manager Joe Torre’s office and including Gene Michael, then-GM Bob Watson and Cashman—as being spirited.

“It was a fight to convince The Boss to stand down and not force us to do a deal none of us were recommending,” Cashman said. “And it wasn’t because we knew what we had in Mo or Wickman, it was we had committed to go with young Jeter. Thankfully, we didn’t do that deal. That was as close as we ever came to trading Mariano.”

AP: Chone Figgins trying to extend career with Marlins

For Figgins, life begins again at 35, if .000/.154/.000 in 14 spring training PAs is “life.”

Until this year, he spent his entire career in the American League.

“In the AL you’re limited,” he says. “They don’t pinch-hit much, and if they do, it’s usually somebody who might hit a homer.”

Figgins never had much power, but in his prime the switch-hitter contributed in many other ways during eight seasons with the Angels.

His production began to decline after he signed a $36 million, four-year contract with the Mariners before the 2010 season. He batted .188 in 81 games in 2011, then hit .181 in 66 games last year.

Playing part time made it tough to shake the slump, he says.

“I’d go three weeks to a month not playing, going from getting 700 at-bats every year,” he says. “It’s tough. You sign a four-year deal, and the second year of the deal you’re sitting on the bench. That’s hard to swallow. But I stayed positive as much as I could. This is where it has taken me.”

20 Years Later: A Sabermetric Look at the Springfield Isotopes

Only Griffey was young (how Burns was able to pry a 22-year-old Ken Griffey away from the Mariners is a mystery). Other than him, only Canseco and Clemens could still have been considered in their prime. That’s a very old infield. Most of the players had strong 1991 seasons, so you can understand their appeal to Burns, but buying a year late is a common problem in baseball. Heading into the season, the team had no depth. Most glaringly, there was but one pitcher with big league experience, which poses a serious problem for any team hoping to contend (unless that one pitcher is Old Hoss Radbourn). Burns was eventually able to put together a bullpen and the rest of a starting rotation filled with average players, but the team’s bench would be made up almost entirely of replacement level hacks, player’s who’d never played at that level before and frankly, mostly lacked the talent for it.

Homer, homers and WAR!

Full Count » Breaking down Red Sox’ trade with Mariners for Mike Carp

Print up the World Series tickets!!

The Red Sox have added to their pool of potential first basemen/outfielders, acquiring Mike Carp from the Mariners in exchange for a player to be named and/or cash.

According to a major league source, the Sox are not expected to part with a prospect of significance in the deal. Because Carp is out of options and requires a spot on the 40-man roster, his trade market was somewhat limited after the Mariners designated him for assignment last week. Carp is expected to join a roster competition that already features veteran Lyle Overbay and others with more limited big league experience — including Matt Hamilton, Mitch Maier and Daniel Nava — in competition for a spot on the Sox bench to serve as a left-handed alternate to Mike Napoli at first base and Jonny Gomes in left field.

Eric Wedge says Justin Smoak will open season as Mariners’ primary first baseman unless ‘something drastic’ happens

After today’s workout, I asked Wedge whether anything could happen between now and Opening Day that could change his mind about Smoak at first base and Kendrys Morales as the DH.
“It would have to be something drastic,” he said.

Sickels: Battle of the Backstops: Mike Zunino vs. Travis D’Arnaud

(runs frigid digit down Chez Raoul de la Perlimpinpin’s guest list for D’Arnaud and Zunino)

PROJECTION

D’Arnaud: D’Arnaud projects as a long-term everyday catcher with impressive receiving and leadership skills and adequate ability against baserunners. He’s expected to hit for above-average power, but his OBP may be very dependent on his batting average, given his indifferent walk rates. He is a career .286/.343/.474 hitter in the minors, and his peak major league numbers could be very much like that.

Zunino: Zunino projects as a long-term everyday catcher with adequate receiving skills, along with impressive field leadership and ability against baserunners. He’s expected to hit for above-average power, with good plate discipline helping to enhance his OBP even in years when his batting average slides a bit. He is two years younger than D’Arnaud.

Comparison: Both players have the ability to be All-Star catchers who contribute both offensively and defensively, if in slightly different ways.

SUMMARY

D’Arnaud and Zunino are the two best catching prospects in baseball. Overall, I prefer Zunino very slightly, mostly because he is two years younger and has more time on the development curve.

Sullivan: Jesus Montero Almost Knows How To Run

Now, about Ellie Howard…

In Eric Wedge’s estimation, Jesus Montero’s running has made progress. In Eric Wedge’s estimation, Jesus Montero’s running isn’t yet where the team would like it to be. Thus, we may conclude that Jesus Montero almost knows how to run.

Which is good, in that it represents a step forward. But it’s progress in something that’s kind of humiliating to have to be working on in the first place. It’s something so fundamental, as if the Mariners had to have a player spend the offseason working on learning how to sit down and then stand up again. You should just have a half-decent running form naturally. Throwing overhand, that’s something you learn. Motion—that’s innate. I don’t think it can be pointed out enough that one of our 2013 spring-training fluff stories has to do with a hotshot young player getting better at running. Not base-running, not stealing. Running. A player is learning how to do what five-year-olds do for fun.

In Montero’s defense, it isn’t an easy thing to conquer muscle memory, and he grew up in a forest in which the natives were terrorized by an evil dragon that could sense motion from many miles away. So the locals developed a very particular form of locomotion in which they moved as quickly as possible while remaining on their tip-toes so as not to rouse or alarm their oppressor. Montero knows now that there is no more dragon, not in Seattle, not in the ballparks, but that’s years upon years of repetition to undo, and it takes more than a few months to erase such a habit. The Mariners need to be understanding, they need to be patient.

...Somewhere along the way, Jesus Montero learned how to run wrong. No one corrected him, and it probably only got worse and worse. Jesus Montero is probably going to make more money than you’ll see in your lifetime as a professional athlete. Matthew was right the other day. Jesus Montero’s running form is the present-day equivalent of Jose Lopez getting braces. These things, you can’t even dream them up.

Rosenthal: New CBA forced teams to improve

A little-known aspect of the CBA — the market-disqualification program — is helping force a select group of teams to operate more competitively than they did in the past.

The way the program works, revenue-sharing proceeds for teams in the 15 largest markets will decline by set percentages over the next three years, and disappear entirely by 2016.

Teams that previously received such funds — Toronto, Atlanta and Washington, among them — had little incentive to field better clubs. Why bother? By increasing revenues, they lost revenue-sharing dollars.

The new CBA flips that equation.

Teams that are about to lose their revenue-sharing income are more motivated to make money. And teams make money by winning.

Jeffrey Loria disputes that notion.

Mets’ path to sign Bourn still cloudy

The Mets want this resolved, or else they will issue a Bourn ultimatum.

Maybe the New York Mets can pull the whole thing off and sign free-agent center fielder Michael Bourn without losing their first-round pick.

David Prouty, executive counsel of the players’ union, told The Boston Globe that he is in talks with baseball regarding the Mets’ desire to keep their pick if they sign Bourn.

One source with knowledge of the discussions said the team stands a “decent” chance of winning its argument that its first-round choice should be protected.

(The Mets had the 10th-worst record in the majors last season but fell to No. 11 — the first unprotected pick — when the Pittsburgh Pirates did not sign their first-rounder and, as compensation, moved back into the top 10).

Yet, the Mets’ path to Bourn still might not be clear.

Other clubs might have greater interest in Bourn than is being reported currently — and those clubs could sign Bourn without needing to wait for the union and baseball to resolve the draft-pick question, potentially in arbitration.

Concern about Felix’s elbow could affect contract extension

A concern about Felix Hernandez’s elbow might affect talks with the Mariners about his contract extension, CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman has confirmed. ESPN’s Buster Olney first reported the news. A few days ago we learned the two sides were discussing a seven-year deal worth $175 million, which would be the largest pitching contract in baseball history.

Heyman confirmed Felix did take a physical recently, which is when the elbow concerns arose. The two sides are working through various issues, the elbow among them. There is still hope the contract will be completed, but Heyman hears it is “not imminent.” Pre-signing physicals, especially for contracts of this magnitude, are standard.

Hernandez, 26, missed close to a month with a flexor strain in his right elbow in 2007. An ankle sprain sent him to the DL briefly in 2008, but otherwise he’s been healthy in recent years. Hernandez has thrown at least 232 elite innings in each of the last four seasons, so if his elbow has been barking, he’s done a good job of hiding it.

Thanks to Doug.

Felix Hernandez has no $175M contract, no WBC plans

In which the dreams of Mariners fans are (at least temporarily) denied, and the entire country of Venezuela gets annoyed.

Mariners, Felix Hernandez agree to $175 million deal

Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez has agreed to a seven-year, $175 million contract that should be finalized before spring training, making him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history, a person familiar with the contract details told USA TODAY Sports.

Jesus Montero also has ties to clinic linked to PEDs

Obviously he didn’t select from the Rashid Ramzi batch.

The Daily News reports that it has learned Montero is named in “records” from Bosch’s anti-aging clinic. Now, let us commence with the proper disclaimer: Montero being named in records at the clinic doesn’t mean he definitely used any sort of performance-enhancing drug—though this bit of fact doesn’t seem to prevent most from immediately jumping to conclusions.

Another bit of information some may deem as circumstantial evidence—as noted by the Daily News—is that Montero is a client of ACES, the agency run by Seth and Sam Levinson. One might recall the Levinson brothers are under investigation by Major League Baseball due to another client, Melky Cabrera, creating a fake website in an attempt to get out of a 50-game suspension last summer.

Then again, it’s not like every Levinson client has been involved in PEDs.

Millwood stepping away after 16 years in the majors

MLB Trade Rumors

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A fighter for sure; he looked totally washed up after 2010.  Fine career.

If you’re Bessemer City’s Kevin Millwood, there’s a lot of coaching youth sports, hunting and fishing in your future.

Millwood, a 1993 Bessemer City High graduate, said Friday during a celebration of his alma mater’s basketball history that his major league baseball career had come to an end…

After going 6-12 with a 4.25 ERA in 28 starts last season for the Mariners that included being a part of the second no-hitter of his career, Millwood says he told his agent, Scott Boras, that he only wanted to pitch “close to home,” indicating the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Rays were really the only two choices.

When neither team showed interest, Millwood said he’s enjoyed living in Gainesville, Ga., while coaching his 11-year-old (Kevin Jr.) and 10-year-old (Conley) sons in basketball and baseball…

Millwood said finishing his career after a solid season was important and he felt he did that last season with the Mariners.

“I feel like I can still throw it well and going out on a high note is a big deal,” Millwood said. “I just felt it was time to be closer to home and to be around the kids more often.”

The highlight of last season was the June no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Millwood went the first six innings before a groin injury forced him to the sideline; Five relievers pitched no-hit ball over the past three innings to complete the no-hitter.

“It was a cool experience,” said Millwood, who watched his teammates get the final nine outs from the training room. “But it was bittersweet to not be able to finish it out.

“I’d rather have gone on and lost it (the no-hitter) late in the game than not be able to complete it. But it was a special moment for my team, my teammates and me.”...

Millwood finished with a 169-152 pitching record during a career in which he made the All-Star team for the National League in 1999, threw a nine-inning no-hitter for the Phillies in 2003 against a San Francisco Giants lineup that included all-time home run leader Barry Bonds and led the American League in ERA (2.86) in 2005 for the Cleveland Indians.

h/t MLB Trade Rumors

St Louis Post-Dispatch: Musial’s Link to the Griffeys

Brock Hanke spotted this article shows a link between Stan Musial and the Griffeys.

The Donora (PA) High School baseball team, from the 1939 high school annual, Dragon ‘39. Stan Musial (top row, fourth from left) was a junior on this team, and his younger brother, Edward (fourth from right, top row) was on the team too. Also on the team was Joseph “Buddy” Griffey (second from left, bottom row), father of Ken Griffey Sr. and grandfather of Ken Griffey Jr.