EATTLE - His popularity with fans surprises even him. For a variety of reasons, Seattle center fielder Ken Griffey has emerged not only as the top vote-getter for tonight's 70th All-Star Game at Fenway Park (for the fourth consecutive season) but also as one of the most marketable athletes in pro sports.
Fans don't care about his $8.5 million contract or his lucrative multiyear deal with Nike. Or the fact that he picked up an extra $125,000 for making the American League team. They only regret he doesn't play for their team - and they hold out hope the Mariners will be foolish enough to let him go.
''I guess it's because I wear my emotions on my sleeve,'' said Griffey when asked how a 29-year-old player is rated so highly in a sport in which the art of stuffing the ballot box is reaching new heights. ''I go to the ballpark and I just want to play baseball. I want to play hard, winning baseball. I want to try to make everybody around me have a good time.
''What I do is not that big of a deal to me. I'm just the one who lives it every day. Most people want to see their hero or whomever they think is going to the All-Star Game. So anytime someone else chooses you, it's nice. Maybe they know I've gone through two hand injuries, shattered one wrist and broke the other. The game to me is a day-to-day challenge.''
He is a legitimate icon. He will be a starter in the midsummer classic for the eighth time after finishing the first half of the season second in the American League in both home runs (29) and RBIs (81), then winning last night's Home Run Derby.
Because of his relative youth (29 years old), Junior has an excellent shot at surpassing Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs. Especially after averaging 53 homers the last three seasons. ''I never thought about it,'' he said. ''It's an honor that he [Aaron] says it and people say it. But I still play the game one day at a time and do what I can to help my team. I can still hit one out. If I don't, I don't. Truthfully, I take more pride in my defense than I do in going out there and swinging a bat.''
As for playing in an All-Star Game at a stadium with the tradition of Fenway Park, Griffey said, ''This is the midsummer classic, and they are all about the same. But in certain ballparks there is a lot of tradition behind them, and this is one of them. It's fitting that if they're going to tear it down, they have an All-Star Game here. This is an important moment, without a doubt. Maybe we'll take something, chip some paint off the wall, stick it in the bag and take it home. There's something that I will take out of this park.''
The crown he wears is heavy. Despite his abundant talent, there have been a plethora of issues surrounding his tenure in Seattle, where people feel the chances of keeping him for 10 more years diminish every day.
Just last week his name came up in a rumored deal with Atlanta.
''I don't let myself get overwhelmed,'' he said when confronted with the latest report of his impending departure from Seattle. ''I don't worry about things. I try to stay as levelheaded as possible.''
After 10 years of living and working on the West Coast, you'd think Griffey might be wearing down a little. He has been the heart and soul of the Mariners, who earlier in the decade were struggling for survival. Things changed when Seattle made the American League playoffs in 1995 and '96. The excitement those teams - featuring Junior, Alex Rodriguez, Jay Buhner, and Edgar Martinez - created turned on the entire upper Northwest. You can bet when the new Safeco Field opens later this week in Seattle, it will be called The House That Junior Built. But for how long?
Make no mistake as to how the Mariners feel. Without Junior, there would be no success and probably no Seattle franchise. It wasn't all that long ago (1970) that Seattle lost the Pilots to Milwaukee. They've made their commitment in the form of building new stadiums twice. A defection of a great player would be devastating.
''Players like Junior only come around every once in a while,'' reminded his manager, Lou Piniella. `You pay him what you have to. Then put the best club you can around him to win. He's the only player I've been around who is consistently cheered in opposing ballparks. That's hard to believe, but I've seen it happen. He's got that infectious grin that people associate with, people like. When he gets walked in opposing parks, the pitcher gets booed.''
Seattle is home to Griffey. But he is not without frustrations. Last year, he hit 56 home runs and got scant notice in the media and from the fans because of Mark McGwire's race to 70. Despite his easygoing nature and financial security, there are things out of his control. His father won two World Series rings. Junior has none.
On becoming the new Michael Jordan of the sports marketing world: ''Mike's a little different. He's way on high. We're still climbing. Mike's problem is that he went up too fast and he didn't bring anybody up with him.''
On his secret to making the All-Star team: ''Sure, I've got some people working for me. I pay my dad about $30 a week just to go out and punch ballots. We don't even talk about baseball unless we have to. When we go on vacations, I make dad pay for them. He brought me into this world. He's got to pay.''
For Griffey to remain in a Seattle uniform requires a commitment from the Mariners and from himself, not necessarily in that order.
''If I can't go out there and feel like I'm contributing to the ball club, I will retire no matter what the circumstances,'' he said. ''If I feel I'm no longer doing the things of which I'm capable, I'm gone.''
According to Piniella, that would be a shame. ''In 30 years of being on the major league scene, I've got to watch all the great players,'' he said. ''When you start to talk about the five tools of baseball, Junior ranks at the very top.''
