[G_Money44]

When I saw this contest come up I not only wanted to enter in it because of the prize, but also because I love telling people about the man who saved baseball in Seattle. It was a no brainer for me to draw a picture and talk about George Kenneth Griffey Junior because he is the only athlete whose memorabilia I collect. To this day I have a binder full of Griffey cards, a homerun ball, his auto, several posters and pennants in my man cave, and surprisingly much more. In the seventies and eighties the Seattle Mariners organization was consistently finishing towards the bottom half of the league and did not have a winning season during that time; there were even talks about moving the franchise out of Seattle. But when the organization was given the number one pick in the 1987 amateur draft, they were about to select one of the most electric players in MLB history and all was about to change. In the nineties Griffey was the pure definition of a five tool athlete and brought the Mariners wins, attendance, and hope. With his towering homeruns, beautiful swing, acrobatic defense, and memorable smile, every kid in the northwest wanted to be Ken Griffey Jr. I was only a child in the nineties, but my love for baseball is because of Griffey and I will forever be indebted to him because of what he did for this whole area. With the success he brought the organization in the nineties, the Mariners were able to build “Safeco Field” – the “House that Griffey built” and ensure the organization was not going anywhere. All baseball fans knew what they saw was greatness and the Northwest will always love and remember “The Kid.”