SEATTLE -- Memories being as subjective as the scrapbooks we keep them in, Ken Griffey's shorthand recollections of the '95 season are personal.
"I ran into a wall, I watched the team whup ass, I came back and we got to the playoffs," Junior said.
If it was a second-grade speech, he might conclude with "The End" and take a bow.
For most of the rest of the Seattle Mariners and their faithful, the season that came to an end in the Kingdome on Tuesday was unlike any in the 19-year history of the franchise -- and the memories it produced range from the trivial to the magical.
Remeber replacement baseball? That's how the sport began back in February, when Mariners scouts scoured the country and fielded a team that included a soft-drink salesman, a fireman, and a biology teacher.
Go ahead, name five Mariners replacement players.
"I can't," manager Lou Piniella said. "And I liked most of them."
That was the first of two spring-training camps that took 70 days out of the lives of players, coaches, Piniella and a handful of grizzled sportswriters, and culminated in an April 27 opening day Kingdome gala that drew just 34,656 fans.
What they saw was Randy Johnson, Bill Risley and Bobby Ayala combine on a three-hit shutout of Detroit, which became a 3-0 win when Junior hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning against Tiger pitcher Sean Bergman.
That first week of the season, the Mariners used pitchers like Kevin King, John Cummings, Jim Converse, Ron Villone, Tim Davis and Dave Fleming. Not one of them would finish the year with Seattle.
The Mariners opened the season 6-1, traded minor-league pitcher Roger Salkeld to Cincinnati for Tim Belcher, saw third baseman Mike Blowers drive in a club-record-tying eight RBI in one game against Boston.
On May 26, the Mariners began the day with a 14-12 record, three games behind the California Angels in the American League West. By night's end, they were 15-12, and Junior -- by his own admission -- had run into that fence.
"That's the best catch I've ever seen," Baltimore's Kevin Bass said. "Nobody's fast enough to get to that ball."
Griffey not only ran down Bass' drive into right-center field, he hit the outfield wall on the fly -- having left the ground well before the warning track -- and slammed into it with such force that he shattered his left wrist.
"I broke it," Griffey told trainer Rick Griffin in the outfield.
"You're right," Griffin replied.
Junior wouldn't play in another major-league game until Aug. 15.
With Griffey injured, pitching kept the Mariners afloat. On June 1, Johnson was 4-0, Bosio and Belcher each 2-0 and Bobby Ayala had seven saves -- the Mariners were 19-13.
The midseason months of June and July saw Griffey's supporting cast, Jay Buhner, Tino Martinez, Edgar Martinez, and Blowers, emerge from the shadow his numbers had always cast.
The Edgar batted .402 in June with a major-league-high 32 RBI. Bosio went 3-1, and the Martinez boys and Blowers combined for 19 home runs and 64 RBI in 28 games.
Seattle went 11-17 in June.
"I remember Jay went on the disabled list," Piniella said of the month. "And I remember thinking without Junior or Buhner, things looked pretty grim."
At the All-Star break, the Mariners were 34-35.
Johnson, The Edgar, The Tino and Junior made the All-Star team -- Griffey elected by fans despite having played just 27 games.
Blowers had 32 RBI. Buhner had 46. Johnson was 9-1 with a 2.88 earned-run average. Bill Risley's ERA was 1.42, Jeff Nelson's 1.50 and Ayala had 13 saves.
The California Angels broke away after the All-Star break, winning 17 of 19 games to open an 11-game lead on Seattle.
"When we made the Andy Benes trade the last day of July," general manager Woody Woodward said, "we were out of the division race. We were looking solely at the wild-card race."
For most fans, the Mariners' season began in August.
Blowers hit three grand slams in the month, drove in a club-record 33 RBI -- matched only by The Edgar, who also had 33 in August.
Seattle acquired Vince Coleman and made him the leadoff hitter.
Junior returned to the lineup and hit .217.
"He came back too soon and everyone knew it," hitting coach Lee Elia said. "But he thought he could play himself into shape and help the team along the way. What we all hoped was that by the time we really needed him down the stretch, Junior would be ready. He was, but only because he was willing to put up with the pain that first month or so."
Although they had played 110 games by Aug. 24, that was the date the Mariners served notice they were serious about postseason play. Trailing New York in the bottom of the ninth inning, 7-6, Coleman walked, then stole second base and third base.
Joey Cora singled to tie the game. Junior homered to beat closer John Wetteland.
The Mariners were 55-55 and 11 1/2 games behind California with 34 to play.
No problem.
September will be remembered as the month in which Baltimore's Cal Ripken Jr. surpassed Lou Gehrig as the Iron Man of the game. In the Northwest, it will always be the month in which Seattle went 19-7 and blew past three clubs in the wild-card race -- Kansas City, Texas and New York.
Six times in September, the club won games in its last at-bat.
On Sept. 20, Benes beat Texas, 11-2, to pull the Mariners and Angels even in the American League West.
On Sept. 21, Alex Diaz hit a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning to push Seattle to a 10-7 win -- overcoming a 6-0 deficit. The Mariners moved into first place, alone.
On Sept. 22, the Big Unit struck out 15 Oakland hitters and won his 16th game.
Two days later, Tino Martinez hit a ninth-inning home run to beat Oakland and Dennis Eckersley.
"It was as if every game that month was a playoff game," The Tino said. "We started September in the wild-card race and, because we kept winning and California stumbled, we wound up in the division race."
When the season ended for everyone else in baseball Oct. 1, two teams weren't finished. The Angels and Mariners were tied with identical 78-66 records.
In a one-game playoff in the Kingdome, 52,356 fans watched the first meaningful October game in franchise history -- and Johnson beat Mark Langston and the Angels, 9-1.
Immediately after the game, the Mariners flew to New York for the start of the American League Divisional Series.
In two dramatic Yankee Stadium games, Seattle lost twice -- once in 15 innings -- and flew cross-country again, down 2-0 in the best-of-five playoff.
The Mariners won Game 3 behind Johnson.
They won Game 4 with a five-run eighth-inning rally highlighted by The Edgar's grand slam.
They won Game 5 in the 11th inning, when Junior scored from first base on The Edgar's two-run double, coming from behind to beat New York, 6-5.
"There's never been a moment like this in team history," team president Chuch Armstrong said.
Two days later, the Mariners opened the American League Championship Series against Cleveland, and rookie pitcher Bob Wolcott -- with three major-league wins -- outdueled veteran Dennis Martinez to had the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Orel Hershiser won Game 2.
Norm Charlton won Game 3 when the Mariners got a three-run home run from Jay Buhner in the 11th inning.
It was the last big hit of the Seattle season.
Ken Hill shutout the Mariners in Game 4, 7-0.
Orel Hershiser and four relievers held the Mariners to five hits in a 3-2 victory that put Cleveland up in the series, 3-2.
On Tuesday, Oct. 17, 58,489 filled the 'dome for Game 6.
Pitching on three days rest, Johnson got to the eighth inning behind 1-0 on an unearned run, then watched two more score on a passed ball, a fourth on Carlos Baerga's home run.
"I left Randy in too long," Piniella said. "But we'd ridden his shoulders all season and he wanted to stay in."
Seattle lost, 4-0.
"We could have beaten the Indians, we just ran out of juice," Piniella said. "We played every day for six weeks at full throttle, because every game mattered. We played in Texas on a Sunday, the 'dome on a Monday, New York on a Tuesday. We ran out of juice. Not heart, just strenght."
On Wednesday, Oct. 18, Mariners players filtered in and out of the Kingdome clubhouse, taking equipment home for the winter. Piniella packed a bag for a 1 p.m. flight home.
"What will I remember about 1998?" he said, repeating a question. "That this was a make-it-or-break-it year for this franchise, for baseball in this city. I'll remember walking through downtown in September and hearing people talking about baseball. I'll remember this team fighting for and winning a division title, then beating the New York Yankees in the best five-game series I ever saw played.
"I will always remember the fans responding. When they stayed 45 minutes, an hour after that final game, cheering -- I'd never seen anything like that. That's what I'll remember about the season. What happened here in Seattle on the field and off."
McClatchy News Service. "A look back on Mariners' wild season". 19 Oct., 1995.
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