Ken Griffey Jr.'s bronze bat was stolen from his Safeco Field statue
How hard is it to steal something from a statue? Apparently it’s easier than you think.
The bronze bat held by Ken Griffey Jr.’s statue, which is outside Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington, was stolen on Tuesday.
BREAKING: Someone has stolen Ken Griffey Junior's bat outside Safeco Field: @Mariners #Seattle @KING5Seattle @SeattlePD pic.twitter.com/9I2QeJLmjA
— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) October 18, 2017
Well, the entire bat wasn’t stolen. The handle, which was welded to Griffey’s hand, is still there. (Taking that would have meant taking Griffey’s entire hand, which is an image no one needs in their brain.) The vandal appears to have somehow sawed through the thinnest part of the bronze bat (or perhaps just ripped it off the statue like a hulk) and taken the barrel as a souvenir.
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The Seattle Police Department was on the case, though. They released a statement about the entire incident, and here’s how it went down.
Just before 5:00 pm Tuesday, several witnesses called 911 reporting that a man was damaging the Ken Griffey Jr. statue located at 1st Avenue South and South Royal Brougham Way. The suspect, an adult male, had managed to break loose the baseball bat from the statue. Officers arrived and located the suspect a short distance away. The suspect was taken into custody without incident, and the bat was recovered near the statue.
The Seattle Mariners aren’t in the playoffs this year, so Safeco Field is mostly empty (save for the team employees). But it’s still light out at 5 p.m. It’s almost stupidly bold to think that you could try to take the bat off of a statue in broad daylight and not get caught. Then again, stealing the bat off of a bronze statue at any time of day or night is pretty stupid.
Despite the damage to the statue, there is good news. The suspect was arrested, and the bat was recovered and returned to the Mariners. The team hasn’t released a statement on the incident yet, so we don’t know how or when the statue (which has only been there since April) will be rehabilitated. But considering that it’s a statue of iconic Mariner Ken Griffey Jr., they’ll probably get to fixing it as soon as they’re able. Junior just doesn’t look right without a bat in his hand.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
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