HOUSTON (AP) — When Cal Raleigh crushed his 57th home run of the year into the Astros’ bullpen Saturday night to pass Ken Griffey Jr. for Seattle’s single-season record, Houston’s longtime bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte scrambled to grab it.
The Mariners led 2-0 in the third inning when Raleigh hit a 95.5 mph sinker from lefty Framber Valdez into the bullpen in right-center field to make it 3-0 and pass the mark Griffey reached in both 1997 and 1998.
After grabbing the ball, which bounced off the wall before he collected it, Bracamonte was pretty certain it was the record-setting homer, but he wasn’t 100% sure until a couple minutes later.
“A lot of people from Seattle came asking me for the ball,” Bracamonte said. “And this guy said: ‘Hey, he broke the Seattle Mariners record so please give it to me.’”
He told the fans no and that he was saving it for Raleigh. A security guard soon came saying he was there to collect it for Raleigh and Bracamonte said he understood but that he wanted to hand it to him personally.
So, after the game, which Seattle won 6-4, Bracamonte trekked in from the bullpen and met Raleigh, who was still wearing all his catcher’s gear, near the Seattle dugout. He placed the ball in Raleigh’s glove and as he shook his hand the All-Star pulled him in for a hug.
“He said: 'Thank you so much, I appreciate it. That means a lot to me,’” Bracamonte said. “And I said: ‘This is great.’”
Raleigh struggled to put into words what breaking Griffey’s record meant to him after the game Saturday night.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “Just very, very odd and grateful and just kind of a weird thing in a way.”
Bracamonte said it was cool to be a small part of Raleigh’s historic night because he was a big fan of Griffey’s when he was growing up.
“I followed Ken Griffey for so long,” he said. “And when I was a kid, Ken Griffey gave me a pair of batting gloves like back in the early 90s. I know the history of him and the Seattle Mariners. And I think all records are meant to be broken and it happened to be here and it’s always great to see history. Unfortunately, it was against us, but it’s great for baseball.”
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb