Ken Griffey Jr. will get his bat back soon.
The Mariners announced Thursday that a Tacoma-based sculptural design and art foundry will reattach the bat to the Griffey statue near the home-plate entrance to Safeco Field on Saturday.
The end of the bronze bat was vandalized and stolen by a Seattle man on Oct. 17, leaving Griffey just holing the handle of the bat since. Skyler Mamoru Kaizuka was charged later that week, with court documents stating that the $100,000 statue might require $50,000 in repairs.
Workers from Two Ravens Studio in Tacoma will assemble scaffolding and tenting around the statue to provide shelter from weather during the repairs, which are expected to be completed at some point during the weekend.
The Mariners unveiled the statue in April, showing Griffey’s home run follow-through, a sight seen 630 times in his 22-year Hall of Fame MLB career.
TJ Cotterill: 253-597-8677
Twitter: @TJCotterill