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Man chases down thief who stole bat off Ken Griffey Jr. statue

The bat went missing on Tuesday.
The bat on the Ken Griffey Jr. statue outside Safeco Field has gone missing.

When Kelsey Klevenberg saw someone trying to steal the bat off Ken Griffey Jr.’s statue, he knew the thief wasn’t going to get away with it.

“If there’s one thing you don’t do in Seattle, Washington it's mess with the statue of Ken Griffey, Jr., the savior of baseball,” Klevenberg said.

Klevenberg saw a man leaning on the bat while in a Tuesday afternoon meeting with his boss across the street from Safeco Field. The man was slowly bending the bat back and forth until it snapped off, and that’s when Klevenberg jumped into action.

“We were shocked momentarily,” said Klevenberg, director of inside sales at Zipwhip.

Klevenberg went after the thief, sprinting down First Avenue until he saw the bat in a garbage can and the thief lying next to it on Royal Brougham Way.

“I knew that I needed to at least get the guy arrested, and hopefully they can repair the statue and get Ken back where he needs to be at 100 percent,” Klevenberg said.

The bat on the Ken Griffey Jr. statue outside Safeco Field has gone missing.

The suspect is in custody, and the remains of the bat have been returned, according to the Mariners.

The team is working with the artist to figure out how best to reattach the bat.

The Hall of Famer’s statue was unveiled in April.

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