UPDATE: Ken Griffey Jr. completes Washougal man’s quest for Catch 365

Date: Thursday, March 2, 2023

John Scukanec and Ken Griffey Jr. met Wednesday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle to have a catch. Scukanec, a Washougal man, completed his Catch 365 journey, playing catch every day with someone for a year. And Day 365 just happened to be with the greatest Seattle Mariner of all time. Photo courtesy John Scukanec

A sports miracle, if you will, as Washougal’s John Scukanec plays catch with Ken Griffey Jr at Seattle T-Mobile Park

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

John Scukanek, a baseball romanticist and Seattle Mariners fan from Washougal, who set out to play catch with someone every day for a year completed journey Wednesday morning.

In Seattle.

At T-Mobile Park.

A Journey with Junior.

That’s right. Day 365 of Catch 365 was John Scukanek playing catch with Ken Griffey Jr.

Seriously.

Clark County Today’s Paul Valencia was Day 348, and he wrote about Scukanek and the origins of Catch 365. For that story, see: Catch 365: One man’s quest to play catch every day for a year

Scukanek had hoped for something special for Day 365.

Then a sports miracle happened. Miracle? Well, yes. That’s the way Scukanek described it on social media.

“I’ve done the match. It doesn’t add up. There’s just now way. How did this happen?” Scukanec wrote.

“One year ago, I went out into my backyard at night, in the rain and I played catch with my son. I haven’t missed a day since.

“365 days later, somehow, I walked out onto the field at T-Mobile Park and played catch again. With Ken Griffey Jr.

“Baseball Hall of Famer. The greatest Mariners of all time. My favorite player.”

He noted how if someone had said a year ago that this could happen, he would have said no chance.

“But sports are filled with miracles, Hail Mary’s, and buzzer beaters. Dreams come true all the time. That’s why we watch. Yet I still don’t really believe what just happened.”

Oh, it happened. He took pictures and video.

To see more of Scukanek’s message, go to his Twitter page at: @jsukanec