PEORIA, Ariz. — The only thing the Mariners can't limit with Ken Griffey Jr. as he begins his return to Seattle is his humor — already in midseason form.

Baseball's active home run leader had his first practice on Sunday since signing a one-year contract with Seattle worth $2 million, plus incentives. He joked about his new Seattle teammates, his former teammates — just about anyone near him.

"I feel like I'm on a darn high school recruiting trip," Griffey joked while a trainer, a doctor, Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln, other team personnel and a half-dozen photographers followed him from a pop-up drill on one field to batting practice on another.

So far, his return to the birthplace of his stardom 20 years ago is a rebirth of the humor that made him a lovable leader on Seattle's first playoff teams in the mid-1990s.

It's the opposite of the dark end to his first stint with the Mariners in 1999, when he demanded and ultimately received a trade to his hometown of Cincinnati.