Club Shay Shay - Ken Griffey Jr.

Episode Date: October 26, 2020

On Episode 6 of Club Shay Shay, Shannon welcomes in baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. “The Kid” shares with Shannon a number of stories from his 22-year professional baseball career, in which he was a 13-time All Star, 10-time Gold Glove Winner and 1997 American League MVP. We hear about what it was like being teammates with “The Big Unit” Randy Johnson, and his plea to the Mariners front office to trade for Pedro Martinez.Shannon also dives into one of the great familial stories sports has ever seen, when Ken Griffey Jr. played alongside his father Ken Griffey Sr. What were some of the challenges in pursuing the same career as his dad? How is Junior guiding his children through their own athletic pursuits? In his answers, you’ll hear about the kinds of personal and professional lessons he learned from his father about hard work and staying humble through it all.Make sure you catch Griffey reading off his 5 all-time favorite baseball players and his personal accounting for how Jackie Robinson impacted the game of baseball. He also dives into the current state of professional baseball, from player salaries to the percentages of black players in the MLB and breaking down the 2020 World Series featuring the Dodgers and Rays.…And of course he talks about the sweetest swing the game has ever seen.#DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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A weekend full of superstar performances. A$AP Rocky, Big Sean, Camila Cabello, Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, Gwen Stefani, Halsey, Hozier, Keith Urban, New Kids on the Block, Paramore, Shaboosie, Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Shea Shea. I am your host and proprietor. And guys, I'm super excited to have this guy for a conversation and a drink at Club Che Che today. He really doesn't need an introduction, but I'm going to try anyway, because bear with me. He had a 22-year MLB career. He was a 13-time All-Star. He was a 10-time Gold Glove winner. He won the 1997 AL MVP. He led the AL in RBIs in 1997. He was a

four-time AL home run leader. 630 career home runs, seventh on the all-time list. He's a first ballot Hall of Famer. He's a member of the MLB All-Century team. Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey, what's up, bro? slice. Got the rolling dice. That's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Griffey, what's up, bro? Not, man. How you doing? I'm good, man. I love that backdrop. Do you have them all in there? Yes. Okay. When we built this house, there's only room for nine. So I put my very first one up top. He left out.

He left out. No, no, no, no, no, no. See him right there? Yeah. All right. And see what happened was, and I'm not going to lie, we didn't realize how tall they were. Right.

You know, when I first got my first one i opened it up and then the other like nine i kept in a box because we were in between moving right and then uh i said all right what we're gonna do is put them in the display case but then it got too big and then it looked like the you know the the wall unit that ate dallas so I was like let's shrink it down and uh so my wife uh made sure everything was fine and she put everything together and I was like all right that's perfect except we're missing one and she was like what I go the one and so we put it out top it's a because people want to look at it and really get close to it and sometimes touch it so uh they can touch it so do you have all your memorabilia stored in your office so you have a place to it you can see like your silver slug awards your

your rbi type do you have all that stuff no uh it's uh we have some down in storage right uh you know but for the most part um you know my dad wasn't a very big collector and have stuff showing because you know it was his job so they dedicated one room for me and it had to be my office with a door closed uh but i got some stuff downstairs you know how it is i got some stuff downstairs uh i got the jackie robertson jersey uh i got my jersey where I wore 42 for the first time in 97, and the Reds 42. But, you know, I try to have some history of, you know, all sports. My wife's favorite two football players are Derek Thomas and Sue.

And I was like, how did you get Sue? He was like, he just mean. I was like. He's so opposite of me. Yeah, I was like, huh? He's so nice when you see him off the field. And she was like, I know. That's why I like him. I'm like... Griffin, as

I'm reading off those numbers, the 22 years, the All-Star, the Gold Gloves, what are you most proud of? What am I most proud of what am i most proud of probably longevity um you know and you know when i was growing up my dad was like hey there's two sides of the ball offense and defense right and you got to play both the guys who play both are going to be there for a while you don't want to be the guy that you know is a flash in the pan, you know, all of a sudden he's got two years and you're like, where's he going or where's he been?

So I take – for me, I probably take more pride in my defense than my offense, only because defense, you could show more excitement. You know, some of the times we don't see the excitement. I mean, there's a – I tell everybody there's a fine line between excitement and showing somebody up. Right. And they don't understand that. You know, you see the kids now, they, you know, they do certain things.

They take selfies. They bat flipping. They throwing the bat out of the camera. You can't. But, nah, you know, we used to get drilled for that. You know, I was talking to Wade that you know i was talking i was talking to wade boggs one year and he was like hey man how many times you get hit i was like i don't know so we looked at the numbers he got hit like 22 times in 80 uh uh in 22 years i got hit 82 times

i was like that ain't fair so you said you you took more pride in your defense than your offense but you had some injuries because you were crashing into the wall into the kingdom if you had it to do over again would you change anything about the way you played you might have got 22 25 years no because then people wouldn't respect how i played okay and i think that's the the thing is when you get hurt on the field doing something that you love uh and you know that injuries are part of the game, you don't sign up going, I hope I don't get hurt. Right. You see this day in and day out, especially in your sport.

You know, you see it day in and day out, you know. But for me as a center fielder, it's one of those things. I got about a 12-year shelf life. If you look at the greatest set of filters all time after about 12 13 years right they sort of break down and because everything hit to them is fair and we have this mechanism that says it's either me or the ball and i want to win right you know and if you run into a wall you just run into a wall and you can't be a what if player what if i would have not ran what if i wouldn't

have done this what if i wouldn't have done that would i still have this would i still have that then people on the stands go well he's not hustling he's not doing you know and i've never you've never heard that they just wish that i wouldn't have done those things that's the opposite i wish he would have made more catches no no no we wish he wouldn't have ran in the walls we wish he wouldn't have done that. And that's the thing. That's why I take pride in it, that people know that when they came there, I was going to give them all.

When I read these numbers, the 630 or the All-Century team, is there something you wish you could add? Like, man, you know what? I wish I had a little more stolen bases or I would have had what would you add? Nothing.

No, because you got everything in 22 years. You got everything Ken Griffin Jr. could have gotten out of MLB. Yeah. Because it's not about MLB. What can they do for me? I went out there to play. I went out there to try to win a championship. It never happened.

But I went out there and busted my win a championship. It never happened, but I went out there and busted my butt every day. You know, think about this. I only went down one time. Right. Like on a rehab stand. And that was one day. Right. I actually went down to Tacoma, drove to Tacoma, took three at-bats. Now I have a plate and nine screws in my wrist. I take three at-bats. I actually fly myself to Minnesota. The team has no idea that I'm there. You're coming.

I show up at the ballpark. They're looking at me like, what you doing? I said, I'm ready. They were like, wasn't you supposed to play today? I was like, yeah, I was, but I'm going to play. And he said, he said, I can't put you down, but tomorrow you're in the lineup. And that's the way I am. I mean, I have this thing that, you know, it's my name on the back. It's my career. I'm going to give you everything I have. And, you know, the one thing about me is if you see somebody mad as a kid

and you're a bully, what do you keep doing? You keep doing it, whatever you're doing. So I didn't show any emotion other than laughter because I didn't, you know, my dad never showed any. Right. My dad was like, hey, nobody has to see you mad. You come home and be mad all you want, but don't do it at the ballpark because people are going to see that. And, you know, they said that I didn't work hard.

I started laughing because it's really, you know, you don't stay on the top of your game for as long as I did not working. Right. You know. Because they didn't see you because, you know, I mean, especially now everybody's posting something. They're posting their workout on IG or they're talking about this. It was that because I guess people thought you were just so talented

because, I mean, you're playing with your dad. I mean, you're 19 years old and you're in the majors. And, well, we didn't see it. so he's just God-gifted. He's not working. God just blessed him with that talent, and that's it. No, I'd ride my bike at 2 a.m. Okay. And it would be a 1-3 wetsuit.

Okay. Then I would wear a sweatsuit over top of that and a hat, and I'd ride 15 miles in my neighborhood i had mapped it out here's the crazy thing that i am that i do is i map out my routes in the car first like i'm like okay i can go here blah blah blah checking streets uh but you know my dad never he's's, nobody needs to see you work out. The people that need to promote you are other people. You don't need to promote yourself. And that's the mentality that I had is I don't want to talk about me.

We could talk about anybody else, but you want to talk about me. And I clam up. And it's only because I grew up in a household where my dad didn't come home talking about him. Look what I did. You know, I didn't realize my dad was a major league ball player actually until like the eighth grade when I had a Yankee starter jacket on and a kid came up to me, was like, your dad plays for Yankee. I was like, yeah. Like thinking that, you know, everybody's dad had that type of, you know,

father that did something that they love to do. And, you know, I didn't really understand because he never came home and talked about, you know, baseball. It was always, what did we want to do as a kid? And that's how I grew up. So when I, you know, I teach my kids the same way because it, you know, you try to make them as normal as possible. Right. I know it's a different world and things are different and, you know, news travels faster than, you know, when we were growing up. But I just said, hey, you know, it worked. You know, you ain't got to promote yourself. That's somebody else's job.

Did your father push you towards baseball or was something because he did it and you saw what he did, even though you said it was later that you noticed that he was an MLB player, was it something that he pushed you towards because you're like, you know what, I think I can be good at this? No, my brother played at Ohio State football. My uncle's got a – one of my cousins, Darryl, he broke Tony Dorsett's high school rushing records. Okay.

I was born a half an hour from Pittsburgh. You know, we are a diehard football family. We didn't come here because your daddy played. I'm like, yeah, okay. But it didn't, you know, he was like, whatever you want to do, it's up to you. It's not my life, it's yours. When I came to him when I was 14 and said I want to play baseball, he said, okay, here's the things we're going to do. here's the things we're gonna do and you know when they say that you know the advantage that I had growing up is that I could during spring training which was the only real time that I was

with my dad uh on the field on the backfields not the main field but the backfield because he was early hitting and stuff uh I would go shag so I understood what route to take at 14 to go catch a fly ball from a major league fly ball. So at 14, 15, I could have played in the big leagues defensively because I knew. So that's the advantage I had. Now, I still had to learn how to hit from go from aluminum bats to wooden bats. You know, I had a day where my dad flew in. I had an off day. You know, and here's how, you know. Most coaches coaches be like hey i didn't know you were here i'll give you you know we're gonna we'll switch your son is gonna play and you can see your son

i know that you're still playing here's an off day he was like my dad was like no whatever you the coach so i end up coming in to pinch hit now he just gave me two dozen brand new bats okay i broke four of them on that one plate appearance. He just looked at me and I grounded back to the pitcher and he was like, in the stands going like this. I just gave you four new bats and you broke. I mean 1224 bats and you broke for why broke 80 bats my first year playing pro ball. What what what did that have to do with me why were you breaking so many bats because i was a aluminum bat the barrel like this a wooden barrel like that

so you're just not knowing how to swing you know with a wooden bat you know it's the adjustments that for you guys you know the speed of the game right we have guys in high school that throw 90 95 and stuff like that so the speed of the game if you can catch up to those guys and they can see it you're going to be fine but you guys have that that you know uh from college to pro that little bits uh of learning curve right and that's what it is for you guys is the speed of the game for me it's learning how to hit with wooden bats was it difficult having a mate obviously it worked to your advantage because as you said you got an opportunity to go shag fly balls

on the back field and on the back – in the back diamonds, and you got an opportunity to track the baseball, so you were catching fly balls from major leaguers. But how difficult was it having a father? And the comparison is going to come. Whether you or he placed them on you or not, they're going to come. My dad never put any comparisons. He didn't.

And that's the one thing, like, that I made sure that I did at my house is I didn't compare anybody's records and what they did or what my dad did and things like that, you know. With the outside pressure? No, I mean, in high school? No, because outside pressure, if I'm not putting on, if I'm not, if my parents are not putting any pressure on me, somebody outside my four walls, they can't say nothing about me.

You know, if I came home, and that's how I feel. You know, I tell my kids all the time, and they understand it. The pressure is only something you put on yourself because of outside influence. If I'm not putting any pressure on you, you know, then, and your mom or your brothers and sisters, then you can feel pressure when we doing that. But other than that, I wouldn't let any, I'd be over there like this because it wasn't, it's not, you know, we talk about it all the time with, you know, MJ's kids. Right. You know, I said, you know, there's going to be the comparisons, You know, they can only compare me and you.

You know, my dad and me, Trey and me, Tevin and me. Not so much girls. You know, Taryn, she got a pass because it's girls, you know, college basketball. But she's pretty athletic. Okay, really athletic. So it wasn't really, you know, all they say is that's Ken Griffey Jr's daughter right now. But when it comes to being, you know, the testosterone sports, you know, they got, they got to throw comparisons out, which is, it's wrong.

Because if I tell everybody, you know, my name is Joe Smith, nobody would, you know, said anything. Well, that's Joe Smith's not okay. Who's Joe Smith? He's the kid. Okay. Go watch him play. I mean, there was a kid, there was a, uh was a uh and funny because when trey was getting recruited uh northwestern came down and said uh well he went up to northwestern and he said um guys said coach said uh i would offer you but you need uh you got you should have been 10 pounds heavier and so i started laughing because he came home and he told me I was like I know he just saying that just to blow smoke and uh so Trey came home after football uh because the Dr. Phillips was in

the playoffs and the guy was like he was helping out with the football team and that coach was like the same coach was like man who was that that? How come you didn't send me him? He was like, that's who we tried to send you last year, but you didn't offer him because he needed to be 10 pounds heavier. Right. So, you know, we started laughing because, you know, they say the mind game of coaches and some of the things that they say can destroy some of these kids.

And it's tough because, you tough because I never caught a football from Trey's quarterback. I never handed the ball. I got handed the ball off. It's all there. The only thing that I've done as a dad was get him to a place where if he wanted to play, to get him the necessary

tools to be successful. Whether that's using Thurman Thomas and Ricky Waters when they were here. I got Devin Hester who lives around the corner. All these guys, you know, they more and more. And when it comes to baseball, the same thing. Thurman, little Thurman calls me all the time. Right.

You know, trying to get kids to be, you know, I live my dream. It's now my turn to give back and help these kids live there. But when it comes to my kids you know they compare me and i just go it ain't fair because one one of the parents was like uh what do you say they were talking him and a coach and coach goes well how come he doesn't play baseball and he goes well he's not his dad. And so I happened to walk by. I said, well, tell me five people who are. And I said, I'll wait. And he couldn't because he was like – because, you know,

it's unfair expectations that we put on these kids all the time. And whether it's my kids or any other kid, you know, some of these kids want to play football basketball baseball they want to be out there with their friends uh some know that they may not turn pro and want to do other things some kids are like you know what i'm just doing this to go to go to uh to get my degree right get a free education that was the thing for me uh um ken is that i have a son and he went totally away. He didn't play sports because every time he, he dropped the pass, they said, well, your dad would have caught that or your uncle would have caught that or,

and because, and he didn't want that. He didn't, he just got, and I, you know, and I, you know, and I let my kids have their own life. I really tried to like, if I showed up, I tried to stay in the back, but they would inevitably find out who I was. And it's like, that's your dad. Well, why aren't you better? And he was just like, you know what, dad, I just, I won't, I don't, I don't want to do it. I just want to, you know, go to school, go to college, get a degree and live my life.

Yeah. Some are, and you, and it's bad because some of the people that are doing this are are people who are number one jealous and frustrated ball players who've never had an opportunity to be successful right and the only person they can take it out on is your kid and right you know I'm like I look at people like that like man you up there dogging a 12 year old and I'm like and so I do like the one thing about me is like when my kids play baseball I'd be down the right field line 340 feet away tucked around the corner uh you know and I had a lady come up to me one time I was like hey how come you're not coaching I said well number one I'm underqualified for this position just trying to make it easy like you know I'm

gonna be underqualified for this and she was like I just think it's a waste of talent and then i got mad because i was like hold on you're just not gonna say that you're just not gonna do that to me and uh uh i did tell her that her kid was terrible um but uh but it wasn't like i was trying to be mean it was just like hey i'm i'm a normal dad just want to watch his son play. You know, I'm out here because I know who I am, but I don't want to add to all the pressure of all the parents looking at me, looking at him. I said, he just wants to play and run around and be with his friends. I said,

that's all this stuff is. I said, are we, are we trying to build national championships at age 12? Are we trying to get these kids to build confidence to be young adults in this world? Did it make you nervous when your dad came to watch you play? Because for me, when my brother came, I was going to turn it out. Basketball, I was going to drop 30 or 40. On track and field, I was going to have my best days.

But my sister, I couldn't perform in front of my sister because all of her friends had told her, Libby, you need to go see your brother. Your brother had this many points dunked on everybody. And the moment I saw Airball City, Turnover City, I just couldn't perform it. Did it make you nervous performing in front of your dad? Hmm.

Hmm. Okay. Yes. Because he wasn't there you know all the time you know my dad's working on saturday right you know so when he did show up i remember uh uh my senior year he was atlanta was in town and uh he's playing he's playing the reds and he's with atlanta and he comes see me play the first two at bats i'm open open to with two strikeouts. So after the game, I get in the car, drive down there to see him. He was like, wait, how'd you do? I said three for five, two home runs and a double. He was like, you can't do that in front of me.

So, so my first actual hit with him there was an instructionally, my first professional hit. He was in left center behind the fence in an rv and i knew the rv because you know you know i i hell is that my house all about like so i finally get a hit and he slides the window up and yells at me was that so bad and then closes it but for years he would say hey man just pretend i'm your mom because when my mom came oh it was showtime dad show up i had one of my high school coach say look don't even come visit he can't hit in front of you so you want to be you tell your dad at 14 i want to be a baseball

player and he give give you obviously you bless you with ability but he provides the tools and the instructions that you need you get to your senior year did you know you were going to be the number one overall selection in the draft um i knew in december that i was close right um bobby tolan who's a friend of the family, came up and flew in the town. We were in Cincinnati. And he's walking out the house. He goes, well, you know, we're thinking about drafting you number one. And I said, who?

He said, Seattle. And I happened to look at my dad. I said, Dad, where is Seattle? Because he was like, because, you know, when you – because you don't go nowhere as a kid. So, like, okay, he played for the Yankees. He played for Atlanta. He played for Cincinnati. That's he played for atlanta he played for

cincinnati that's as far as my region went and we went to uh uh disney world and tampa and port lauderdale that's it that was our spring training and that was anywhere else i was like i had no idea so i had to look up on a map and and we got some things done. And two days before the draft, they started really calling and saying, hey, you know, we're thinking about taking you number one. Are you going to sign? And my dad looked at me and he said, hey, you can go number one or the Pirates are going to take you, the Braves are going to take you, and Cincinnati is going to take you.

And I looked at him and said, I want to go number one. Right. And he says, why is that? I said, because not everybody can say they went one. Right. They can say they were the first-round pick, but they can't say they was one of one. Right.

And he said, okay. And from that point on, you know, two days before the draft, we signed the next day, and then we had the actual draft, and then I graduated – no, and then i graduated no my brother yeah my brother graduated from high school i graduated my school excuse me i graduated high school and then uh i was down in the um i was down in atlanta for a couple days and willie stargell helped me out with my footwork right and everybody thinks that willie stargell is an outfield i mean the first bas, but he played outfield.

So he's like, come on, young buck. And he took me out in the outfield for like an hour and a half with no baseballs. All we did was work on footwork. At 17, you're kind of mad. You're like, come on, can I get some ball? He's like, no, we're going to work on only footwork. And that's what really helped me out. You know, my minor league is, you know, having the guys, you know, around me that were like, Hey,

this is the way you're supposed to do things. This is the way, you know? And then when I got to the big leagues, you know, I was 19. So you couldn't go out, you know, so you had to be stuck here, you know? So by the time I turned 21, the novelty of being in the big leagues and all the other stuff that go on, it was gone. the novelty of being in the big leagues and all the other stuff that go on it was gone what was it like playing with your dad because i don't know if anybody else is probably i know lebron wants to be able to play with his son lebron jr but i'm not so sure that we're ever

going to see what you and your father accomplished again um he actually called me. He said, hey, the Mariners want me. And he said, is it okay with you? He said, this is your team. And I was like, hell yeah. So, you know, he gets there. We do the press conference. We go down there. And as

we're riding the elevator, he goes, now you know we got a bet. I was like, what's that? He goes, whoever gets the first hit, the other one got a paid lunch i was like deal but the second one the other person get a chance to tie so finally i see the lineup card he batting second i'm batting third so i walk we're walking out to the field i said you, you know what, for 17 years, you protected me. Right now I get to protect you. And I kept going. He starts laughing. So we get up on, he's on the on deck circle. He gets, he gets up and then I come up there and I yell, get a hit dad.

And I turn around and my entire dugout is laughing because you know as we get older gray beard fossil old man you know all these you know pops yeah but for somebody to say hey get a hit dad and actually mean it right they were shocked just i was like that's my dad i'm like so but i learned how to actually hit watching him because how he set up pitchers what he did um it actually you know you look at i hit uh 264 i ended up hitting 300 the second year and i hit 327 my third year which i was third in the batting title behind julio franco and wade boggs right uh but i got a chance to learn how to hit just watching them sometimes you know and we look at it some of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in your sport they sat behind somebody

who was a monster yes and learn and it's the same thing i got to see somebody who i look like perform right in front of me how how long did your mom and dad play pay your bills what after you became the number one draft pick? Did they stop that immediately? What? What you mean immediately? Immediately. As of June 2nd, 1987, those bills would be cut off.

Actually, what's funny is, like, I came home from my rookie year, and I'm sitting there, you know, coming home late. You know, all my friends, you know, they in college, so they got weird hours. So I'm coming home at, like, 3 o'clock in the morning, 4 o'clock in the morning. Mom worried about me. Dad over there like this.

You know how dads are sometimes. So he finally comes and says, hey, man, I'm going to just let you know your mom's worried about me. Dad over there like this. You know how dads are sometimes. So he finally comes and says, hey, man, I'm going to just let you know your mom's worried about you. You can't just be coming in at this type of night. You know, either you stay out or you know. You be home at midnight. Right. Or if you want

to be the man, you're going to pay some of these bills. So he gave me a he had me go down there and he drafted a contract that I would pay $200 a month. I'm like, and I'm arguing, I ain't paying $200 at my own house. He was like, then you don't live here. You find your own place. So I paid him. But no one I knew to chain of command.

I gave it to him. He gave it knowing I knew the chain of command. Right. So I gave it to him. He gave it to mom. Mom gave it back to me. I know how this works. Right. So, once you decided that you were going to play baseball, nothing else mattered because you said you were,

you came from a football family. Did you not, did you not want to play football after that point or you just devoted all your time to baseball? No, I Did you not want to play football after that point, or you just devoted all your time to baseball? No, I just didn't want to get hit. I didn't want to get hit, though. Well, I'm like, hey, come on. Well, you could have been a defensive player.

You could have been a DB. Yeah, okay. Uh-uh. So, like, remember Vinnie Clark from Ohio State and Carlos Hill? Yeah, okay. Remember Vinny Clark from Ohio State and Carlos Hill? Yeah, yeah. We all played literally Pop Warner together. Vinny and I were both safeties. Vinny always wanted a blitz.

Leave me out there by myself. He said, you got the good hands. But, no, we were little kids and things like that. But, no, my brother, he wanted to play football. And, you know, I looked at him and said, more power to you. All my friends want to play football. I was like – and my dad also said, you know, longevity and things like that. So, you know, I listened to him even though, you know, as a – you know.

It's hard listening to your dad when you're growing up. I mean, you look back on it like, you know what, he gave me some really sound advice. But at the time that he's giving you that advice, you're like up. I mean, if you look back on it, like, you know what? He gave me some really sound advice. But at the time that he's giving you that advice, you're like, man, stop. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah, I did that. And he just looked at me like I was crazy.

But, you know, in a couple – what's funny is, like, in a couple weeks, we're going on a hunting trip. Right. And, you know, this is his bucket list thing he's like dude i want to go hunting i'm like all right so now i got to set up everything and it's gonna be look i i end up taking my my gun hiking you know i'm just on like a nature walk for like three days four days days. You know, you know, what's funny is he wanted,

you know, you know, his boys, he's like, hey, we're going hunting. I was like nine. And he took us to a pheasant farm in like Gallup Police, Ohio. Right. We shot like $1,300 worth of birds. Well, he didn't have $1,300 worth

of cash on him. So, so he was over there looking at it like, y'all just shooting up everything. We was like, you said go hunting. You know, but when you're nine and seven but you want to be out with dad and he allowed that.

He's like, hey, we're going to teach you everything. And that was the one thing. Like I said, I tell my family, don't be a what if. The only thing you can't do is quit. Right. If you started, then you can't quit. You know, that year, no matter what, if the coach don't like you, you don't like the coach. Because some people are not going to like you for you. Right.

Some people are going to not like you for me. Right. You know, but right you know but you know it is what it is and my kids you know that's the the the thing about it and i know that you've gone through it is that our kids have to grow up faster yes because of what we did than anybody else and it's sad because you know you know and then they go well he's spoiled no i see what happens outside these walls and i still want him to be a kid and so we have to balance it out because this world is not fair and so it's our job to try to

balance things out for him when you look at all the father-son combinations and all the sports be it uh steph curry and his father dale you look at the booms you look at the Booms. You look at the Lues, the Earnhards, the Winslow Jr. Seniors, the Matthews. What are the Griffies, senior and junior rank on the all-time iconic father-son duo? The Mannings? We never, that's for somebody else to decide. We don't talk about those things.

We don't never, you know, compare ourselves to everybody else. and you know because it's like for me you know i have a hard time and i know uh i see you and uh skip go at it all the time about you know the goat and who this and who that yeah yeah yeah and uh you know so we have a you know how many home runs would willie mays hit if he didn't get hit knocked down how? How many home runs would Hank Aaron hit with the travel that we have now? So I can't compare eras because I couldn't put myself in their situation, but I can just imagine what it would be like if they came here. Right. You know, because at the time, I mean, you look at 25 years, 26 years,

them dudes was balling. And they didn't take, you know, winners off. I mean, you know, off I mean you know they had to barnstorm so they played constantly you know all year round where you know we got four months off if we don't make the playoff so I look at it as you know who's the greatest player in their era and you know because it's so hard to do i mean basketball i mean the hand check the this that that uh the three-point line that the you know how many you know people go all points he's thousand points well he didn't have a three-pointer right he got 36 000 right

you know this guy has a three-pointer and now he got 33 000 you know so it's so hard to compare all that stuff for baseball you know uh you have the dead ball era the live ball era you know this guy has a three-pointer and now he got 33 000 you know so it's so hard to compare all that stuff for baseball you know uh you have the dead ball era the live ball era you know the things like that uh the lowering of the pitching mound yeah you know so is that why is that why because i'm listening that you talk and you said well i didn't really i never could my father and i we never compared ourselves to any other father-son duos I really never compared myself is that why you didn't get caught up in what transpired in the 90s which is known as the steroid era because go ahead no my dad was always saying hey you're not you're not you're not going to be the biggest you're not going to be the strongest you're not going to

be the fastest just don't let nobody outwork you right and that's it you know so when it came down and when all that happened i was at the time did you know what happened did you know it was happening no i would you know i like everybody else like you see it on i was like huh you know when they read the red the mitchell report and i was sitting there like he him a good stiff wind and he could be out of the ballpark he right nothing but you know it wasn't like you see these guys you know in the middle of a locker room with a needle and you know right in Saran you know they did it behind closed doors they you know uh I mean if you see a guy come in and he was 175 one year and he 225 the next year, you could say, okay.

But what about the guy that was hitting 15 home runs and all of a sudden hitting 50 and 60 home runs? That isn't a red flag? No, because, like, for me, you know, I was always taught, worry about yourself. Okay. You know, you keep yourself right, always taught worry about yourself. Okay. You know, you keep yourself right. That's the only thing you can control.

When you look in that mirror, that's who you can control. I can't control what everybody else does. Right. You know, my thing is when I look at it and people say, you got cheated, I'll be like, it is what it is. I let it go. Because I don't want to go into a big old debate about but do it make you upset no no because it it used to but now people see that okay okay now look what he did and that's who I want my kids to be like right that's that's

what I wanted and all that's what i wanted is you know i can go in there and i can go anywhere i can do a lot of things but i don't have to worry about somebody go hmm wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast nfl daily with greg rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media.

That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch

the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake up with football

every morning and listen to my new podcast NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media.

That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends.

And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media.

That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily, with Greg Rosenthal every day.

Subscribe today, and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And I would say there was never any suspicion. Nobody ever had any suspicion. It was never in the Mitchell Report. Nobody even said, even someone that might have had a grudge that wanted to tarnish your image has never said anything about King

Griffey being linked to steroids, HGH, nothing. No. Now, when I retired, all my friends say, hey, now you can use it for cosmetic purposes only. I was like, what? I was like, what? They were like, hey. But it's one of those things, like if you're 25 years old,

think about this, you're 25 years old. You have two kids, you're up and down AAA big leagues. This $100 vial of steroids could keep you in the big leagues to make a half a million dollars. What do you think people are going to do? And when I pose it to, right, when I pose it to people like that, they go, oh, I never thought about it that way. they go, oh, I never thought about it that way. But what happens is so many people listen to, you know, the guys from Congress when they start jumping in on baseball and stuff like that, their grandfathers were telling them that these were the best players in baseball.

Now those records are being broken. And now they're in Congress trying to, you know, put their name out. Yeah, and I'm like, you know, Hey, I ain't part of this, even though I'm part of it. Right. You know, uh, but you know, having a dad who, who, who was a all-star, not a superstar, it helps, you know, if you're a superstar, then you gotta, you gotta live up to, to that. Right. right um but my dad was a you know a home body uh you know become six brothers i mean it's gonna be five brothers one sister you know my mom

is you know five sisters two brothers and they live catty corner on a t street from each other so when i got in trouble at my grandmama, I went to my other grandma's house, which was right across the street. But, you know, coming from a small town, you know, it helps because, you know, it's, you know, it's not like the big city, you got to be larger than life. Right. You know, my family came from a steel mill. So I understood hard work. And I understood that, that, you know, my grandfather grandfather when uh you know obviously he was talking about his pension being like six hundred dollars a month and this is what we're gonna have to live off of so I understood the value of money because I'd be like hey can I go get this bubble gum this top bubble gum and all I really wanted was the bubble gum inside the the actual thing

he was like no no no we're gonna go through the cards. You're going to know who they are. Right. And things like that. But, no, there was no pressure on me about doing steroids. Are you sad that some of the guys that you were close with resorted to that? Do you feel cheated? No. No. Because now, you know, I don't have that issue. You know, people, well, he used to do this. He used to be the best.

We thought he was better. Now they're like, well, he, his numbers showed that as he got older, he wasn't as quick. Right. He didn't do certain things. Now, that's all I can ask is, you know, my numbers are based on, you know, my age, what people do on a, uh, at the, in their age group. Right. You know, when you're 22, 23, you bounce back like that. You're 37, 38. You might want to take a couple of days off. So how do you, how, how should we judge this era? Should the guys that put up phenomenal numbers, should they go to the hall

of fame? Should there be an asterisk by any of those numbers? How should we judge this number? Because numbers are more important in baseball than any other sport. Right, but we don't vote. A member of the Hall of Fame, me being personal, I don't vote. Do I think that there's guys who were Hall of Famers before

some of the accusations were yes, absolutely. But again, that's not me. That's, you know, somebody else. Right. You know, that's for them to decide. When you came up for enshrinement, you received 99.32% of the vote.

And I remember listening to you talk, and they asked you you were you upset that you weren't unanimous you're like no I'm I'm in I'm good with that but deep down you know you should have been unanimous what you should have been the first unanimous player selected to Cooperstown whatever was a little bit I mean come on come on grip was there a little bit uh yeah i was a little hot okay i was really hot uh you know you're telling me and people don't really understand the voting you're telling me you get 10 votes and i'm not one of the top 10 players of that year that's how it works what so somebody left you completely out the ballot? Yes. Come on, man. That's how it works.

Hold on. And he's still, and that person, he or she is still allowed to vote? I don't know about that now. Okay. Yeah, yeah. But I don't know who they are, but that's how it is. You get 10 votes, and it ain't like a first, second, third place. You pick out

10 people. That's why they go by percentages. Right. He got 85% of the vote. Now, he didn't get 85% of the first vote. So, in other words, there might be 25 people on the card. You pick any 10 you want. Yep. And somebody left Ken Griffey Jr. with those

numbers, with those accolades, completely off the ballot. Yeah. That's ridiculous. That should have been upsetting. Yeah. Let's talk about your swing. Many said it's the sweetest swing, it's the greatest swing, it's the smoothest swing in MLB history.

Do you feel – let's just say we went out and did a batting practice and I gave you 10 pitches. How many could you hit over the fence? Right now? Yeah. Seven. What? I still take batting practice. So just

in case they have an old-timers game and, you know, somebody... No, I want them to be called slipping. No, but, you know, it's a lot. Like, for my sport, you know, going into the cage cage showing kids how to hit uh still doing it right uh you know it's now i may not get seven i get six i put that uh but you know the the you still have to do it you know right for you teaching a kid you know

you know blocking technique you know you could show them that all day right you don't want to run up against these boys now no no but see i don't have to i'm on a pitching machine it's nice and 70 you know 65 72 miles an hour it's coming in belt high i ain't got to worry about that i ain't got something but i ain't got to worry about somebody snapping them off on my ankles give me me some of the toughest pictures that you faced that you're like, you know what? If I'm not on my A game today, he can embarrass me. Pedro.

Pedro Martinez. He has stuff? He has electric stuff? Well, you see what I mean? I just remember the 99, the 99 All-Star. If I'm not mistaken, the 99 All-Star game if I'm not mistaken the 99 all-star game yeah, that's what I was like, ooh look, I went back to

Seattle talking about, hey, can we get like five of him? They were looking at me like I was crazy, I was like, just, okay, give me three, but to watch, when you have Randy Johnson you know you played with Randy. Yeah.

Yeah, Randy was fun, but Randy was my locker partner. So, Randy would be moody, but not be moody. He would only be moody if the media came up to him. Right. But everybody else came up to him. I mean, you know, you got guys wrestling before the game. He in there wrestling, too. Then he go out and throw seven shutout.

But, you know, you have guys like that that you go, man, this is, it's like a day off out here. Right. Because you look at Pedro, Pedro wasn't that, you look at Randy Johnson, he's 16. And you look at, you know, Roger probably weighed 230, 235.

But you look at Pedro, you're like, small guy, and guy and he's i mean he's like jumping out of his shoes right but this sport isn't about size it's about heart right and i know your sport is too i mean i you know if you ain't got no heart it don't matter what they say right yeah we take uh body by tars and a swing like Jane. Yeah. You know, but, but, you know, for us, you know, this guy is, you know, five, 10, one 45, just coming in at you. You got six, 10, you know, two 20 coming from the left side. Right. You know,

and you got guys in between, you know, you're not a number one pitcher because you ain't challenging nobody. You're not a number one pitcher because you ain't embarrassed nobody. Right. Your job is to go out and embarrass. That's why, you know, number one, you're the first game of the year on every team. And that's your job is to get that victory for that day. You had some of the great commercials.

You ran for president in 1996. I don't know if the campaign is never iffy, if it's griffy. I mean, the shoe. I mean, I don't think people realize I'm old enough to remember you and I are very close in age. I think we might be the same age.

Do you look back and like, man, I did that. I i had that i was like that uh yeah i have to remind my youngest who said who's 18 was like dad tell me how was it playing back in the day and i was looking at him like man do you understand that i was still playing when you was born he was like i don't remember so uh so you know something will happen on tv and they'll show a commercial and he'll go he'll look at me and he'll look and when uh i think when little bigley came on right he you know and we all knew except him you know this movie was shot you know nine years before he was born so and then you say so it was like 2008 we were watching a movie and uh i come walking to the plate and he's like six years old he looked at the he looked at tv

and he looked at me he looked back to tv he shook his head he was like i was like yeah i did a movie too he was like oh but you know so so, cause like I said, man, we very seldom talk about accomplishment because, you know, I live my dream of being a major league baseball player. Right. For me, it's time that I give back and try to get every kid, you know, no matter what color they are, a chance to live their dream, because that's all it's about. You know, I tell everybody at being, you know, I turned 51 next month. Uh, you know, my time has passed. Right. I want to be in a barbershop, man.

I remember him when he was playing. I remember him when he was a little bit. And people, you know, I said, that's my goal was to talk about kids like as they was mine. Cause I still talk about mine. Uh, but you know, I want kids to live their dream like as they was mine because i still talk about mine uh but you know i want kids to live their dream because i've lived mine you you had a a signature shoe which is a rarity for a baseball player that's normally reserved for basketball players do you you do you show your son like look here look what your look what your dad had. Your dad had a signature. Now, that's bad. No, what I did is I have Nike make up my shoe in a football shoe,

so he got to wear it. Oh. Yeah. So he has the only, you know, football shoe with the Swingman logo on it. Right. When you – if I said, okay, Ken Griffey Jr., compare, I want to know who is the Ken Griffey Jr. of football, the

Ken Griffey Jr. of basketball, who would you say? Football? Hmm. We talk about football are we talking about ever yeah wow that's a good question

because I wouldn't compare myself to anybody in football and basketball really yeah you don't think anybody is comparable I mean I wouldn't compare myself to anybody in football and basketball. Really? Yeah. You don't think anybody is comparable? I mean, who has a sweet shot or a throwing motion that you like? Okay, that's the equivalent of my swing. Ray Allen shooting.

Okay. Okay. Okay. And I would say Tony Dorsett. Tony D? Yeah. Only because he's my favorite football player. I would have never guessed.

So how you – okay, you said you grew up very close, and I think he's from Aliquippa. Yep. He went to high school with my uncle. So were you a Cowboy fan or a Steeler fan being from that close in PA? I'm a Cowboy fan. Oh, man, come on. I'm an old school Cowboy fan.

Okay. So you're not like these delusional fans that think they're going to win the Super Bowl every year, huh? Or you still believe that? I'm an old school cowboy fan. What's funny at my house is my wife, she's from Seattle, so she a diehard Seahawks fan. Okay. Okay. Trey, from us being here

in Florida, all he heard was about the U. It's all about the U. So he Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Willis McGahee. So he liked the Ravens. Okay. My youngest, he was a starting quarterback. He had – he didn't have a haircut until he was nine. So he had 14 inches of hair.

Well, name me a left-handed quarterback that had braids. Mike Vick. So he was a Mike Vick fan. And wherever Mike went – and I'll tell you a story about that in a second. And then my daughter is a Carolina Panther fan. How? Steve Smith. Steve Smith is her favorite player.

Okay. And I did something that I've never done. I actually called Carolina, called their player personnel, and said, look, man, I've never done this. My daughter is a diehard fan. Actually, he was with the Ravens at the time. Right. And I said, look, I will trade him jerseys because I need one for my daughter.

Like, I have pictures of her when she is, like, 12 with the Carolina 89 jersey on. And she is now, like like she is in college and when that game come on and he playing that jersey go on now my little guy he was eight years old nine years old uh they were playing um in Jacksonville so we I got a suite. I said, all right, we're going to go watch him play. So we get to the suite. They said, hey, blah, blah, blah. Mike runs on the field. We there early.

Mike runs out on the field for warm-ups. My youngest runs on the field with him and sits on the 20-yard line watching him warm up. I'm like, yo, Tevin, come on back. And he's like, that's Mike Vick. I was like yo uh Tevin come on back he's like that's Mike Vick I was like okay and even security was like yeah he ain't bothering nobody and Mike ain't saying that just let him go he Indian style watch him and then uh at the end Mike ran over and talked to him said uh hi to him and at the end of the game he said at the end of the game come down so at the end of the game and they lost

that game. So, we was, like, trying to get out. You know, football is a little different than baseball. We got another game tomorrow. Right. Y'all got a whole week to – They trying to get us on the bus, get to the airport, and get back on the plane and get home. Yeah.

So, it was like, all right. He said, no, no, no. I got a phone call. Come down there. So, we went there. He gave him the game jersey. And he put it on and fell asleep in the car. Now, we got a a two hour drive back to Orlando. He dead sleep in the car with his jersey on. I'm like, Hey, we got to take the jersey off. He's like, you gonna frame it? I'm like,

we gonna frame it. Okay. We gonna frame it. And to this day it is in his room and he is a freshman in college. Mama said he can't take that jersey. he could take a picture of the jersey that jersey is in it in that room mama said he can't take that so i don't know if you've ever done this but if i said okay name the five greatest baseball players of all time any era pictures included okay you know what let's leave out. I don't really care. All they do is – da, da, da. Give me your five best – the five greatest baseball players. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Ricky Henderson.

And one guy, Bob Gibson as a pitcher. That's a very, I mean, Willie Mays, I understand. Hank, gotcha. I'm surprised you said Ricky. The all-time run pleader? He was different.

I mean, I heard a story about Ricky and it makes me laugh because I can just imagine, had I been there to actually witness some of the things that I've heard and I just I just I'm crying laughing yeah my dad played with him for a few years so yeah some of those stories are true you got Jackie Robinson for what he did uh yes number one you. Rightfully so. I mean, if it wasn't for him, you know.

And what's funny is out of all the pictures in my house, he's the one that's prominently displayed in my office. Right. Because of what he did and what he means to so many people of color. And I think people, you know, and not so much, I mean, what he did for us as people uh black people but he allowed to let other countries come here and play this game and I know it's different in football because you don't see very many Europeans and no uh it's basically for us

right for us you know uh you, we got guys from South Africa, Japan, you know, Korea, you know. A lot of Dominican guys. You got Cubans. You got South Korea. But without him, who knows? And my thing is, if he didn't do it, when would be the next Jackie Robinson? Right.

You know, it may have been after my dad might have played, so I may have not got the opportunity. And yet you had to have the right temperament because the things that were said, the things that were done, you had to write – everybody couldn't be Jackie Robinson, Griffin. No. No. No, and I say that all the time.

I don't know if I could be him. I've got to say something. Exactly. You had to bite your tongue a lot. Right, but I got a chance to sit there and talk to Rachel and Sharon and, you know, and that's why part of, you know, my shoe collection does have a Jackie Robinson shoe. Right.

Because of what he did. And I got one coming out next year. I can't show it to you, but I got one coming out. year I can't show it to you but I got one coming out well well I just I'll just wait on that hopefully I'll get the uh the sneaker yeah yeah oh no it's a sneaker version okay well because I don't play no more I can't be out here my wife ain't gonna let me go on this towel on my spikes talk about the history of baseball with the black players and why have we seen the decline of black players playing in the majors um but if number one if you get drafted in football and baseball i mean excuse me football and basketball you go straight to the show correct

and in baseball you get drafted you go to the modern league and it could be six years right you know before you get there and i think that's one of the differences um plus the other difference is the the actual cost you know the showcases and this and that you know trying to get the exposure um for these young kids it's it's quite expensive. And we need to somehow manage a rate where some of these kids can come. Right. You know, we got to figure out something, you know, cause if you can run hit and throw, you know, they will find you. But you got to be that guy. And, you know, and also, like, the other economic standards, economic problems we have is you can go to Dominican or Venezuela

and you can get five or six guys for what it would cost an American. You know, but it's a two-way street. We got to get guys who want to play. We got to get guys that look like us as coaches on all levels. So I think when we get that, I think things will change. Because I remember my dad had 19%. I think that was the all-time high, and now it's like 6.72. Right.

You mentioned the instant gratification. I get drafted, I'm going to the NFL. If I i get drafted i'm going to the nfl if i get drafted i'm going to the nba and you mentioned okay you get drafted you're going down to the minors and it's going to be what you say a minimum of what a year two years at the minimum uh yeah yeah and if you're a if you a monster, it's a minimum. I mean, you, yes, you have a picture. How long did you stay in the minors? Year and a half. So, but that's the thing though. So you talk about you are, you know,

number one overall draft pick goes down for a year and a half. What about the guy that's not you and he stands five years or he's a career minor leaguer but he got drafted to play in the majors yeah you know i tell kids you know hey the hardest part about being draft being here is getting drafted obviously somebody wanted you right so you get drafted. So from that point on, you know, like I tell people, just relax and go play. You know, because just like every sport, it's a numbers game. Right. Somebody get hurt, you get called in. Right.

You know, so the hardest – I can't just show up off the street and say, hey, coach, I'm here. I'm about third. I'm ready. Right. They're going to look at you like you're crazy so you know most kids put a lot of pressure after they get drafted by the the slot that they're in uh there's a little bit of jealousy because you're the new guy you're the new first pick um you know but you go through that the learning curve and the growing pains. You know, I was MVP of the league in my first year, but not MVP of my team.

That's unheard of, but that happened to me. Yeah. Yeah, I know the feeling. So let me ask you a question. When you look at these outfielders now, and you play center field, Mookie Betts plays some center, but mainly he's a right fielder. You look at Mike Trout. Are there any guys currently that play and that remind

you, like, you like to watch? Oh, I watch Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley, Trout, Harper. I'll be over there. For me, that Dodger lineup is a monster. So when they're on

TV, then you got the Braves pitching staff, the young pitchers. I mean, anytime that you have like a matchup like that, right. A good solid team and a pitching staff that's as young, man, it's exciting. And for me, that's, that's what it's about. You know, they got, they got great young players on both sides. Now you're looking at, you know, the twins who've been, I mean, that's giving me a twin, but the Rays have been solid. You know, so this at, you know, the twins who've been, I mean, excuse me, the twins, but the Rays who've been solid.

You know, so this is, you know, this is a very interesting World Series because, you know, you got a team that can score a whole bunch of runs in a flash. And then you got a team that's not going to hit very many home runs, but they're going to make the right plays. And so, you know, in baseball, it's a game, it's a chess match, you know. You know, how can I keep my opponent off balance and you know so this is you know a pretty good matchup but even though people don't look at it you know you have the the bigger known team is the dodgers and you have the little known team like who are the rays who are these guys and people like i can't name two people on the rays i would like yeah but guess yeah, but guess where they at? They playing in the big game. Right.

And they're going to be a force to reckon with over the next couple years because they got good, solid young talent. And unfortunately, they're not able to hold on to them because they're not going to be able to pay them what the big market teams can pay. I think something's going to happen. You think something's going to happen? Well, from what I hear because I live in Florida, that they've already been told that they're going to move. Now, I's going to happen? Well, from what I hear, because I live in Florida,

that they've already been told that they're going to move. Now, I don't know if that's for sure or not. Right. But, you know, it's crazy just to hear that, you know, the mayor or, yeah, the mayor of their city is like, look, we need that land. So y'all going to have to find some place to go in like five years. So I think over the next five years, something's going to happen.

Riffey, did you look at these salaries and you see guys getting $350,000? Did you ever think salaries would get – somebody would make $400 million? I keep complaining to my parents. Why can't you wait 10 years? I tell them all the time. They're like, Mom, what happened? And I'll be looking at them. And my dad walk in, I shake my head.

Uh-huh. And see, you know, being a November baby, I was Valentine's baby. So I was, like, looking at them, like, really? So, I mean, did you ever – I mean, look, you were at once i mean i mean you took less money to go to cincinnati because you wanted to go play for the red you want to play the team your dad played for so you took but you made good money but to see these salaries 350s and the pitchers making 327 you missed an outfield of making almost a half a billion. Did you ever think the Saturdays would get here? No, I didn't ever think the Saturdays would get to mine. You know, I think my dad made a million dollars.

I think it's his high. So that's what I thought, you know, that's what it was going to be. And, you know, even my rookie year, I was 68,500. That was the rookie minimum. And then I went to 180 and then 535 and then 2 million. But by the time I got to 2 million, I was like, I felt like what, what, uh, you were on the page. No, when I got like, I see what he say, 19, 19 got a bench 21.

I retired. But, uh, but no, I was just like, you know, I never thought about, you know, the salaries and what could be, but I, you know, when I retired, I did tell my parents, if y'all had just waited, I could have got you that new car that you wanted. They would be like – knowing they're going to get it anyway, knowing they got it anyway. But, you know. Are you surprised your son chose football over baseball?

No. No. It's his decision. It's not my decision. it's not my life like i always said i don't want my kids to be a what if yes what if i'd have played football what if you know you forced me to do this now what if i don't want them to ever come at me and resent me for making the decision for them grippy i said the same thing i told i kids, I said, I want you to do what you want to do because I don't want when you get to be 30 years old, you say, dad, I only did this because you wanted me to. No, no, no, no, no, no. I want you to do what you want to do because I did what

I wanted to do. I wanted to go to the NFL and take care of, you know, take care of my family. So what do you want to do? Whatever it is, I don't care. Now, let me tell you what, I'm not going to push you in any particular direction, but once you start walking in that direction, I'm going to push you. Yeah. Oh no, we got that. Yeah, we got that. I mean, you know, you know, my thing is you got to be the best at what you do, whatever that is. And, you know, like when my daughter graduated from college, she had a couple of knee injuries, you know, like when my daughter graduated from college, she had a couple of knee injuries, you know, before she went to college, uh,

she made it through and I told her I'd give her a year off. Well, that year became two years and she get ready. No, no, she get ready to have a job. Uh, next, uh, actually starts next week. But the funny thing about that is I came down and I was like, Hey, you know, it's, it's a year. She was like, well, I filed an extension. I was like, huh? She was like, it's just like taxes, dad. Yeah. I just filed it. You know, you don't have to wait for the return, you know, so I just looked at her. My boys looked at me like,

that wouldn't happen if that was me. I was like, yeah, you probably right. I just told you to get out. But you know, you know, people, you know, they look at, you know, number one, college athletes and think, oh, man, it's great. They're college athletes. I said, they work harder than anybody I know. Yes. You know, they got to go to school. They got to get their lift in.

They got to get the curriculum and play a sport. Right. And so when, you know, Trey, you know, Trey going, not getting drafted, going to the Colts, going to Miami, going to the Steelers, you know, not, didn't know if he wanted to get picked up and had a couple calls. And he said, hey, I just want to be. And I said, all right, you got it. You got a year. You got a year to just chill and figure out what you want to do in life. You're still young enough to figure it out.

And then all of a sudden the pandemic hit, and I'm looking at him, he looking at me because, you know, two grown men sometimes can't be in the same house. Tell me about it. But, you know, he's, you know, they're all good kids. I have no problems with them. If I said, hey, man, here's what your chores are. You got to make sure the garbage is out. You got to make sure this is out, blah, blah, blah.

Make sure your mom all right. And I said, main thing, you know, it ain't about me. Just make sure mom's cool. Whatever mom want, just get it done. And they've been behind it. You know, you just watch the growth of kids. And I've had more people compliment me on, you know, the development of my kids than me playing sports.

And I said, that's more important to me than what I did off the field, I mean, on the field. When your youngest son is HBC, he's at FAMU, what's that been – has he talked to you? What's that been like for him? He's three hours away on a drive. Okay. He'd been home every other weekend. Mama said he can come home every other week. There's no,

there's no football, right? There was football, you know, he'd be traveling, he'd be playing. Right. Right now, ain't no football. Uh, you know, he, he loves it. I mean, um, it's been a, a blessing is that we went to, and we go to a predominantly black high school. Okay. You know, my kids graduated from public school. Okay. Um, was that important for you to, was that important for you to have them go to a public school? Yes.

Why is that? Because it's just people, you meet all kinds of people. Just because your daddy has a little money, there's people who got a lot more money than your daddy. And that was the one thing that we said is that, hey, man, this is, there are different nationalities, different religions, different people. And you've got to deal with that in the real world. Right. So, you know, the first couple years, I think till fourth grade, they went to a school downtown. Then they went to a charter school for two years.

Then they got from the sixth grade on, they was in public school. for two years. Then they got from the sixth grade on, they was in public school. And, you know, you could see, you know, you come home and, you know, they got a couple bumps and bruises, you know, people talking about them,

people talking about their daddy, you know, a couple fights here and there, you know, but, you know, nothing to really, you know, write home about, you know, I get the couple of days, hey, by the way, your son choked somebody out in school.

So how protective are you – how protective are the kids of you? Like, my kids don't follow me on social media, and they are very, very reluctant to tell you who their father is because they don't want someone to treat them any kind of way, either good or bad, because of their dad. Well, they follow me. And I'll tell you that story real quick is that, you know, when I started getting on Instagram, I had four followers and three of them was at my house.

And they was teasing me. Then I got like, all of a sudden i got 10 000 they were like hey dad you're gonna shout me out i was like what do you mean but uh you know it's very important uh for them they are very protective of me growing up um you know they still are you know at first they were like why is somebody talking to him why is it because they didn't understand and then all of a sudden they were like why are you bothering them you know exactly yeah that's my oldest my oldest daughter the exact same way because people would come up while we're eating or having you know having we're out and she's like that's my daddy

yeah he's not no out of no autographs yeah no yeah my kids do that. They still do it. And they're 26 and 25. I saw the documentary. I think it was a documentary where you said you would never play for the Yankees. Was that in the heat of the moment

or you really meant that? Because something tell the story. Will you really meant that? Because something, tell us, will you tell the story? I was in a tunnel and it's a walkway that separates the wives lounge, which was upstairs or the waiting lounge, wives lounge and downstairs. And it was a tunnel probably about 75 feet and we played pickle there um and the yankees would get made butts whooped and and there's probably you had randolph's

kids tour boards kids you know uh my brother and i so there's probably about 10 to 12 of us. And he walked up to my dad and said, get your blank kids out of here. So my dad, after the game, brought us home and said, hey, they can't come there. My mom said, oh, they're going back tomorrow. So we went back. You just ain't going to do that.

But overhearing that, and I'm 12 years old you know i'm maybe i'm yeah 12 13 then i go to the ballpark early with my dad and it's one o'clock ain't nobody there 12 31 o'clock ain't nobody there uh i'm sitting in the dugout and the guy says hey uh george don't want nobody in the dugout meanwhile you got craigettles' son taking ground balls at third base. And he looked at me. He pointed over there and he said, just remember that. And that's all it took. So when you have an impressionable kid at that age that every time, you know, they play that team,

the only thing you can think of is how I'm going to beat them every single time. I mean, you look at my numbers, they're probably the best against any other team because I just – it wasn't about – it wasn't because I got great friends who, you know, Jeter's a good friend of mine, you know, Jorge Posada, Mo, you know, Jeter's a good friend of mine, Jorge Posada, Moe, Bernie, all the old guys from the Dave Winfield, Ricky, Roy Smiley were, you know, guys that I looked up to and, you know, but once I saw the pinstripes with NY on it, I was like a different person. I was like, okay, here it is. We going to go at it. You are the first number one overall draft pick to be selected to the hall of fame of all the ones. You're the first.

Maybe two of Fame. Of all the ones, you're the first. Maybe two of us. You and Chipper. Yep. I mean, do you find that – do you think that's odd? Are you like, hold on, wait a minute. Yeah, I did. When I found out, yeah, I thought it was – I was like – but you realize how many first picks don't make it

right you know there's more fourth and fifth round draft choices in the big leagues than first round things like that you like and but and i don't know if it's a uh i know they have the talent maybe a lack of focus sometimes uh but i knew that I didn't want to be in the minor leagues. Right. And that was what was driving me. I don't want to be here. My daddy wasn't here. I only remember my dad being in the minor leagues,

so I know that I didn't want to be there. Growing up, did your dad have a fancy car? Did that motivate you? Because when my brother came you because when my brother came back when my brother came when uh my brother was uh got drafted in uh 88 and he had a mercedes and he got bmw and porsches i'm like i want that no what's funny is um we actually my dad's 26th birthday which i was six years old we got him a powder blue 10-speed bike. And that was his first bike.

That was his first ever bike. And it was a Father's Day. He rode it down the driveway. He rode it back up. And he said, hey, you can ride it. It's yours. He goes, but, you know, the fact that you thought of me is great because he didn't uh i remember having a green toyota celica with louvers on the back um that and my mom had like a

a mark five a cougar mark five or something like lincoln mark five something like that right uh that was her car. Also, I remember all of a sudden my dad went to the Yankees, and, you know, a couple years later my mom's driving a silver Spur with $100 pillows in the back, and my dad is driving a Mercedes. I was like, okay. But he, you know, it wasn't, you know, he was always tight. And I tell my kids all this. Yeah, your dad got a little money.

Y'all ain't got no money. Yeah, that's what I, hey, that's what I tell my kids all the time. I tell the people they're dating. I tell my kids, I was like, hey, they ain't got no money. I got the money. Yeah. Yeah, because they, you know, now, you know, having a girl and having a boy is a little different because you know you know i'd be able to sugarcoat uh i only have one rule at my house

you know that you can't get gas after 7 p.m but before 7 p.m right i mean before 7 a.m so my girls they'd be bringing stuff i live two miles from a gas station my girl brought home it was one mile till empty i was over there like that you want me to go My girl brought home. It was one mile till empty. I was over there like, now you want me to go get you some gas? And they got one mile to empty, but it's two miles to the gas station. Got my butt in that car and drove over there. Got us some gas.

But that's just the way I am. If that was Trey or Tammy, what would you have told them? I would have told them I follow y'all. So before we wrap up, what are you doing now? Well i own a couple car dealerships okay um in south carolina and in florida um work for major league baseball uh both sides the commissioner's office and the player association doing joint ventures to help you know uh kids get

back into baseball and play a little golf and try to stay out of people's way. I'm all right. I got your brother once. You got it. Oh, he didn't tell me about that. He did not tell me. Well, I'll tell you a quick story.

We were at the Nike event here in Orlando for the – what do they call that thing? The golf, the PGA show. Okay. So I hit my first drive, and I've been playing golf all day. I hit the first drive. It's 249. He looks at me, and Suzanne Peterson said, that's where I hit my ball.

He turns around and says, oh, so now you just drive it as far as the LPGA player. And I just looked at him like like do you know who I am so I hit the next one 311 and then I gave him I said was that better he was like yeah that's a little better but you out there with me I said all right and I looked at one of my boys he's like give it to him so I hit the next one 353 So for the next 45 minutes, your brother was in that simulator trying to hit it where I was hitting it at. I said, well, you don't pull nothing back there. You can't go out there. I said, all my life I've been swinging.

Right. So I can turn it up when I have to. I said, now, I ain't at – you know, you as football players, y'all are used to pushing people off of you. Right. You know, I'm used to getting the head out and driving the ball. Why are baseball players so good at golf? You look at Rick Rowland.

You look at some of the baseball players. You guys are great. I think because we ain't got team meetings like y'all do. You John Smoltz. I mean, the baseball players are – Right, but they pitchers. They, you know – They don't count.

No, they – no, because because see, my number one swing, my number two swing wasn't going to mess up my number one swing. Right. Yeah, so my baseball swing, I'd be like, okay, if we go out there and play golf – and I didn't really learn how to play really golf until after I retired. Right. Because I'd hit a big old slice because my baseball swing,

that's what we're going to play with. I'm going to keep working – I'm going to groove that thing in. I'm not grooving my golf swing in. My golf swing don't pay no bills at the house. Until now, it gives me a little gas money from my boys, but it ain't paying the light bill. Let's talk about some of the

quarterbacks that came from a baseball background. You got Patrick Mahomes. His father was in the major leagues. Kyler Murray got drafted number one overall in football. He was the number eight pick in the MLB draft. And Russell Wilson was a second baseman. What is it that you think translates so well from major league players to being playing in the NFL?

I think decision-making and being a student at a game. I think when you're, you know, a middle infielder or a pitcher, you're constantly thinking, you know, trying to get people out. You know, you see that always, you know, I get on Pat about, you know, I see that his athletic ability didn't come from your side of the family. You know, it's always that fun stuff that we do, you know. You know, we just say that. But, you know, for us, when you see the next generation of guys

that you play with, you feel like them, your kids. Right. You know, you're like, that's my boy. So when he come on TV, I'm right there. When Russell's on TV, I'm right there. You know, so, you know, We have this thing that it ain't about us again. It's about the next generation. When we see somebody that we know, we

played against, we want to see how they do. For us in baseball, we can look at the box school. When they announce your name and you see the batting average, RBIs, home runs up there, we know how you're doing. That's why when we get to first base, they'll be like, hey, how's the family? They'll be like, man, you talking about? I'll be like, nah, we've been asking about everything else. We never talk about baseball when we get to first base, they be like, hey, how's the family? Everybody's like, man, you talking about – I be like, nah,

we be asking about everything else. We never talk about baseball when we're at first base. I mean, how the kids? How's Mandy? How's everybody? Then all of a sudden, you're still second. You got to do it all over again. Right.

So that's what we – you get on third, they be like, hey, man, yeah, what's going on? How – but that's the way we do things. As a Hall of Fame baseball player player one of the great of all time how good was Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders because they were so exemplary in other sports well you still got Brian George if they had just focused if they if Deion and Prime had just focused on baseball if Bo had just focused on baseball how good could it have been? Well I think when you look at it those two

you can't go wrong with either one you know Bo was I think Bo was maybe a better baseball player than Deion but you know Deion football wise I think Bo is maybe a better baseball player than Dion. But, you know, Dion football wise is off the chart, but they are all stars in baseball.

You know, they're a lot of fun to watch. When a when you talk about can't miss tv that's them yeah that era right there they'll be like okay uh and you know who is it to decide that you could play one sport who is it for you to decide these kids came out said you know what i want to play brian jordan you throw in there yes you know. You know, and that's what I say, man. I didn't have to make up my mind until my senior year. You see now that these kids are making their mind up in the third grade. I want to be a baseball player.

Not in understanding that you might be a football player. Right. You might be a lacrosse player. You might be a basketball player. You might grow seven inches like AD did. Right. I think I agree with you Griffey. I think kids are coming specialized too early. I think playing basketball, playing football, running track, I think playing a lot of sports and then once you get say you get in high school if you want to specialize then but you build up a

lot of eye coordination, hand-eye coordination from playing other things. Well, I think, you know, like, you know, you look at basketball works on your footwork. You know, football works on your football, you know, and basketball works on your acceleration. Then you go back to, you know, the toughness of football will help you in the physicality of basketball. I didn't run track because baseball and track season was together.

Yep. So I just played football and baseball. My brother played football, basketball, and ran a little track, but they knew that he was just there to run at the end of the year. But he didn't start there. But, you know, like I said, man, my dad was like, hey, y'all going to play everything. This is the way we're going to do it.

You can figure out that stuff later. But we gonna do everything. And, you know, when my kids started, we started with motocross. My kids rode with James Stewart. So every year, Big James would, you know, have, you know, Kawasaki send a little bike for my kid. One day, James came over to me. I was like, Hey man, let me talk to you. I was like, what? He was like, you think that I could borrow your daughter for about two, three months?

I'm like, for what? She was like, I've been timing her. And she is like six seconds faster than little James at the same age, which means that she could be one of the greatest of all time. No, my daughter's not raising. She's out here having fun. But I didn't, you know, I have a wife. She might have could have been Danica Patrick. Yeah, she do, because she get a couple speeding tickets. I'd be over there like, really?

But she got that big old foot like her mama. But, no, it's so much, you know, like I said, man, we want every kid to do everything, experience everything. That's the thing. Exposure is the key for our generation and our people to excel. If we don't get no exposure, we stuck. But, you know, if we can have these kids get some exposure, and then this world will be better and we'll have no limits.

Griffey, I really appreciate it, bro. I know it was last minute. I appreciate you giving me about 90 minutes of your time. I know you're busy, but I really appreciate it. No problem. Let me get those shoes too, size 13 when you get them. 13, I got you. Okay. Cause you about a 13 also, aren't you? I'm 11. See, I'm good. See them big old feet.

See them right there? Them feet right there? I tell my kids because my kids are 12 and 12 and a half. I say, see, mine, I got better balance. Y'all got a whole lot of material that lay on the ground. I can get up off them things. Bro, I appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Have a great weekend, and I'll be in touch. All right. Take it easy. Have a good one, man. All right. All right. All right. All right.

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