Ken Griffey Jr.

Published Oct 26, 2020, 3:45 PM

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.

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Hello, Welcome to another edition of Club Sha Share. I am your host and proprietor, and guys, I'm super excited to have this guy for a conversation and a drink at Club Sha Share today. He really doesn't need any introduction, but I'm gonna try anyway because this bear with me. He had a twenty two year MLB career. He was a thirteen time All Star. He was a ten time Gold Glove winner. He won the nineteen ninety seven al MVP. He led the L and RBIs in nineteen ninety seven. He was a four time ALE home run leader six hundred and thirty 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 Griffy Junior. All my life, grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle, pack Price, one slice, got the brown swat all my life. I've been grinding all my life, all my life, and grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle, Peggy Prices, one slice swap all my life. I've been running in all my life. Griffy, what's up? Brona man? How you doing? I'm good man? I love that backdrop. Do you do you have them all in there? Yes? But okay, Uh, when we built this house, there's only room for nine. So I put my very first one up top. Uh he left out, he left no no, no, no, no, no no no, see him right there? Yeah, all right, and uh see what happened was and I'm not good. Nah. Uh. 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 the box because we were in between moving. And then uh, I said, all right, what we're gonna do is put them in a display case. But then it got too big and then it looked like the you know, the the the wall unit at eight Dallas. So I was like, let's drink it down. And so my wife 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 the top. It's because people want to look at it and really get close to it and sometimes touch it. So they can touch it. So do you have all your memorabil your stored in your office? So you have a place through 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 to storage, you know. But for the most part, you know, my dad wasn't a very big collector and half stuff showing because you know, it was his job. So they dedicated one room for me, and it happened to be in my office with a door closed. But I got some stuff downstairs, you hie, I got some stuff downstairs. I got the Jackie Robinson jersey. I got my jersey where I war forty two for the first time in ninety seven and the Reds forty two. But you know, I try to have some history of of you know, all sports. My wife's favorite two football players are Derek Thomas right and and Sue. And I was like, how did you get suited? He was like he just mean. I was like, he feel opposite to me. Yeah. I was like, he's so nice, but 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 twenty two years, the all start the gold Globe, what are you most proud of one? Am I most proud of probably longevity, you know. And you know, when I was growing up, my dad was like, hey, there's two sides of the ball, offensive, defense, right, and you gotta play both. The guys who played both are gonna be there for a while. You don't want to be the guy that you know as a flash of hand, you know, you know, all of a sudden, he's got two years and you're like, where's he going or where's he been? Uh So I take for me, I probably take more pride to my my defense than my offense, only because defense you could show more excitement. You know, sometimes we don't see the excitement. I mean there's a I tell everybody there's a fine line between excitement and showing somebody else right, And and they don't understand that. You know. You see the kids now, they you know, they do certain things and they take itself. They're throwing the bad out of the camera. You nah. You know we used to getting drilled for 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 he looked at the numbers. He got hit like twenty two times in eight U and twenty two years. I got hit eighty two times. I was like, that ain't fair. So you said you you took more pride in your defense than your offense. But you have 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 twenty two twenty five years now, because then people wouldn't respect how I played okay, And I think that's the thing is when you get hurt on the field doing something that you love, 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 a day and day out, you know. But for me as a center fielder, it's one of those things I got about a twelve year self life. If you look at the greatest seting fielders of all time, after about twelve thirteen years, they sort of breakdown 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, you know. And if you run into a wall, you just run into a wall. You can't be Oh, 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 stand scuff, well, he's not hustling, he's not doing it, you know. And and I never you've never heard that. They just wish that I wouldn't have done those things. That's the opposite. I wish she would have made more catches. No, no, no, no, we wish she woldn'a ran in the walls. We wish he wouldn't have done that. And that's the thing is, that's what I take pride in it. Let people know that when they came there, I was gonna give him all. When when I read these numbers to six thirty or the All Century team? Is there something you wish you could act? Like? Man? You know what, I wish I had a little more stolen bases or I would have had are do you what? What? What would you add? Nothing? No? Because you got everything out in twenty two years, you got everything Ken Griffin Junior could have gotten out of MLB yep, 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 busting my butt every day. You know, think about this. I only went down one time, right like going to rehab of stand and that was one day. I actually went down to Tacoma, drove to Tacoma, took three AD bats. Now I have a plate in nine screws in my wrist. I take three AD bats. I actually fly myself to Minnesota. The team has no idea that I'm there. I show up at the ballpark. They look at me like what you do? I said, I'm ready. They was like, what are you supposed to play today? I was like, yeah, I was, but I'm gonna play. And then he said Lou looked at me, said I can't put you down, but tomorrow you in the line up. And that's the way I am. I mean, I have this thing that you know as my name on the back is my career. I'm gonna 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 right, 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 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 can see that. And you know, they said that I didn't, I didn't work hard. I start 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, And because 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 you, I mean, you played with your dad. I mean, you're nineteen years old and you're in and you're in the majors, and they, well, we didn't see it. So he's just God gifted. He don't he's not working. God just blessed him with that talent, and that's it. No. I used to I'd ride my bike at two am. Okay uh, and it would be a A one three wet. Then I would wear a sweatsuit over top of that in a hat and I'd ride fifteen 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 about blob checking streets. But you know, my dad never he'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 the household when 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 the kid came up to me it was like your dad placed for Yankee. I was like yeah, like thinking that, you know, everybody's dad had that type of you know, father, they 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 you know, you try to make them as normal as possible. 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 Did your father push you towards baseball? Or was something because he did it and you wanted you saw and you saw what he did, even though you said it was later that he was 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 could be good at this. Nah, My brother played at Ohio State football. My uncle's uh got a one of my cousins, Darryl. He broke Tony the Dorsets high school rushing records. Okay, I was born and a half an hour from Pittsburgh. You know, we are die hard football family. We didn't cover your daddy played. I'm like, I'm like, uh 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. As sure. When I came to him when I was fourteen, said I want to play play baseball, he said, okay, 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 on the field on the Backfield's not the main field, but the backfield because he was early hitting and stuff. I would go shag. So I understood what routes to take at fourteen to go catch a fly ball from a major league fly ball. So at fourteen fifteen, 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 basket of wooden bass. You know, my I had a day where my dad flew in, I had an off day. They you know, and here's how you know. Most coaches were 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 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 sugar and I grounded back to the picture and he was like in the stands, going like this, I just gave you four new bats and you broke I mean twenty four bats and you broke four of them. I broke eighty bats in my first year playing pro ball. What what what did that have to do? I mean, why were you breaking so many bats? Because I was aluminum back the barrel like this, wooden battered barrel like that. So so you're just not knowing how to swing. You know, would a wooden back you know, it's the adjustments that for you guys, you know, the speed of the game. We have guys in high Scholl that throw ninety ninety five 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 gonna be fine. But you guys have that that you know from college to pro that little bits of learning curve right, And that's what it is for you guys to the speed of the game. For me, it's learning how to hit with wooden bats. Was it difficult having Obviously it worked to your advantage because, as you said, you got an opportunity to go shack fly balls on the backfield, on the back and 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 gonna come, whether you or he placed them on you or not, they're going to come. My dad never put in any comparisons he did. 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, uh, in fact, pressure no, I mean no, I mean you know, because outside pressure, if if 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 that pressure is only something you put on yourself because outside influence. If I'm not putting any pressure on you, you know, then then and your mom or your brothers and sisters, then you can feel pressure when we're 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 U I said, you know that there's going to be the comparisons. You know, they can only compare uh me and you you know my dad and mean trade me Teving and me, uh not so much. Girls and you know tearing she got a pass because it's girls, you know, college basketball. But but she's pretty athletic, okay, really athletics, so it wasn't really you know they you know, all they say is that's King Griffe Junior's daughter right now. But when it comes to being you know, the Testostrom sports. You know they got they got to throw comparisons that 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 Joe Smith us a kid? Okay, go watch him play. I mean there was a kid. There was a funny because when Trey was getting recruited, h Northwestern came down and said, uh, well he went up to Northwestern and he said guy said. Coach said, ah, I would offer you, but you need you got it. You should have been ten pounds heavy, yer. And so I started laughing because he came home and he told me. I was like, all right, no, he just saying that just to blow smoke. And so Trey came home after football, uh because the doctor Phillips was in the playoffs and the guy was like he was helping out with the football team and coach was like the same. Coach was like, man, who is that? That's how can 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 ten pounds heavier, right, So you know we start laughing because you know they say, you know, the mind game of coaches and some of the things that they say are you know, can destroy some of these kids. And it's tough because you know, I never caught a football, right, you know, from trades quarterback. I never handed the ball. I got handed the ball off. It's all that. The only thing that I've done as a dad was get him to a place where, you know, if he wanted to play, to get him the necessary tools to be successful, whether that's using you know Thurman's 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 what And when it comes to baseball, the same thing. Lope Army calls me all the time, right, you know, trying to get kids to to to be you know, I live my dream is now. I don't 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 can he done and play baseball? And he goes, well, he's not his dad. And so I happened to walk by, 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 your kids all the time. Time. And then whether it's my kids or any other kids, uh, 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 but like, you know what, I'm just doing this to go to go to to get my degree, right, get a free education. That was the thing for me. Ken that I have a son, and he went totally away. He didn't play sports because every time he dropped the pass, they said, well, your dad would have call that, or your uncle would have call 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 enable to be 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 want 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, and you. And it's bad because some of the people that are doing this are people who are number one, jealous and frustrated ball players who have never had an opportunity to be successful. And the only person they can take it out on is your kid and that right, you know. I'm like I look at people like that, like, man, you up there, dog in a twelve 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 in the right field line three hundred and forty feet away, tucked around the corner, you know. And I had a lady come up to me one time. I was like, hey, how come you and I coach? And I said, well, number one, I'm underqualified for this position. Just trying to make it easy, like, you know, let me underqualified to it. And she was like, I just think it's a waste of talent and then I got mad because I was like, Oh, he's just not gonna say that. He's just not gonna do that to me. And I did tell her that her kid was terrible, but 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, man, that's all this stuff is. I said, are we are we trying to build national championships at at age twelve? Are we trying to get these kids to build confidence to be young adults in this world? So didn't make you nervous when your dad came to watch you play? Because for me, when my brother came, I was gonna turn it out basketball. I was gonna drop thirty or forty. They don't track and field. I was gonna have my best days. But my sister. I couldn't perform in front of my sister because all of her friends had told her living, unity, go see your brother your brother had this many points dunk on everybody, and the moment I saw airball city turn over the city, I just couldn't perform. It didn't make you nervous performing in front of your dad, Okay, yes, because he wasn't there. You know all the time. You know, my dad's working on Saturday, you know, So when he did show up. I remember my senior year, he was Atlanta was in town and he was playing. He's playing the Reds and he was with Alanta. He comes, see me play the first two at bats, I'm over two with two strikeouts. So after the game I get in a car drive down there to see him. He was like, wait, how'd you do? I set up three for five, two hoo runs in a double. He was like, you can't do that in front of me. So so my first actual hit with him there was in instructional league, my first professional hit. He was in left center behind the fence in an RV and I knew and I knew the RV because you know, you know, I hello was at my house all blah life. So I finally get a hit and he slides the window and yells at me, was that so bad? And then closed it. But for years he would say, hey, man, just pretend I'm your mom, because when my mom came, oh, he would showed out, Dad, show up. I had one of my high school coach say, don't even come visit. He can't hit in front of you. So you want to be at you tell you dad at fourteen, I want to be a baseball player. And he give give you the 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? I knew in December that I was close. Right. Bobby Tolin, who was a friend of the family, came up and 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 and said, Dad, where is Seattle? Because he was like, because you know when you when, 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 as far as my region went and we went to Disney World in Tampa and Port Lott of deal. Yeah, that's it. That was our screen training and that was anywhere else. I was like, I had no idea. So I had a coup on the map, and uh, 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 gonna sign? And my dad looked at me and he said, hey, you can go number one, or the Pirates are gonna take you, to the Braids are gonna take you, and Cincinnati's gonna take you. And I looked at him, said I don't want to go number one, right And he says, why is that? I said, because not everybody could say they went one right. They could say they was the first round pick, but they can't say they was one on one. And he said okay. And from that point on, you know, two day before the draft, we signed the next day, and then we had the actual draft, and then I graduated. No, my brother, yeah, my brother graduated from high school. I graduated my school. Me I graduated high school, and then uh, I was down in the I was down in Atlanta for a couple of days and Willie Stargell helped me out my footwork. And everybody thinks that Willie starge was an outfield I mean at first basement, but he played outfield, so he's like, come on, young buck, and he took me out an outfield for like an hour and a half with no baseballs. All we did was work on footwork. At seventeen, you kind of mad, you like, come on, can I get some ball? So that means he'd be like, nah, we're gonna work on only footwork. And that's what really helped me out, you know, my minor league, because you know, having the guys you know around me, they 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 nineteen, so you couldn't go out, you know, so you hadn't be stuck here, you know. So by the time I turned twenty one, the novelty of being in the big leagues and all the other stuff they 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 Junior. But I'm not so sure that we're ever gonna see what you and your father accomplished again. He actually called me. He said, hey, the Mariners want me, and he said, is it okay? Yeah, he said this is your team and I was like, hell yeah, So you know, and he gets there, We do the press conference. We go down there, and as we're right and the elevator, he goes, you know, we got a bat. I was like, what's that? He goes, whoever gets the first hit, the other one got to 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 bat and second I'm baton third. So I walk we're walking out to the field. I said, you know what, for seventeen 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. In my entire dugout is laughing because you know, as we get older, Graybeard fossil old man. You know all this, you know, Pops. Yeah, but for somebody to say, hey, get a hit, dad and actually mean it, 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 pictures, what he did it. Actually, you know, if you look at I hit two sixty four. I ended up hitting three hundred per second year, and I hit three twenty seven my third year, which I was third in the batting title behind Julio Franklin Wade boss. Right, But I got a chance to learn how to hit just watching him 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 did your mom and dad pay your bills? What after you became the number one draft pick? Did they stopped that immediately? What? Uh? What do you mean immediately? Us as of June second, two thousand of the nineteen eighty seven Uh, those bills have 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're in college, so they got weird hours. So I'm coming home at like three o'clock in the morning, four o'clock in the morning. Mom worried about me. Dad over there like this, you know Dad sometime. So he finally comes in his head back. I'm gonna just let you know your mom worried about you. You can't just be coming in at this type of night. You know, either you stay out or you know, the midnight right, or if you want to be the man, you're gonna pay some of these bills. So he gave me a h He had me go down there and he drafted a a contract that I would pay two hundred dollars a month. I'm like, and I'm I'm arguing, I ain't paying two hundred dollars at my own house. He like, then you don't live here, plan your own foot. So I paid him, but no one I knew the chain of command. I gave it to him, He gave it to mom, Mom gave it back to Mary. I know how this worked, right, So once you decided that you was gonna play baseball nothing else matter, because you say 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. I just didn't want to get hit. I didn't want to get hit though. We I'm like, hey, come on, well, you could have been a defensive players. You could have been a dB. Yeah, okay, so one of like, uh remember Vinny Clark from State and Carlos we all played little League Pop Warner together. Vinny and I were both safeties. Vinny always wanted the blitz lead me out there by myself. He said, you got the good hands, but no, we all, you know, we're little kids and things like that. But now my brother he wanted to play football, and uh, you know, I looked at him, said I want pie 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, when you're growing 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 given you that advice. He like, man, yeah, yeah, yeah I did that and he just looked at me like I was crazy. But you know, uh and a couple It's funny is like in a couple of weeks, we're going on a hu trip, right and uh, you know this is his bucket legs 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 ask look. I end up taking my gun hiking, you know what. I'm just on like a nature walk for like three days, four days. You know. Uh. 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 and like gallop police, Ohio. We shot like thirteen hundred dollars worth the birds. Well he didn't have thirteen hundred dollars with a cash on, so so he was over there looking at it like y'all just shooting up everything. Were like you said, go hunting, you know, but you know when you you know, nine and seven, but you you know, you want to be out with dad and you know He's like, Hey, we're gonna teach you everything. And that was the one thing is I tell, like I said, I tell my family, don't be away. 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 gonna like you for you. Some people are gonna not like you for me, right, you know, but you know it is what it is. And my kids, you know, that's the thing about it, and I know that you've gone through it is that our kids have to grow up faster because of what we did than anybody else. And it's sad because you know, you know, and then they go, well he 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 Steph Curry and it's the dale. You look at the booms, you look at the loose ear, the earned hards, Winslow Junior Senior, the Matthews. What are the Griffies Senior and junior rank only all time iconic father son duo the Mannings. We never, that's for somebody else to decide. We don't. 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 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, and uh you know, so we have a you know, how many home runs would Willie May's hit if he didn't get hit knocked down? How many home runs would Hank Aaron hit with the travel that we have now. So when 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 twenty five years, twenty six years, them duds was balling and they didn't take you know, winners 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 if we don't make the playoffs. 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, that this, that, that, the three point line. You know how many you know people go all points, all these thousand points. Well he didn't have a three pointer, right, he got thirty six thousand. You know, this guy has a three point and now he got thirty three thousand, and 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. Yeah, you know, so if that why is that why? Because I'm listening to that you talk and you said, well I didn't really I never could. My father and I we never compared ourself 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 nineties, which is known as the steroid era, Because no, my dad was always saying, hey, you're not you're not You're not gonna be the biggest, You're not gonna be the strongest. You're not gonna be the fastest. Just don't let nobody out work you, right, and that's it. You know. So when it came down and when all that happened, I wasn't 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. I was like, huh when they rip the red demential report and I was sitting there like he him a good stiff winning, he could be out of the ballpark. He 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 in Surin, you know they did it behind closed doors. They you know, h I mean if you see a guy come in and he was one seventy five one year and two twenty five the next year, you could say, okay, but what about fifteen home runs and all of a sudden hitting fifty and sixty home runs? Uh, that isn't up a red flag, No, because I didn't like for me, you know, I was always taught worry about itself. Okay, you know, you keep yourself right, that's the only thing you can control is when you're looking at merror. You can't. That's who you can control. I can't control what everybody else does. You know my thing is when I look at it and people say you got cheated, I was like, it is what it is. I let it go because I don't want to go into a big old debata back. But no, no, because 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, right, that's what 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. And that was the FA. There was never any suspicion. Nobody ever had any suspicion. It was never in the mission report. Nobody even said. Even someone that might have had a gruge that wanted to turnish your image has never said anything about King Grippy being linked to steroids A G eight nothing, no, m Now when I retired, all my friends say, hey, now you could use it for cosmetic purposes. I was like, I was like what you know? They were like, hey, but you know, but it's one of those things like if you're twenty five years old, think about this. You're twenty five years old, you have two kids, you're up and down Triple A big leagues. This one hundred dollars a vial of steroids could keep you in the big leagues. To make a half a million dollars. What do you think people were 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. But what happens is so many people listen to and you know, the the guys from Congress when they start jumping in on on baseball and stuff like that, their grandfathers are 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 could yeah, And I'm like, you know, hey, I ain't part of this, even though I'm part of it, you know, but you know, having a dad who who was an All star, not a superstar, it helps you know. If you're a superstar, then you gotta you gotta live up to that. Right. But my dad was a you know, a homebody. 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. There's and they live Caddy corner on a T street from each other. So when I got in trouble at my grandmama's house, I went to my other grandmama'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. You know. My family came from a steel mill, so I understood hard work and I understood that that. You know, my 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 actual thing. He was like, no, no, no, we're gonna go through the cards. You're gonna know who they are. Right, and things like that. But no, there was no pressure on me about doing steroids. Are say some of the guys that you were close with resorted to that. Do you feel cheated? No? No, because now I you know, I don't have that issue. You know, Uh, 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, 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 at in their age crew right, you know when you're twenty two twenty three, you bounced back like that, you're thirty seven thirty eight, you might want to take a couple of days off. So how 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 than any other sport? Right, But we don't vote like you know a member of the Hall of Fame mean being personal, I don't do I think that there's guys who who are Hall of Famers before all. Some of the accusations were were I think, yes, absolutely, uh you know, 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 the for enshrinement, you received ninety nine point three two percent of the vote, and I remember listening to you talk and they ask you, were you upset that you weren't unanimous. You're like, no, I mean, I'm good with that, but deep down, you know you should have been unanimous. You should have been the first unanimous players selected to Cooper's down. Whatever was a little bit, I mean to come on, come on, grip, was there a little bit? Uh? Yeah, I was a little hot. Okay, I'm really hot. Uh. You know you're telling me, and people don't really understand the voting. You're telling me you get ten votes and I'm not one of the top ten players of that year. That's how it works. What so somebody left you completely off the ballot? Yes, come on, work olo, and he's still and that person he or she are is still allowed to vote. I don't know about that now, Okay, Okay, yeah, but I don't know who they are, but that's how it is. You get ten vote and it ain't like a first, second, third place. You pick out ten people. That's why they got five percentages. Right, he got eight vote? You getting to pick out another word? There might be fifty, like twenty five people on the car. You pick any ten, you won't. Yep. And somebody left Ken Griffy Jr. With those numbers, with those accolades completely off the ballot. Yeah, that's ridiculous. Yeah you you that should have been upsetting. Yeah, let's talk about your swing. It's many said it's the sweetest wing, is the greatest wing, is the smoothest wing in MLB history? Do you feel you Let let's just say we went out to the batting practice and I gave you ten pitches. How many could you hit over the fence right now? Yeah? Seven? What I still take back in practice? So just the case they have an old time of game and I wanted to be called slipping. No, but you know, but it's a lot like for my sport, you know, going into the cage showing kids how to hit. Uh still doing it. Uh, you know it's now I may not get seven. I get six I put that. Uh, but you know the you still have to do it, you know, 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 seventy you know, sixty five seventy two miles an hour is coming in delt. Hi, I ain't gotta worry about that. I ain't got somebody. I ain't gotta worry about somebody snapping him off on my ankles. Give me some of the toughest pictures that you faced that. You're like, you know what if I'm not on my A game to day, he can embarrass me. Pedro Pedro Martinez, Yeah stuff, he had electric stuff. Well, uh you see the ninety nine the ninety nine A Star If I'm not mistaken, the nine and nine All Star Game. Uh huh yeah, that's what I was like. Ooh, look I went back to U Seattle talk about, hey, can we get like five of him? They were looking at me like I was crazy. I was like, just okay, may give me three. But to watch it when you you have Randy Johnson. You know, uh, 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'd only be moody if the media came up to him, right, but everybody else come up to him. I mean, you know, you got guys wrestling before the game. He and they're wrestling too. Then he go out and throw seven shut out. But you know, you have guys like that that you go, man, this is it's like a day off out here, right, ped Pedro wasn't that. You look at Randy Johnson sixteen, and you look at you know, Roger probably weigh two thirty two thirty five, But you look at Pedro, You're like small guy and he's I mean he's like jumping out of the shoes, right, But this sport isn't about size. It's about hard right, And I know your sport is too. I mean, you know, if you ain't got no heart, it don't matter what they say, right, Yeah, we tell body by tars and it swinging like Jane. Yeah you know, but but you know, for us, you know, this guy is you know, five ten, one forty five just coming in at you. You got six ten, you know, two twenty coming from the left side right, you know, and you got guys in between. You know, you're not a number one picture because you ain't challenging nobody. You're not a number one picture because you ain't embarrassed nobody. Your job is to go out and embarrass That's why you know the 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 nineteen ninety six. 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. Dude, you look back at like man, I did that I had that. I was like that, Yeah, I have to remind my youngest who said, who was eighteens like, Dad, tell me how it was it playing back in the day. And I was looking at him, like, man, do you understand that I was still playing when he was born? He was like I don't remember. So h So, you know, something will happen on TV and they'll show a commercial and he he'll look at me and he'll look and when I think when Little Big League came on, he you know, and we all knew except Tim. You know this movie was shot, you know, nine years before he was born. So and then you say, so it was like two thousand and eight. We were watching the movie and uh, I can walk into 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 knee. He was like. I was like, yeah, I did a movie too. He was like, oh, but you know so because like I said, man, we very seldom talk about accomplishment because you know, I lived my dream of being a major League baseball player. 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 and being you know, I turned fifty one next month. Uh, you know my time has passed, right. I want to be in the barbershop. Man. I remember him when he was playing. I remember him when he was literally and people. You know, I said, that's my goal is to talk about kids like his day 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 signature shoe, which is a rarity for a baseball player that's normally reserved for basketball players. Do you do you show your son like, look a look what your dad had. Your dad had a signature, that's no. What I what I did is I have Nike makeup my my shoe and a football shoot so he got to wear it. Oh so he has the only you know, football shoot with with with the swing man logo on it. Right when when you if, I said, okay, Ken Griffy Junior compared, I want to know who is the Ken Griffy Junior of football, the Ken Griffy Junior of basketball? Who would you say? Football? Mm hmm? 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, who have a a sweet shot or a throwing motion that you like? You okay, basket your equivalent of my swing ray Allen shooting? Okay, uh m hm. And I would say Tony Dorset Tony d yeah, only to my favorite football player. Would I would have never get So how you Okay? You said you grew up very close and he I think he's from Ala Quipper. Yep. He high school with my uncle. So were you a cowboy fan or a stealer fan? Being from that close in Pa? I'm a cowboy fan, oh man, como man you I'm an old school cowboy fan. Okay, so you're not. You're not like these delusional fans that think they go win the Super Bowl every year. Huh. I'm an old school cowboy fan. It's funny at my house. Is my wife. She's from Seattle, so she a diehard Seahawk fan. Okay, okay, trade from must being here in Florida, all he heard was about to you. It's all about the use. So here ed Reid, ray Lewis h Willis mcgahey. So he liked the Ravens. Okay. Uh. My youngest, he was a starting quarterback. He had he didn't have a haircut till he was nine, so he had fourteen inches of hair. Well, name me a left handed quarterback that had braids, Mike Vick. So he was a Mike Vick fan wherever Mike went. Uh, and I'll tell you a story about that the second. And then my daughter is a Carolina Panther fan. How Steve Smith her favorite player. Good And I did something that I've never done. I actually called Carolina, called the called their player personnel and said, look, man, I've never done this. My daughter is a die hard fan. Actually he was with the Ravens at the time, and I said, look, I will trade him jerseys because I need one from for my daughter. That's like, I have pictures of her when she is like twelve with the Carolina eighty nine jersey on, and she is now 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 or nine years old. They were playing in Jacksonville, so I gotta sweep. Said all right, we're gonna go watch him play. So we go to the sweep. They said, hey, blah blah blah, Mike runs on the field. Were there early Mike runs out on the field for warm up. My youngest runs on the field with him and sits on the twenty yard line watching him warm up, like I'm like, yo, u, Kevin, come on back, and he was like, that's Mike. Vid I was like okay, And even security was like he ain't bother nobody and Mike and said that just let him go Indian style watching him. And then at the end, Mike ran over and talked to him, said hie to him. And at the end of the game, he said, at the end of the game, come down. So at the end of game and they lost that game. So we was like trying to get out. You know how football a little different in baseball. We got another game tomorrow, right, y'all got a whole week to to They're 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 two hour drive back to or Letter. He dead sleep in the car with a jersey on. I'm like, hey, we gotta take the jersey off. He he gonna frame it. I'll let we gon frame it. Okay, we gonna frame it. Uh. And to this day 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 that room. Mama said, he can't take that picture. So I don't know if you've ever done this, but if I said, okay, name the five greatest baseball all players of all time, any era. Pictures included, Okay, you know what, let's leave pictures out. I don't really cut. All they do is give me your five best baby, the five greatest baseball players Hank Karen William made Jackie Robinson, Ricky Henderson, and one guy, Bob Gibson as a picture. That's a very I mean, I can William made. I understand, Hank got you. I'm surprised you said Ricky the all time runs leader. He would he look he was different. I've been heard a story about Ricky and it makes me laugh because I can just imagine it had I've 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. But what he did, yes number one, you know, rightfully? So I mean, if it wasn't for him, you know. Uh. 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 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 black people, but he allowed to let other countries come here and play this game. And I know it's different in bat football because you don't see very many Europeans and America for us, right for us, you know, uh, you know, we got guys from South Africa, you know Japan, you know Korea, you know nick guys, you got Cubans, got South Korea. But without him, who knows? And 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 everybody couldn't be Jackie Robinson. Now, no, no, I say that all the time. I'm like, no, don't know if I could be him. I saying, you had to tell him a lot, right, But I got a chance to to sit there and talk to Rachel and Sharon and you know, uh, 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. Well, well I just I'll just wait on hopefully I'll get 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 think, oh, 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. But if you number one, if you get drafted in football and baseball, I mean it's give me football and basketball you go straight to the show, correct and baseball you get drafted you go to the moundern Lakes and it could be six years, right, you know before you get there. And I think that's one of the differences, plus the other differences in the actual cost you know, these showcases and this and that, you know, trying to get the exposure 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 gotta figure out something, you know, because 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 problem 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 it's a two way street. We gotta get guys who want to play. We got to get guys that look like us as coaches on all levels. So I think, you know, when we get that, I think things will change because I remember my dad had nineteen percent. I think that was the all time high, and now it's like six point seven two. Right, you mentioned the instant gratification. 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 gonna be what you say, I'm animum of what a year or two years at the minimum? Uh yeah, yeah, and if you're if you're a monster, it's a minimum. I mean you yeah, you'll have how long you so? But that's the thing though, So you're talking 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 is a career mind of leaguer, but he got drafted to play in the majors. Yeah, you know, I tell kids, you know, hey, the hardest part about being drafted being here is getting drafted. Obviously somebody wanted you, right, so you get drafted. So from that point on, you know, like I tell, just relax and go play, you know, because just like every sport, there's an it's a numbers game. Somebody get hurt, you get called in, you know, So the hardest I can't just show up off the streets say hey, coach, I'm here I'm about third. I'm ready, right, They're gonna look at you like you crazy. So you know, most kids put a lot of pressure after they get drafted by the slot that you're in. There's a little bit of jealousy because you're the new guy. You're the new first pick, you know. But you go through that the learning curve and the growing pains. Uh. You know, I was MVP of the league in my first year, but not MVP on 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 Bett played some center, but mainly he's a right fielder. You look at Mike Trout. Are there any guys currently the playing that reminds you like you like to watch Mookie Bett? Yeah, Jackie Bradley, Trout, Harper, I'll be over there. You know that me. Uh. You know that Dodger lineup, you know as a monster. So when they on TV, then you got you know the Braves pitching staff, you know, the young pitchers. I mean, anytime that you have like a matchup like that, a good solid team and a pitching staff. That's that's young man. It's exciting and for me, that's that's what it's about. Uh, you know they got uh, they got great young players on both sides. Now you're looking at you know, the Twins who have been I mean that's giving me the Twins, but the Raids 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 could score a whole bunch of runs in a in a flash. And then you got a team that's not gonna hit very many home runs, but they're gonna make the right place. And so you know, in baseball, it's a game. It's a chess match, you know, you know, how many 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 bigger known team is the Dodgers, and you have the little known team like who are the Raised? Who are these guys? And people are like, I can't name two people on the Raise. I would like, yeah, but guess where they at. They're playing in the big game, right and so, and they're gonna be. They're gonna be a force to reckon with over the next couple of years because they got good, solid, young talent, and unfortunately they're not able to hold on to them because they're not gonna be able to pay them what the big market teams can pay. I think something's gonna happen. Do you think something gonna happen? Well, from what I hear because I live in Florida, that they've already been told that they're gonna move. Now. I don't know if that's for sure or not, 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 gonna have to find something place to go in like five five years. So I think over the next five years, something's gonna happen. Griffin, did you you look at these salaries and you see guys getting three fifty Did you ever think salary would get somebody would make four hundred million dollars. I keep complaining my parents. I tell him all the time, like what happened? I've been looking at it, and my dad walking I shake my head, uh huh, and see, you know, being in November baby, I was Valentine's baby, So I was like looking at him, like really, so, I mean, did you did you ever? I mean, look you were when you were at once. I mean, I mean you took less money to go to a Cincinnati because you wanted to go play for the Red. You wanted to play the team your dad played for it, so you talk, but you made good money. But to see these salaries three fifties and the pictures making three twenty seven and you missed and I feel to make it almost a half a billion, did you ever think here? Uh No, I didn't ever think the salaries get to Maya. You know, I think my dad made a million dollars as I think it's his high. So that's what I thought, you know, that's what it's gonna be. And you know, even my rookie year, I was sixty eight thousand, five hundred that was the rookie minimum, and then I went to one eighty and then five thirty five and then two million. But by the time I got two million, I was like I felt like what, uh Look, no, when I got like iced tea, when you say nineteen nineteen got a bench twenty one I retired right, But 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 have just waited, I could have got you that new car that you wanted, Like know when they gonna get it anyway? No, when they got it anyway. But you know, are you are you surprised your son showed 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 at whatever. Yeah, what if i'd have played football? What if you know you forced me to do this? Now? What if I and I don't want them to ever come at me and resent me from making a decision for them. Gripping, I said the same thing I told I told my kids. I said, I want you to do what you want to do, because I don't want when you get to be thirty years old, you said, Dad, I want to 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 her, you know, take care of my family. So what do you want to do? Whatever it is, I don't care. Yeah, now come now, let me tell you what. I'm not gonna push you in any particular direction, but once you start walking in that direction, I'm gonna 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 uh, you know, like when my daughter graduated from college, she had a couple knee injuries, you know, before she went to college. She made it through, and I told her I'd give her a year off. Well that year it became two years, and she get ready no, no, she could ready have a job. Uh next 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 fouled an extension. I was like, huh. She was was just like Texas Dad. Yeah, I just founded 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's 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 a college athlete. I said. They work harder than anybody I know. Yea, you know, they gotta go school, they gotta get they lift in the curriculum and right. And so when you know Tray, you know, uh, Tray going getting not getting drafted, going to the Colts, going to Miami, going to the Steelers. Uh, you know not. I didn't know if he wanted to get picked up, and had a couple of calls and he said, hey, I just want to be And I said, all right, you gotta 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. Uh. And then all of a sudden, the pandemic hit. And I'm looking at him, he looking at me, because you know, sometimes can't no two grown men sometimes can't be in the save house. But you know, he's he's, he's he's you know, they're all good kids. I have no problems with them. If I said Hey man, here's here's your here's what your chores are. You gotta make sure the garbage is out. You're gonna make sure this is aut blah blah blah. Make sure your mom are And I said, may think you know, it ain't about me. Just make sure mom's cool, rightever, Mom want just get it done. And they they've been behind it. You know, you just watched the growth of 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 than me what I did off the field. I'm in on the field. When your youngest son is an HBC, he's at FAMI you what's that been had he talked to you? What's that been like for him? He three hours away on a drive. Okay, he'd been home every other weekend. Uh, Mama said he can come home every other weekend. There's no there's no football, right. If there was football, you know, it looks he'd have he'd be traveling when he'd be playing right right now. A though football Uh, you know, he he loves it. I mean, it's been a blessing. This side. We went to and we go to a predominantly black high school. You know, my kids graduated from public school. Okay, was that important for you? Was that important for you to have them go to a public school? Yes? Why? Why is that? Because it's just people. You meet all kinds of people. You know. It ain't that you know, 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 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 of years, I think till fourth grade, they went to a school downtown. Then they went to a charter school for two years, and then they got from the sixth grade on they was in public school. And uh, 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 to really you know, write home about. You know, I get the couple days. Hey, by the way, your son chokes somebody out in school, So how protective? Are you? How protective are the kids of you? Like, my kids don't follow me on soci media and they are very very reluctant to tell you who their father is because they don't want someone to treat them any 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, Uh, I had four followers and three of them was at my house and they was teasing if. Then I got like, all of a sudden, i got ten thousand. They was like, hey, dad, you're gonna shout me out. I was like, what do you mean? But you know, it's very important, uh for them. They are very protective of me growing up. 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 really saying, 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, have it we're out, and she's like, that's my daddy. Ye eat not no autographs. Yeah, no, yeah, my kids do that. You know, they still do it. In the twenty six and twenty five 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 trying to tell us, tell us, will you tell the story. I was in a tunnel and it's a walkway that separates the wise lounge, which was upstairs or the waiting lounge, wive lounge and downstairs. And it was a tunnel, probably about seventy five feet and we played pickle there and the Yankees were getting made. Bud whooped and and it's probably you had Randolph's kids tour boards kid, you know, my brother and I. So there's probably about ten to twelve of us. And he walked up to my dad 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 gonna do that. But over hearing that, and I'm twelve years old, you know, I'm maybe I'm yeah, twelve thirteen. Then I go to the ballpark early with my dad and it's one o'clock. Ain't nobody there? Are twelve thirty one o'clock. Ain't nobody there. I'm sitting in the dugout and the guy says, hey, George, don't want nobody in the dug out. Meanwhile, you got Craig Nettle's son taking groundballs at third base. And he looked at me, he said, pointed over there, and he said, just remember that. And that's all it took. So when you have an impressionable kid at at that age that every time you know they play that team, the only thing you can think of is how I'm gonna beat them every single time. I mean, you look at my numbers, they 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 whore episode of MO. You know Bernie, you know, Uh, you know the all the old guys you know from the Dave Winfield, Ricky, you know, Roy Smiley, Willie Rando, Big John Mayberry. I mean all these guys, you know, Rick Serone, I mean all these guys, were, you know, the guys that I looked up to, and you know, but once I saw the pinch drips with n why on it, I was like a different person. And I was like, Okay, here it is, we're gonna go at it. You were the first number one overall draft pick to be selected to the Hall of Fame. Of all the ones, you're the first but two of us and Chip yep, how I mean, do you do you find that? Do you do you think that's odd? You like, hold on, wait a minute, Yeah I did when I found out. Yeah, I thought it was. I was like, and then, but do you realize how many first picks don't make it? 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 I know they have the talent, maybe a lack of focus sometimes. 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 went here. I don't even remember my dad being in my league, So I know that I didn't want to be there, did did we? Growing up. Did your dad have a fancy car? Did that motivate you? Because my brother came back. When my brother came when my brother was got drafted in eighty eight, and he had him Mercedes and he got BMW. I'm like, I want that now. What's funny is we actually and my dad's twenty sixth birthday, which I was six years old, we got him a powder blue ten speed bike and that was his first bike. That was his first ever bike, and it was her father's day. He wrote it down the driveway, he wrote 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 it is great because he didn't. I remember having a green Toyota Celica with lovers on the back that my mom had, like a a Mark five has a cougar Mark five. It's something about Lincoln Mark five something like that. That was her car. I remember. Also, I remember all of a sudden, my dad went to the Yankees, and you know, a couple of years later, my mom's driving a a Silver Spur with a hundred dollar 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 taught. And I tell my kids all this, Uh yeah, your dad got a little money. You 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 them about 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, it's a little different because you know, you know, I'll be able to sugarcoate. I only have one rule at my house. You know that you can't get gassed after seven pm, but before seven pm, right before seven am, so my girls may be bringing stuff. I left two miles from a gas station my girl brought home. It was one mile to empty. I was over there like that, you want me to go get you some gas? And it got one mile to empty, but it's two miles to the gas station. Got my blood in that car and drove over there and got us some gas. But but that's just that was if that was trail Tabby, what were you told him? I had told him. I followed, y'all, So for a wrapper, what are you doing now. Uh, Well, I own a couple of car dealerships okay, in South Carolina and Florida, work for Major League Baseball both sides of the Commissioner's office, and for Player Association doing joint ventures to help, you know, 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 tell you a quick story for it is. Uh. We were at the Nike event and here in Orlando for the what did they call that bang the golf the PGA show. Okay, So I hit my first drive and I've been playing golf all Dad hit the first drive. It's two forty nine. He looked at me and Susan Peterson said, that's where I hit my ball. He churned right and says, uh, also, now you just drive it as far as the LPGA player and I just looked at him like, do you know who I am? So I hit the next one three eleven, and then I gave I said was that better? He was like, yeah, that's a little better. But you were out there with me I said, all right, and then I looked at one of my boys. He was like, give it to him. So I hit the next one three fifty three. So for the next forty five minutes, your brother was in that simulator trying to hit it where I was hitting me that. I said, Well, don't pull nothing back there. You you can't go out there, I said. All all my life I've been swinging right, so I I can turn it up when I have to. I said, Now, I ain't at you know, you as football players, y'all used to pushing people off of you, right, you know. I'm used to getting getting the head out and driving the ball. Why are baseball players so good at golf? You look at Rick Roland, 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 Small? I mean, the baseball players are right, but they pictures. They you know, they don't care you look, No, they know because see my number one swing, my number two swing on wasn't go mess up my number one swing, right, yeah, so my baseball swing. I would 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 retire because I hit a big old slice. Because my baseball swing, that's what we're gonna play with. I'm gonna keep working. I'm gonna groove that thing in I'm not grooving my golf swinging in my golf swing. Don't pay no bills at the house, right and then tell now it give me a little gass money from my boys, but you know it ain't paying in the light bill. Let's talk about some of the some of the great the quarterbacks that came from a baseball background. 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 played in the NFL. I think decision making and being a student at a game. I think when you're a you know, a middle infielder or a pitcher, you're constantly thinking, you know, trying to get people out. Uh, you know you see that always, you know, I you know on Padaby, 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, uh, you know, for us, when you see the next generation of guys that you play with, you you feel like then your your kids, right, you know, you were 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 you know, it ain't about us again, it's about the next generation. And when we see somebody that we know we played again, we want to see how they do because and for us in baseball, we can look at the box school when they announce your name and you see the bad average RBI's home runs up there, we know how you're doing, right, So that's why we get the first base. They'd be like, hey, how's the family? Everyone? Like, man, if you're talking about it, because like, nah, we've been asking about everything else. We would never talk about baseball, win at first base, how the kind of kids, how's Mandy? How's everybody? Then all of a sudden, you're still second. You gotta do it all over again. So that's what you get on third because they man, uh yeah, what's going on? Hot? But that's the way we do things. As a Hall of Fame baseball player, one of the great of all time? How good was Bo Jackson and Dion? I'm saying it's because they were so exemplary in the other sports. Well, you still got Brian Jorge if they had if they if Don if Prime had just focused on baseball, if Bow had just focused on baseball, how good could they have been? Well? I think when you you look at it, uh, those two, you can't go wrong with either one. Uh you know, Bo was I think Bow was maybe a better baseball player than Deon, but you know, Deon football wise is off the chart. Uh. But they are all stars in baseball. You know, there are a lot of fun to watch. I'man when you talk about can't miss TV, that's them. Yeah, that ra right there. They'd be like okay, uh and you know, who is it to decide that you could play once sport? Who is it for you to decide? These kids came out and said, you know what, I want to play? Brian Jordan, you're throwing there, yes, you know, uh, you know that, and that's what I say. Man, I didn't have to make up my mind till 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. You're not an 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 a d did. Right. I think I agree with the Griffin. I think 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 to say you're getting high school, if you want to specialize, then but you build up a lot of eye coordination, had 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. And 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. Yeah, but 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 gonna play everything. This is the way we're gonna do it. You could figure out that stuff later, but we're 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 kids. One day James came over to me. I was like, hey, man, let me talk to you. I was like, well, he was like, you think that I could borrow your daughter for about two three months? Like who was? 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 times. I was like, huh no, my daughter's not raising here having fun. But I didn't you know, she could have been. She might have could have been down to com Patrick. Yeah she do because she get a couple of speeding tickets. Really but she got the 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 to 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. Griffy, I really appreciate it, bro, I know it was laughing. I appreciate you giving me about ninety minutes of your time. I know you're busy, but I really appreciate it. No problem. Let me get those shoes two slice thirteen. When you get them thirteen, I got you, okay, because you're bout a thirteen offs, aren't you. I'm eleven. See I'm good. I got to see them big old feet. See them right there, them feet right there. I'll tell my kids, because my kids are twelve and twelve and a half, I said, see mine and I got better balance. Y'all got a whole lot of material that lay on the ground. I can get about them things. R I appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the day, have a great weekend, and I'll be in touch. All right, take it ever, go back all my life running all my life. Sacrifice, Hustle back to pricing. One slice, got the browner dice to swathe all my life. I've been running in all my life, All my life. The running all my life, sacrifice, Hustle back to pricing. One slice, got the broll dice to swathe all my life. I've been running in all my life.

Club Shay Shay

NFL legend Shannon Sharpe—3x Super Bowl champion and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame—sits do 
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