Ken Griffey Jr. | Ep 42 | ALL THE SMOKE Full Episode | #StayHome with SHOWTIME Basketball

special Quarantine edition to all the smoke. Um. Not too often do I fan out. I mean normally a run across everybody. I've seen everyone, I've I've had the fortune of meeting everybody. But our next guest Man. I grew up idolizing this dude. Man, so it's an honor for me to have him on our show today. Jack. What's happening with you out there in Atlanta? You play a metro bill here, your your wife, your WiFi was lacking a little bit. You you you cash you after metro bill? Yeah,

I'm good, I'm good. I'm good now, I'm good now. Bro Weather kind of gloomy out here to day, but I guess something I'm excited about our guests. I'm ready to roll. We're gonna pick your energy up because it's sunny over here, in this sunny where he's at. Man, let's welcome the one and only Kim Griffey Jr. Man, Thank you for your time, no problem. How you guys doing? Where the real kid? The kid? The kid? So? How was a normal person? So you just turned fifty? Uh? Congratulations,

happy belated obviously not just in November? You turned fifty? Should I just turned forty? Jack's on his way up there too. Um? How how is uh? How how is quarantine life treating you in the family? Uh? Quarantine life is okay? Uh? You know, I tell everybody this was my lifestyle from being nineteen to thirty five, you know, not being able to go places. Do I want to go to the mall? Do I want to go to the store? Do I need to pick this up? So for me, it's it's sitting at the house. I'm used

to it. For everybody else, you know, it's tough. You know, you want your kids to be outside, you want them to do things, and you know it's tough. I mean, you know there's people out here dying and things like that. We just lost a friend of ours a couple of days ago. So it's been it's been tough so to hear that everybody. But you know, our job is, you know, we play ball. We go work home every now and then go out to eat out, uh, to a club every now and then, but it's mainly you know, I'm

sitting at my house. No, I've enjoyed it. We we we spoke on this before. I mean, you know, Jack and I both we've been running around a lot with our post career and our jobs. So it's good to kind of sit back and be able to catch up

and relax. We recharge your batteries. You know, it's unfortunate that this is the reason why we have to do it, but I just think overall it was good for everyone just to take a you know, take a step back and and and appreciate things baseball, trying to figure out the plan on how how to return what you're thinking about that. Like with all is going on, it's tougher for for smaller businesses. Big businesses, you know, they've got

some leeway with some cash flow. Um, I think that you're gonna have to space people out what they talked about here in Florida is opening up at UM. Maybe you do that. UM, maybe it's the season ticket holders and you know a couple other people. Uh, you know, how do you The biggest thing is, Okay, you've got a group of family of six with the next seating over for them. I think that's gonna be you know, some of the questions that's going to be asked. But I think it can be done. But it's got to

be done safely. It's got to be done right because you definitely don't want to see it. I looked at today there was fifty plus thousand people who have passed in the US. You just don't want those numbers to multiply. Yeah, but I think we can all do it, but we've got to do it in a safe way. But it's just gonna be like, literally, ain't nobody gonna be there, you know what I mean? People think that, you know, athletes, they played for the money and things like that, to fame.

We started this journey when they were just your mom and dad and brothers and sisters who went to the game. M in as you get older, there was more people, and then the student body when you get to college, and then you know the but the love for the game hasn't changed. And I think, you know, it's gonna be weird at first for the players because you know, we feed off of, you know, the fans. Yeah, you come in there, you know you already got a big game.

So the first couple of weeks, I think it's gonna be real interesting because the guy is ready to go. I talked to Dee Gordon, looks right down the street from me, and he's ready to go. He's in the caves hitting, he's in there doing pool work. I'm over there looking at it like you're crazy because he already weighed like a hundred nine pounds. I tell him that he weigh I tell him he wastes food all the time. I'm like, dude, you can't gain no weight and he

eats all day. But I think the guys are ready. I know that, you know, people are ready to see live entertainment. They're ready to see you know, basketball, football, baseball, you know, golf. I mean, they just want to be you know, they want to look at something other than what they've we've been watching on TV for the last a couple of months. I want to take us a second, real quick, can and explain your background. This is the

best background we've ever had. And you told us a little backstory too, But can you please tell our fans what the backstory is and what we're looking at behind you. Well, I moved in my house. I had one gold glove. Um. You know, it was always the first one, and actually the first one isn't even in the display case. The first one is out where people can touch it. Um. And I had nine boxes. We moved twice and I never opened up any of the boxes. People like, man,

you've got all these gold gloves. We're gonna do. So I leave for the season. I come back and you know, my wife and kids are like, yeah, we made it. We got to display thing. And I'm like, oh, okay, alright, I guess that I'm about to get a desk now. And I started looking around, like I got all this room because you know, for me, I'm not a display kind of person. Uh. You know, if you look at my closet, I got everything behind doors. Uh, it looked like just a wall. And she's like, you've got to

display something. And you know, my mom and dad convinced everybody, hey, we gotta, you know, display, So I got my Dad's World series trophies over here. Uh. I got the Hall of Fame plaque that they gave me. I got two other gold gloves that are sitting there. But and then I got like a seven ft death with just a computer on it in the phone. It's one of those things that you know, as I got older, I started understanding,

you know, my place in history and things like that. Um, it's still tough because you play the game, not for the accolades, but because you love it and the things happened. So I wasn't really one of those people that wanted to display. Like I said, I lived in the house and I only opened up the first one because I was, you know, happy, I had my silver slugger may be sitting right next to me. Uh. And now now I got full display. People coming here and go, okay, you

you did all this. I like nah, I like, hell yeah, I did. Leave When you come into my house, I mean look, I say, look, they're going my silver sluggers up there, um, some other stuff, but I go my gold club there there. But for the most part, like I said, man, I try not to display a whole lot of things. Um, you know. And then my kids come over because they want to learn how to play

with drones. So they took my drone. Um y'all know, y'all got kids too, so you know, they look at things, they'd be like, that's my I be like, I didn't even get a chance to unbox one of them, you know, I got the little start of one. I was like, cool. All of a sudden, I go on a trip, and now it's flowing through my house, you know, And I don't even get mad. No, I don't even get mad

no more. You know, I just sit there like, you know, especially now you know, with you know, everybody being on lockdown, and I just look at stuff that you know, things get broken the house. I'll be like this, okay, I'm yeah, Well they were playing My boys are playing football, so and I got one of those. Um My bed is ten ft wide, nine ft long. So my kids, my boys sit at the edge of the bed and want to jump and the other one to fake tackle him and hit his legs so he could do flips on

the bed. Now, we used to do that as kids, you know, and my boys six and seventeen, they're doing it, and you know they're they're doing it. They're doing you know. Uh, even like two weeks ago, my my youngest, he's running up my wall. I got a padded wall. He's going back flips onto the bed and I'm still in bed, and my wife can She's in the closet and she's over there, like what are you doing. I'm like that, don't bother you out, like I know where he at hey,

and I'm studied watching TV. At a point, you're just like, hey, he's been in this house for six weeks. He ain't seen nobody, his friends, nothing other than FaceTime. He has no contact with human other than the people in this house. You think he's going crazy. I said, Look, as an adult, we can understand that at a seventeen year old with hormones looking at me, Dad, break me out, Dad, break me up, and break me up. Basketball Hall of Fame class,

you got Tim Duncan, Kevin Gardnett, Kobe Bryant. Some of your thoughts on that class. I know you're a big time basketball fan. It's an outstanding class. Um. You know. Tragic what happened to Kobe? Uh the speech. I was looking forward to Mr Fundamental speech for himself. I can't wait for Kate kg to go in there and say s something because he's gonna say something that everybody gonna star of laughing. Um, you know, Um, it's one of those things that you you know, it's gonna be so

emotional throughout the ceremony. Um. You know, I was there, um a couple of years ago when they inducted Phil knighte uh. And you know the basketball and Baseball Hall of Fames are so much different. But you know, to be in a category where you know you're gonna live forever, it's pretty it's pretty special. And I can't you know, like I said, I can't. Uh, it's gonna be emotional for for all of us because, um, as great as m J is in basketball, my daughter is a die

hard AI fan and Kobe fan. You can't say nothing wrong. And I started laughing because I'm like, you know, hey, they all learned from from Nah, not Kobe. I'm like what they're like. And this is when she was young, you know, having a girl, teenage girl. And the thing is her basketball coaches were Dee Brown and Antonio Davis. Growing up. He lived right down the street from us, and I was always saying, Mr Brown, how how's AI doing?

And he was she was tough today. I was like, okay, because you know, growing up, as you know, when you have kids who dads are a professional athlete. The hardest thing for us to get through to other coaches that we are dads, but don't give us some of the bullshit that you can give everybody else. We don't. We already We've already gone through all that. So uh, you know, my kids were prepared as a you know early in

life that hey, these things are gonna happen. But getting back to the Hall of Fame, it's going to be a very emotional week, uh for everybody because you know, that's one of the greatest competitors that whoever that ever lived. Do you have any uh personal story that comes to mind about or an opportunity or experience you got shared, not just you know. Uh. We actually took a family vacation and it was probably the best family vacation that

I've ever taken. And we planned it that it was Lebron and Kobe for Christmas Day in l A and then from l A we were going to Hawaii. My kids have never been to Hawaii, so we're like, okay, we get to Hawaii. Um, but just being able to to go in there and say hi to him. My kids look at him like, you know, what did I want to say? He had that glow like the last dragon. Yeah,

so when they saw they were like looking at him. Uh. And we end up going to Hawaii, and halfway through Hawaii, my oldest goes, Dad, well, we're going to Seattle because I had to take a physical. It was a two thousand eight. He said, we're going to Seattle. Why don't we stop and go to the Rolls Bowl. We gotta. So we fly from l A, go to the Rolls Bowl, and then up to Seattle to watch Chris Johnson rush

for two thousand yards. So in that nin ten day period we got to see some of the you know, a football game, a basketball game, and uh two football games in the basketball game, which was pretty incredible for for my kids and and me. I was like, uh, you know, probably the best time I've ever had as a dad to be able to share these type of experiences and you know, for them to be thankful, because they still thank me to this day about, Hey, that was a great trip. No, I think that's amazing. That's

that's the experience last last a lifetime. You know, I was fortunate enough my last three or four years playing where the twins were traveling with me everywhere. So my final year in Golden State, coach Kerve was so cool. He let them on the team playing. They were in the hotel with us, they were in shoot around with us, you know, shooting against k D during one of our

Western Conference practices. So that's the kind of stuff that they'll never ever forget, and that, like I said, those are true proud dad moments where you're really just giving these kids like once in a lifetime, you know, kind of look at our lives. You're struggling. Hit in front of your dad, and then take us back to that senior the game, your senior year over two with two strikeouts. So I you know, I've had coaches throughout my high school career go, hey, tell your dad, he can't you

what you can't play in front of them. You know, my mom and dad would be talking. My mom would go, you know he did this, and he would always ask my mom, is he really that damn good? Because every time I see him he can't hit nothing. So I was over too, with two strikeouts. He leaves, go to the ballpark, I drive down and he goes, hey, man, what you do? I said, I went three for five for two home rounds of the double. He you can't

do that in front of me. I'm like, nah, So my very first hit in front of him as a pro. He was in in an RV and left center field behind the Monor League field, Like, and I got a hit. He opens the window and he goes, now, was that so damn bad? And he closes the window, like really bad? You just go on the first base like, yes, I got hitting like na doubt? So was the smooth? Was it? When did you start finally start feeling comfortable hitting around him?

Right in and there, right when I understood that he just like everybody else, he's a fan, but he just my dad man. Number one overall pick by the Seattle Mariners. Talked to us about where sports came. You were a multitalented athlete, played several sports. When did you know baseball was your sport? Um? I knew baseball was always my sport. That's the thing in my household how he grew up is you're gonna play everything. Um. The only thing that my dad insisted on was that you knew of the

rules where you started playing. Um. You know, he didn't quiz you on it, but you know, hey, if something happens, what do you do? Um? Or baseball it was easy because I was I grew up watching my dad. But basketball and football, UM, he wanted to make sure that I knew the rules and and you know, go out there and play as hard as I could. And you know, he didn't care about the wins and losses as a as a kid. It was more or less the effort

that was given throughout the day. The key for me growing up, UH was it It was always about effort. You know, I can't control with four other guys do on the court, or I can't control you know, ten other guys on my football field, but I can control what I do. And uh, he would never ask me, you know, hey what do you do in the game? He hey, how did your team do? And then we would go on from there and probably about forty minutes into the conversation, he was like, hey, what do you

need to work on? So it was always a constant work, uh kind and work throughout you know, my little league, my high school, even my pro days. UM. You know, the one thing that was constant is the phone call the talking. Um. You know, he's still you know, he's always he will always be my dad. Uh. And so he can't stop that. So even now I'm fifty and he's still telling me what to do, and I just look at him. I'm calling. But like back, I got

this part of it. But now he's like, you know, he's like grandfather, so he thinks he can controls it. I'd like, look, man, you'll live here. Your mail coming to your my house with your name on it after you told me that when I was a kid. But it's it's beautiful to hear the relationship you and your father have because there's a fact and there's some stigma about you know, absent absent fathers in the black community

and the households. And you were someone who got to have a father, having to make relationship with the father and not only do that, but play on the same team as your father. That was what that was like. Well, go back a little bit, um, I actually met my grandfather. When you talked about absentee parents, My grandfather and my grandmother got to force when my dad was too. I was nineteen years old and I was in the lobby and my grandfather showed up and I had no idea

what he looked like. And I just looked over and I was like, man. And Harold Reynolds was with me, and I said, I think that's my grandfather. He goes, what I go, I've never met him, so Harold was like, let's go because he looked just like one of my uncles. So Harold introduced me to my grandfather for the first time. I was nineteen years old. Uh. So then I called my grandmother. I was like, hey, I just met She was like stay away from up. Was like, okay, cool

because I've known you all my life. I just met this man. So what Grandma said that was the law. And the next time I saw him, I was twenty five. Um, you know, and then I had to get some stories from my dad. Um. He actually was really crazy. Is he went to high school and played baseball with Stam Usual, So they were high school teammates, and Stam would always say, hey, your grandfather was one of the best athletes I've ever

played with. But getting back to my dad, everything that my grandfather did, he didn't want to make that same mistake. So as many games as he wanted to, you know that he could because he was still playing, so he would show up when he could, um, and he was like,

this is the way it's supposed to be. So I learned from him, Hey, you got to show up to as many games as possible, because I was that kid who who you know, every Saturday, my dad's playing and they got all the dads there, and my dad's still not able to come unless we had that early game and they were at home. But he probably saw me thirty times from Little League until I turned pro. He

did what he could. The money is, you know, the money is definitely different where you know you can charter playing home, uh and watch the kids and and be back in the same city in the same day. I mean I did it. You know, when I was in Cincinnati, my little guy and my oldest guy had game one in game two, so game one was seven thirty to eight thirty and nine o'clock to eleven. I jumped back on a plane at at eleven thirty twelve o'clock and be back in Cincinnati at one thirty and for a

night game. And nobody knew what happened. But you know that, you know, the uh, just the learning of what my dad did help me, you know, try to be a better parent. Yes, yes, I love that. There's a lot of talk right now with Lebron James possibly being able to play with his son Brawny, and that would be in an amazing feat. As we mentioned earlier, you and your dad got a chance to play with each other. Uh. Actually the only father's son duel to hit back to

back home runs, which is incredible. What was it like to, Okay, you're here now and then you've always grown up seeing your dad. Now you're playing with your dad. Although it wasn't very long, you still got a chance to do it and you you made some history. Uh in the process. What was that like? Dad was funny because um, when he got there, he said, hey, this is your team. This is your team. This is not my team. This

is your team. You toss in the backyard. It's a little different now were in uniform and we actually getting paid for this, so it's different than the father and son games and things like that. He's in left. I'm right, but we had a beat. Whoever got the first hit the other one had to pay for dinner. But the other one had a chance to tie, so he bad a second, I bad a third. So he gets a single. But while he's while he's up at the plate, I yelled out, come on, Dad, get a hit. I turned around.

Everybody in the dugouts laughing, and I go, what's so damn funny? They go, you know, that's the first time that it's been said, because you know, you get fossil, old man, Graybeard, you know, you get all these names. Come on, pops, you know, things like that. And I was like, come on, Dad, get a hit. And they were like, that's the first time. And then this history of this game that somebody actually said it and meant it.

That was their daddy. So he gets a hit, and then I get a hit, and I was like, yes. So he actually hit three seventy seven the six weeks that he played with us, he led our team in hitting. I had three home runs. I keep laughing at him because you know, when they start him off at a fastball, they throw me a curveball. When they started him off with a curveball, they threw me the fastball. They never

pitched us the same. But I learned a lot about hitting because this guy looked like I look like him. I watched him set up pitchers. I watched all the things that he did, and I said, for seventeen years that I lived in your house, I learned more about hitting in the six weeks hitting behind you. Then I would the things that every man has heard in their house. While you live in my house, you live by my rules. Well, my dad stayed with me. My my dad stayed with me. So I got to say it to my dad. His

ass moved out. He was trying to hear, but yeah, we're going to uh, we're going to um Anaheim. And he hits a two run homer and he shakes my hand and he said, that's how you do his son. And I just turned around and looked at him like I can't believe you're just gonna and he goes and he goes. He watched my intensity change like, oh, I got to do this, and so I hit it out. I gave me a three oh pitch, I got the green light. I hit it out. I'm running around the base.

I can't wait to shake his hand. You know, I'm sitting there like that. Yeah, I got him. Uh. He made me shake everybody's hand first before he shook mine. And then we sat. We sat next to each other and he said, uh, you know what we just did. I said, yeah, we went back to back, not understanding the magnitude of history, you know, him being thirty eight and me being twenty, not understanding any of that. I'm still in game mode. He's over there done. He don't

switched out of game mode. He didn't thought about, you know, the Hall of Fame, you know what this means in baseball history. I'm still in you know, the third or fourth ending. I'm still right there. He's sitting there talking to me, and I'm like focused like they had, you know,

just blah blah blah. And I didn't realize what it meant until I started passing guys on the home run chart, when I got to Frank Robinson and certain guys that now I understand what he felt like, because it was around the same age thirty eight that I'm started passing these guys on this chart. And I'm like, so, this is what my dad felt like, you know, eighteen years ago. And uh. I sat there for a second then, and I was playing right field at the time, and I

just shook my head like, okay, now I get it. Now, I understand. Now now we're could So I called and I said, now, I understand, dad, but you feel twenty years ago, you know when I when we went back to back, he was like, it took you that damn long to realize it, you know, but I always got to be smart somewhere around. But now, but he he was, he was a teammate, which was great. Um, Brownie makes it.

I'm gonna be there with my dad. To be sitting in the stands, that's something that doesn't happen often, and you want to be a part of it. And uh, you know, we were just sitting there like and you know, we're trying to calculate. Okay, he's this age, blah blah blah. He got three and a half years, four years before you you know, before you can play. And we're like, all right, if you stick around four years and he makes it, okay, we're gonna be there because it is special.

It is special. It's it's it's one of those things. And you know, and I tell everybody, it's whether you play professional to be outside being able to play with your kids and still be healthy enough to play with your kids, that's the most important thing, you know. I mean, people look at it. Oh you you're I mean The thing about this, my dad went through two strikes and

a lockout before he could play with me. Now he had to stick around, you know, nineteen years and I had to get out of high school and play within a year and a half to be in the big leagues for this to happen. So there's a lot of factors that have to happen in baseball that you know football. And I don't think it's ever gonna be done. It can't be. But yeah, unless you have a baby at twelve and and you know, we work on it. I mean, but it was you know, he, like I said, he

was a teammate, He didn't. He didn't treat me any differently other than the fact that we rode together, we went to lunch together, and he paid because I called him Mr. Provider. I didn't ask to be born in this world. Uh, just so happen. Yeah, And it's funny is my kids doing it to me? My son looking at me and trade six. I was like, y'all, Matt, you know, like, no, dad were having for dinners? Gonna

be dead? Yeah, yeah, that's a good feeling. Though you played in the air, I couldn't imagine what you would have been like in a in a social media era with the way your style of play, your swing, the I mean, how good you were with this last dance. Now, we never got to see that backstory of Mike. He was like the one superstar that we uh you know as basketball fans every really got to see the other side of So with this last dance and the way, it's kind of pulling back the curtain on what things

were like back there. What have you been taking away from this? Well, I've been sitting there with the kids and you know, my wife and we've been looking at each other and she would start laughing at but like, what are you laughing about? She goes, that sounds just like you. That intensity is you. I was like, no, I wasn't like that. She goes, oh yeah. The difference in in baseball that I'd said in other sports is baseball is the only sport where I can neutralize the

best player. If I don't want him to play, I just stick out four fingers and he can go to first base. Like you tend to say, you know, you're hitting a round ball with a round back, square hand, eye coordination, other things. But I don't take anything away from anybody's other sport, whether it be football or basketball, because that's a whole lot of pounding that y'all do that people don't see. They don't see the elbows to the ribs, the shots that you guys take going to

the whole, the guy's tackling and things like that. They see a good tackle, they understand that, but they don't understand what happens. Because everybody follows the ball, every sport follows the ball. They don't see everything else that goes on. But you know, I sit there and you know, for me, I just had surgery twelve weeks ago, to be twelve weeks tomorrow, shoulder surgery, UM, which was number twenty for me. Uh yeah. So when people say, hey, you should have

played at this whatever, like now, I'm good. I'm happy where I right where I because I do see, you know, having a kid who played you know, high school, college and pro I see, you know, when he comes in Monday morning, how beat up he is. Um, you know, I do see my my little guy who's a corner, what he looks like on Sutnurday, Sunday morning. Um, you know, I do see, you know, and it's a little it's a whole lot different from girls basketball, the physicality from

girls to boys and basketball wise. Uh, but I do see how sore my my daughter was playing, and I'm like, no, I'm good. I don't want to be running that far. I don't want to do all that and I don't want nobody to hit me. I'm happy right where I'm at. You got throw me a three two slider either. I hate it. I don't. It's okay. But the intensity from you know, and I've known Mike for twenty plus years, you know, so a plus. Uh, but you've always heard about the intensity and how he was. Now you're seeing

a little bit of it now. But you know the thing is that you start laughing because you see him now after playing owning a team. He still got that competitive edge, but he's just not uh as fiery that you saw back then because you're not playing, I mean thinking about it, we're all retired. We're sitting there like, yeah, some of that stuff don't even matter no more. We just sit there and twenty years ago we would have been a blue gasket see it. But the difference for

me is, like, you know, my dad played baseball. He helped a lot of guys out. Um, so when we had a team fight, they was pushing me out, like just so along to you. We're just gonna have you play. So, I mean there's been plenty time Dave Parker grabbed me. We're fighting Oakland and Dave was like, now, I just don't gone back here soon. And they don't have nothing to do with this one. And I'm like, I want to get into it. They're like, this is the guys

that need to get into it. You're gonna take You're gonna take our game to another level. And he knew at that, you know, And I'm like, well, he like, just shut your butt over there in this corner. A matter of fact, if I see you in this I'm a grabbing And I was like, man, I don't want him to grab me. Bide. Yeah he he, he did some things to me. Uh that wasn't fair. But but

I mean that's the way thing. You know, you have certain guys, even though they played for another team, you know that that's the kid who who's going to elevate the game, and you try to take care of him and let him understand that, hey, you need to do X, Y and Z. So this game could get to the next level. You started a partnership with Nike, released a shoe in nineties six to me one of the best

cross trainers, right up there with Dion's and and Bruce Smith's. Uh. Talked to us a little bit how that start and how that made you feel men to have your signature shoeing baseball, and that was kind of uncommon at the time. You know, you grow up. My dad was a Chuck Taylor fan Converse, so you know, growing up, and you know,

he didn't have a contract. The funny thing is with the Reds you had it was only I think Johnny Bench was the only one who had a contract shoe contract, but he had that rawlings leather bottom, three spikes, uh. And he was like when he got to New York, he was able to get a contract. So he wanted Converse and we was like, nah, we want Nike, you know, we want Nike. He was like, nah, you know Magic and Bird my guy. So he signed with Converse. I would refuse to wear him. I just like, I ain't

wearing him, you know. He was like that. Dad. It was like, oh, you're gonna wear these, you know, and the leather too. And at that time. You know, you're looking at seventy eighty so the leather, you know, I was like, I ain't wearing him. So I told my mom, I said, I'm gonna have my own shoe, and she, you know, like every other mom, Yeah you go ahead, baby, Yeah, you know how that is. I wish you luck. And finally I got one, and uh, the first time they put it in my hand, I just stared at it.

I just looked at it like, wow, this is happening. And I still have it. It's it's under lock and key. But it was just one of those moments. I was like, you know, you feel that you have arrived and say that you were going to do something and you did it, um not knowing how far it was gonna go. Uh, you know, because you always want to leave the sport better than when it came in, better than when you came in. And you know, my dad not being able

to have a shoe because they weren't. That wasn't popular then. Only basketball, you know, I tell everybody Basketball, it starts a whole lot of stuff. Basketball had hot tops. All of a sudden, Baseball got hot tops. All of a sudden,

football got hot top. Basketball went three quarter. Then everybody went through the three quarter, and then basketball started with the lows and now everybody got a speed sho even in uniforms that you know, you guys have have started the tight fit uniforms and everything else the back in the day, the teraraway jerseys, UM, just everything that you guys have done over the years. You know, other sports have followed marketing Basketball has wanted. You know, back I

couldn't remember back in the day, it was fantastic. I couldn't wait to find out who said it, and you know that was the highlight. And then all of a sudden, you know, I mean, you know, basketball has done a lot for for culture, and you know, as other sports, we have to follow it because I think that you know, there's some some great minds in basketball, UM for marketing their players. You know, they don't have you know, you know, I'm six too, and I don't stay got like a

sore thumb. You know, I can go somewhere. Somebody come in six five taller. You know, they're like, you know, they automatically think you play basketball or you do play UM. So I was able to to hide where. You know, basketball you can't UM football, you can hide because you had a helmet on. But you know, the promoting of the players. Uh, you guys have been on top, you know since day one. How do you promote your players is unbelievable job, day in and day out. Um, no matter.

You know, if they're the best player on the team to the twelfth guy on the team. You know, Uh, they get in some airtime and people know who they are. I mean even in the city of Orlando. You know, they'll name, you know, seven guys off the top of the head and they'd be like, hey, we need to get rid of this. I feel like. But the only thing I don't like is uh for me to fantasy football and basketball and baseball, because you know, now you

start rooting. You know, you have your team that you're playing for, and you're rooting against him because you've got a guy that's playing for this team. I'll be to have uh, you know, because I get in trouble because I was born outside of Pittsburgh and my entire family except like three people are die hard Stealer fans, and I get in trouble because I'm a Cowboy fan. But I grew up you know, my uncle went to high

school with Tony Dorsett. So I went that way, like right, So he went to Tony door said he was like, hey, watch this kid. And I think I was like six and seven, and so I just started following him and I just became a cowboy fan. And and I don't know about you guys. How superstitious are you? Guys? I'm somewhat uncertain things, putting certain things on a certain way. Yeah, sacks, what are you? Oh No, I'm good, I'm good. I'm good. I'm not superstitious. Oh man, I got a I got

a strong belief in God. So I leave it at that. I'm really superstitious to the point where I have I have traded in cars because I ain't get no hit in. I had one of my friends. Uh, that's crazy. I walk up to home plate the same way. You know. If I come in on the first day side, I walk straight in. If I come back, if we're on the third base side, I walked behind the umpire and come in through the first base side. Uh, three swipes clear out my area back dig in. So I don't Yeah,

but I don't touch any lines. I don't run over the mound. I touched third base. I touched. When I run out on the field for the first time, I touched first base. If we're on the first bay side and third base on on the third bay side, you have a getting back to my my trading in car actually had one of my friends, he's from Cincinnati at the time. He actually drove one of my cars up, handed me the keys, and then drove back. So he drove twenty six hours just to give me a car.

And I said, man, when you get it back, go ahead and get rid of it. Because the end I went, oh for levin in it. I couldn't do it. No, it can't be me, Like I said, it can't be me. It happened, damn car, no question. That wasn't routine. That wasn't routine. More the superstitious. Now because I drove the other car, it got a hit. You knew it, right, I car. What's different than baseball is you know you

got your coming out in music at the beginning. That's it when they introduced youall one time, so we get it four times and depending on my mood swings. Uh was how I played my music. So you know it could be you know dmx n W A uh eminem uh had a little reik A in there mm hmmm with Kamali Morley. Uh but I just it was like, you know, being superstitious, and if a media person asked me the wrong question, I played my music that way so he could hear it, so he knew, you know,

so he could hear what I was saying. He could feel you without you having to say it. I've had a couple of people. I had a couple of media come up to me, was like, um, hey man, uh was that song meant for somebody from like now what you're talking about? Because I got ripped for something I didn't do, but it is what it is. And uh so I played did you have? I am whatever you

say I am. But the funniest thing I've done a couple of funny things I've done is J. Buner came up to hit and we had those phone hats and the big phone cowboy hats, and I played Bonanza when he came up and he put the bat between his legs and started jumping like this. That was one. And everybody knows uh um Bell tray that Uh well, he doesn't wear a cup playing third base. I don't know how you at third base you're not wearing a c So he got hit, so you know, he was out

for six to eight weeks. He comes back. The first at bat that he came back, I had him played the nutcracker when he walked to play. But do you know how bad? How bad that to be out six to eight weeks from getting here? And that had to be Patty just like you, Matt, he Patty, just like you. I love hearing this. I would do the same kind of ship. And you know, I mean, we play a hundred and sixty two games and a hundred days, so so we're there every day. Now. Now, I had a

guy Manzania, Jose Manzanilla. He got hit. Picture and he was down on the ground and Jeey Cors standing over top of him. You run on this field, you run the funk off the field. And he got up and ran and when at the end of the we came in at the end of the inning, he was like this, like he was swollen down there like that, and we started laughing. So he had to go. He had surgery. They had to sew it together. So he was out for like he was out for like two and a

half three months. But we were all laughing because the runoff, he said, you run on the field, you run off, And then we got in the dugout were like we got in the training room, he was like, yeah, man, I might have walked that one off. But know but you know what funny is that when when when you when you down, you know, the one thing in baseball is like they give you the all the teammates figuring

you ain't doing nothing. So they give you like the lover's package has got feathers and glitter and all kinds of stuff that they you know, because you're gonna be at home for a while, you might as look at re acquainted with with mama. Well, we couldn't do that with him. He wasn't able to do nothing. So we was over looking at him like, oh, we were looking at him like you can't do nothing. It's gonna be all right, but we're just gonna look at you like so I saw him, you know, we saw him. You know,

he got back. We like you were in the cup and every then they start cup checking him making sure he wore one. I was like, come on, dog, I didn't wear one because to me, if I got hit from three feet, I deserve to get hit. You know if I if a ball bound three, you know it broke three, you know, three feet and I can't put glove on. I deserve. Yeah. Yeah, that's why I got all them. Yeah balls, they never balls. Balls, they never get touched. Got the globe. Talk to us a little

bit about the creation of your commercials. Like one of my all time favorite commercials was was I Got It? Where you basically ran to California to catch you pop up from New York and threw it back in. Talk to how part you know, how how hands all were you in the creative process of those commercials. Well, they they already had the creative done for me. They just asked me that I want to do it, and I was like, yeah, I do it. Um. I actually ran

across the bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge. I actually was in Times Square in full UNI running in between calves that ship though. Well, the funny thing is what's the liability of a team now would say absolutely not, He's not doing any of that question. There was a cornfield in the middle of l A that I ran through. Um. They had Little small Town, USA, which is in l A.

And I ran through that. It was the wildest thing I mean, I spent five days running and we actually you know l a uh be a little known fact about that commercial. Vivica Fox was in that commercial. She was one of the extras in that commercial. Really, I think I never caught her that. That's one of your famous lines. Man, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it. Yeah, that's I say that now, But now it was. You know you know that nowadays is they try to figure out

your personality. Um, and what can you do? My thing is I could I could play ball, man, I can help you sell shoes, because it's all about putting yourself in a position where people like you. Um, my dad wasn't a painting the ass, so I didn't have that problem of people thinking that I was going to be that person. Um. All the people that my dad has helped,

they helped me. I mean from your Dave Winfield, Ricky Henderson, Kirby Pucket, uh, Chili Davis, Um, you know, Eddie Murray, all these guys when they came into my town where I was in their town. Hey, we're taking you to lunch, we want to pick your brain, we want you to be the guy. So I was basically groomed to be that guy at an early age, and I understood it. Even though I was still young, I understood certain things. I was still wanting to be a teenager. I still

wanted to be a twenty year old. I mean, think about I was two years in the big leagues before I was allowed to go to a club. So by the time I was twenty one going to a club, I was like, I've already spent two years in the big leagues. I know what I need to do to stay here, and so I just learned that. You know, people like, well, you missed all the you know, you missed the college experience, you missed this, you missed that. But I tell people, no, I didn't miss that because

here's where I wanted to be. I want to be in the big leagues. And you know that would have kept me off the pay roll for three, three more years, four more years, because you've been three years in college before you get drafted. And then you know, unless you that monster uh coming out of college, which very seldom that you have a position player, they still want you to go from looming it back to wood bats. So they want to see you know, throwing, having a guy

throwing hundred. He ain't gonna spend much time in the Mount of Leagus, but they want to see guys that that you know, performed day in and day out with a wooden bat. So um, yeah, but it was you know, it's a learning curve for you know, from you guys from the college to to to pro ball, from high school to you know, pro ball, I mean, and you just have to have you know. I think the thing that we're missing as a group is the mentorship that people people want and need. Uh. People think that they

could do it all by themselves. No, they can, you know, and the getting into the mentorship now. But the the mentorship is for me the most important thing because everybody can you know, you can shoot, you can run, you can dunk, you can you know, pass the ball. But it ain't about what you do on the field. That's important is how you carry yourself off the field, because basketball, football, and baseball that's going in. What can you do after?

You know, what kind of what do you want to do with your life after I played twenty years as a pro, which is half my life, so half my life I'm not a pro. What do I want to do? Um, I've been fortunate enough to to get in a couple of businesses and try to move forward from that. I think it's amazing because I think we speak on it today that there's the league is so young now, particularly the NBA, that there's no veteran leaders anymore, and you know, to hear that your dad kind of did so much

for other guys. He was one of those true back in the day, let me help you avoid the potholes. And it's seldom you find that anymore. Your dad had a very long successful career, um, you know, All Stars, one true World Series. What was it like as a child growing up with the dad that was a successful professional athlete? He was it reciprocated, you know. Yeah. But I tell you what's funny about that is, I didn't realize who my dad was until like I was in

eighth grade. I had like a New York Yankee starter jacket on, and I was at school when somebody said, where'd you get dad? I was like my dad? He was like, what, your dad plays for the Yankees? I was like, yeah. He didn't come home and project that he was this baseball player, and he just was dad. Um, you know, when he came in the house. I didn't know if he went over for four for four, um, but the things that you know he taught me was,

you know, number one, you work hard. There's other people involved. They're going to help you. Take the information that is given to you and apply it to your game. If it works, it works, If it doesn't, then you can talk about it that person. Talk with it, talk with it, talk to that person about it. Um. That's the hard thing is now you've got guys that don't want to listen. They think they know, and I'm like, dude, you I had an argument with the catcher one year and he

was like, I see the ball so perfect. I said, dude, then why are you batting up up ninety? If you're seeing the ball that great and we're in we're in high A, you ain't gonna make it because there are certain things that you are not doing. I'm here to help you. And I told him, I said, look my speech that's coming in and at the time of yeah, so five years from now, two thousand sixteen, I'm not gonna mention your name that I helped you. I'm trying

to help you. I'm not trying to hurt you. And I think that's where people you know, Uh, Cincinnati did the same thing for a while. They didn't allow the guys to show up, so you know, you couldn't see you know, my dad couldn't show up. My dad could

you up because he worked for the team. But Johnny Bench wasn't there a live Joe Morrigan, Chuck Harmon sr. These guys that that paved the way for for athletes today who have seen baseball for thirty forty fifty years were not allowed to be seen in the locker room to help the guys, and we needed those guys. So when you go into a locker room, you're not going

to a locker room representing yourself. You rob him. You're you're wanting to help a younger kid, you know, make as much money as he can, but also talk to him about life situations where they don't get caught up in some of the bs that people and caught up in. And so we get you know, from me, fortunate that I worked for the Mariners and they allow me to do that. I come in, we have conversations. My phone doesn't stop ringing until you know, one to three o'clock

in the morning. Sometimes the guys, the young kids want to just talk about sports that came. You know. The biggest thing is how come I don't show up more. I'm like, I'm there five times a year. It's like, we need you more, we need to see you more. I'm like, you can call me, we can FaceTime. We want you to be here. So, uh, you know. So I think that's the thing is trying to get these young kids to understand that, yeah, it may be basketball, but there are other things. This game is gonna continue

to go on with or without you. Just you know, go out there, do the right thing. You know, every day, go out there and work your butt off, but do the right thing. You have to ask yourself, what is it gonna cost me off the field? You know, good question, you know that's the key. What does it go? How much its gonna cost me? It may not cost me any money because that, but it could cost me, you know later on being able to to to have that

that sponsorship job, you know, promoting a product. And I think people don't look at they look at what's now instead of what I want when I'm not playing this game, because that money. You know, what, what's the rookie minimum. I know, it's like five thirty five for baseball or five maybe six D for baseball, but it's up higher for the NBA. You're not gonna make that at a regular job, so you're spending kant overpower that. So you gotta learned a lot of things, you know, and and

basketball is being part of it. But how much money do I want to keep? Where are my goals when I'm not playing? How do I want to continue to generate revenue and what we call it generational wealth, but also continuing to be able to live the lifestyle you live now, you know, I mean the lifestyle you were accustomed to in the pros as far as just your amenities. You know, you have to start planning for that so

you can still be comfortable once you're done. And I think that a lot of people, a lot of people missed that boat. A lot of people miss that boat. Is unfortunate because you work your ass off. We're put here as athletes. That's what we've learned. That's what we're from, you know, since we were little. So once once that over that, that what next starts to creep in, Like you said, so you have to keep all that in mind. And Jack and I have been lucky fortunate because we

we're guys who've made multiple mistakes. But I think we stayed true to ourselves and we we we've apologized when needed to, but have always been real and authentic and we've been able to although we hit some major potholes, Um, we've been able to transfer over into this next space of you know, analyzing and kind of talking for a living. But we learned a lot along the way, and that's what we try to do. We try to motivate people.

You know, some people have a clearer path than others, but you can still do it, you know what I mean. But you always want to keep that big picture in mind because, like you said, your career is gonna come to an end. Like what is gonna be next? Yeah, I think that's you know, you guys have done an unbelievable job of you know, I you know, we were supposed to hook up man when you were here about doing a bowling tournament, and yeah, I was gonna beat you by the way I look at it, throwing something.

I gotta get in that. I gotta get in that. I'm kind of nice with bowling. I gotta get in that. Uh well, um, I'm gonna just let you all know. You know, I built my house with a bowling out in it, so we don't stand in the chance. What shop, what's you ship? We'll just hey, we'll just come to your house and play then and then go to Vince's house and play something. You know, play something else too. Yeah, no, no, no, that's okay. Th that's that's your sport. I'm not into

that one. Like I know my limits. But I tell you know, Actually, what's funny is when the kids left for college, I end up getting rid of it. Like you know, I was like, I'm not here, nobody's bowling. So I made it a man cave. So I put you know, the ping pong table, the pool table, put at DJ booth because I want to learn how to be a DJ. I try to pick things. I try to pick things, you know, every year to keep every other year or every three years too, just to keep going. Um.

In two thousand, I learned Scooba dive. Um oh six. I took flying lessons, so I learned to fly so I can fly my own plane. I figured that. I figured that my kids were going to go to school, and like somewhere in Florida and I could fly down to see him and then fly back. Now, my kids decided they want to go to Arizona, and I was like, yeah, but my little guys, he's he's going to family. He's gonna go to family. So we're looking for Yeah, well

he he's always said he wanted home school, college. Yeah, he didn't want to go far. An't want to leave. I ain't at it now. I just keep telling if I could move in with my mom, I would too, you know, becauld nobody cook like mom. You know I'm gonna make him pay room and board. So you're the overall number one pick. Uh in nineteen eighties seven Uh spent two years in the monor leagues. Make your major league debut. Tell us what that process was? Life was

finally getting there. You've been around it your whole life. Uh, you know you obviously picked it up. You you you knew this was your sport. You're finally there. What was that feeling? Like they called a couple of days before the draft, and you know, they were like, we're gonna draft you, or we're gonna draft a college picture, which was my car key. I kept saying, okay, and finally they go, we want to make you our number one pick. Do you are you gonna sign? And my dad said, uh.

He looks at me and goes, hey, they want to make you the number one pick. But you could say no and you can go to seven six seven. I think the Reds were Reds in Atlanta were like within the first eleven and I said, now I want to be the number one pick. And he looked at me. I was like, I want to be number one, and he said, we're gonna sign. So the the draft was actually June two, so I signed a contract. June three was my brother's birthday. June four, I was graduated high school.

June eight. I was in Seattle. June six. I played my first game as a pro um and never had a summer off until two thousand ten. So from to two thousand and ten, you know, everybody, you know, I see all my friends who play other sports. They you know, they in Hawaii, They and the Bahamas, they over here in the summer. I get home, it's the it's raining in Seattle, um and you know, but it is what it is. I mean, I got you know, Christmas, you guys are playing Christmas. I'm at home in my pajamas

and open up present, you know. So it's the trade off. Um, but the downfall is kids are in school, so you can't take them out where you guys have summers off and you can go on vacation and things like that, or at least part of it, because if you make the playoffs with it is at the end of June that it's over. Yeah. Yeah, so you've got one month of you know, before it starts. Yeah. And uh so for us, you know, I'm there February till October. So my kids don't, you know, don't get a chance to

to go on vacation unless it's the wintertime. But it's okay, you know, it's a little bit of trade on. But being a being a baseball player, and like I said, having a dad who played, I understood how to play baseball at an early age, just like your kids know how to play basketball at an earlier age. So what you learned along the way, you're giving them that information when they can handle it. You're not gonna give it to them before then. So at age fourteen, I knew

I wanted to be a pro ball player. At age fourteen, defensively, I could have played in the big leagues. Now. Offensively, you know, but defensively you know, you're I'm going to spring training. The guys are hitting major league pop ups and fly balls. I'm chasing them down. So defensively, already knew I could play here. Um, offensively with a different story. Um, you know, you gotta learn to go from in living a back to wood back and that takes some adjustment.

But defensively, I was like, I can do this. Did you eat catfish while you use the seattle? No, see, I'm allergic to fish. It was my family got a spot called Catfish Corner Seattle. Look, I'll go there, but i'll get it for the guys. I'm allergic. The craziest thing is when we talk about I can eat shellfish, I can eat shrimp, lobster, crab, but can't eat regular fish. Uh, it's that's the opposite my mom. My mom did say I was abnormal and certain things. That was she said

you were not normal. A lot of black man come on. But no, we just uh my kids love catfish. Um, they usually cook fish and stuff. When I'm not home. They wait, you know, to for me to get out of the house. So my little guys are he's a rich snapper guy. I don't know how. Yeah, I love red fish is the best fish. Yeah. I just sit there like I have a boat that we go to the Bahamas and we just catch fish. And I'm the one sitting in there, uh, in the middle, and I

let my boys, you know, catch fish. I mean we had one time we caught two hundred pounds of mahi mahi. Uh a lot of fish. M hm. So you were All Star selection from nine to two thousand ten, ten straight All Star appearances. What was that like your first few All Star games and getting to play with, you know, obviously the best players in the world, and you're arguably one of the best. The first couple, I was so nervous that I was like, oh lord, I don't even

know what I want to do. Uh. Um, first one in Chicago, I didn't think I left the hotel room. Everybody's like, hey, you gotta do this, you gotta do that. I'm like, I ain't going nowhere. I'm just gonna sit here and not waste all this energy. Um. I didn't home run Derby as that were you twenty at the time of your first All Star parents and uh, you know, so it was nerve racking, like you know, being a

young guy. And here's what we talk about the pitfalls is, you know, people pulling at you left and right and not knowing who to trust. And uh so, you know, I was like pulling this direction, pulling in this direction, and finally I was like, you know what, I've gotta do. What I've gotta do. And playing baseball was it. But going to the All Star Game, You're like, you're looking around my first one, I'm like, I don't even belong here.

I'm looking at all these guys, these guys that got bugs Bunny numbers, they hitting three thirty at All Star Break, they got twenty five jacks, they got seventy five three, And I'm over there looking at them like I'm over here, Okay, I'm hitting two eighty. I got like seven home. You know, you just don't. And after a while you start to understand that, oh, I could play with these guys, and

I'm better than these guys. And I knew that, you know, um, you know, it was an opportunity for show, for me to show that I can't play at a high level and I can play with the best players. If this is the All Star team. I deserve to be here. So my second year I got a couple of hits, and the third time I was at the All Star Game, which was I end up winning. Then m v P. From that point on it was like, oh, you could play. Everybody's gonna be looking at you, and I knew it.

But again, I've had guys who were molding me to be that guy who made sure that hey, this is this is the guy, this is the kids. He's got old school beliefs, but he got a new school swag. You know, people talking about my hat backers will only won my hat packers because my dad's Hey, it was too big. He had a throw and the hat kept hitting me here, so I turned around. I just wanted to wear when my dad wore. I didn't want to be different. But the long pan George Hendrick started that,

but George History played mid eighties. I came in at the end early nineties. It was like, okay, Bill buck Meyer wore the first hot tops. Well then everybody wanted to wear hot tops, but it was only cool if somebody that they could relate to warm you came in and I just left the perfect storm. I was a young kid who you know, not much older than most of the kids out of high school. I mean in high school, you know, so they could relate to me. So it was easy. You know, I wanted to be different.

I wanted to be that guy. I mean, you know the mock turtleneck. Now everybody got mock turtlenecks. You know. I wanted to you know, the you know, the carbon fiber body suit. Nike actually built me one. It was ninety grandly a body suit. Yeah, carbon fiber from the elbow and knees down. You know. So having having a perfect swing helps the man. The prettiest swing ever, just a little slap hitter. Just try to make contact, not to sure nobody. I tell everybody, I try to enforce

as much damage as possible. And that was the thing. But I don't have to throw my helmet, I don't have to break anything. I just got to go out there and play. You know. The hardest thing, you know, people to understand is, you know, people get mad, and I'm like, you don't have to get mad. You know what happened. Either you do what you don't you can learn from it, and we only get forward bad. So if I hit the ball hard, I can't get mad at the guys trying to make if he makes a

great play. I can get mad at me if I swing and miss, and you know he fooled me and I wasn't prepared. I tell everybody I'm more prepared than most people. And they're like, sometimes you do on even care who's pitching. I was like, because I could care less who's pitching. I know what I need to do. Yeah, you're you know. You know he has to throw it across the plate, whether it's right hand or left handed. You know that it's going to break one direction another.

So you know his strength, you know his weaknesses. You know he's his strengths are you know if something's got a FOURK ball hits his out pitch, well, he's not gonna throw it to you the very first pitch, so I can eliminate that pitch. He's not gonna come in through his his out pitch on the first pitch. Now, if he throws it again, I've already seen it. He's gonna wait till I get two strikes. That's why they

called it an out pitch. Now, if you got an overpowering fastball, all right, you just gotta change your sites to hit it more towards left center than the center. Yeah, it's real simple, but you know that where everybody makes it hard, especially now with the lonch ankle. I'm like a lone ankle. So a pop up is okay and the strikeout is okay. Well back then, I mean, and you guys, knowing basketball guys shoot forty times his percentage is y'all looking at him like he's crazy. You gotta

look at you. Yeah, yeah, you gotta look you know. And I tell everybody that that look from your peers is more damaging than anybody when anybody can write in the paper, because you know, when you get taken out the game and all your peers do this to you, that's right, the right that right there, because then you know, I tell everybody, when you go in that locker room,

they know who who who balling and who ain't. But you know, for that lean, you know, I mean that right there hurt me more than you know what anybody can write in the paper or what anybody can say, because this is my group, right so you know nowadays they tacked on, but hey, good job, Yeah you scored twenty three, but just shot seventy five times Okay, you carried the ball a hundred and fifty times and you got two hundred yards. So you're still looking at people. No,

that ain't gonna work. You know, we sit there and start laughing because no, we still you know, we start laughing because it has changed. But then where they say we wanted the old way, when you know it's physical basketball or physical baseball or physical football. When it's playoff time, you can't have both. In ninety four, at the age of you would hit forty home runs through a hundred eleven games. You gotta strike that season? Did that sixty

one mark? Um creeping your mind at all? Knowing what kind of pace you're on, and you know how many more games you had to possibly get it? No, I actually had no, uh, because I don't. To me, I never thought of myself as a home run hitter. I thought of myself as a line drive hitter that happens to hit home runs. Um, you know, I just wanted to hit the ball as hard as I couldn't and hit it somewhere and if it went out, it went out. If it didn't, it didn't. But as long as it

touched out, Phael grass I was happy. But but you know, but that's what draws, you know. And in all sports, that's what draws people are the numbers, you know. And and sometimes I tell people numbers lie, numbers lie all the time. Yeah I've seen something. Yeah, uh you know, and people don't know it. Doesn't that go? Okay? So you take a guy who is hitting in front of a monster, and you take him to another team and he don't have that guy hidden behind him. This his

number changed absolutely. Look who bad? Look Look who who bats in front of? Like, uh, Albert Poolholes when he's St. Louis. Look who back in front of Barry Bonds. Watch those career numbers when they're bat in front compared to where they're at in a different order, right because they because the picture do this. He'll look at you and then you're looking at the dugout like, oh yeah, let me try to all right. I can't mess around with him because he back there. I don't want to give up too,

so I'm gonna have to concentrate on him. But I can because this guy he could put him put us ahead. But I can't really mess around with this guy. So you look at it, and the same thing in basketball, you know, guy dribbles down the court sudden, you know, you got that twelve ft instead of that. You know, the mid range jumper don't even exist no more. But that's the bread and butter, you know, you see in the paint three point line. But that seven to twelve

ft range thirteen, you know, you don't see that anymore. Uh, But a guy can go down there. I mean, Jordan comes down to court, which just used, he passes off somebody else. You know, Kerr hits it with Kerr hit that bucket with somebody else. We don't know because it didn't happen. But you look at great players and when other people go to somewhere else, how their numbers either drastically drop off in the same In football, you know, offensive line Cowboys. Can you imagine if Barry Sanders was

running behind that line of Emma smith Man? Could you really imagine, man, man, man man. That's why I say numbers lie because into it, Yeah, play into it. There's other pieces that that that add to that. The ninety four strike, do you feel like that hurt baseball as a hole? I mean, obviously a tennis was down after that, and it took a while to regain the steam. Anytime that a black eye is upon a sport, it makes

it tough. The fans demand more, corporate sponsorship, demand more television, demands more, and uh so it made it tough because you put a lot of pressure on the guys who who were leading the charge of that that new way of going into that, you know. I mean we still had a lockout. We started a season late. They were talking about during replacement players and so we started I

think two weeks late. But yeah, it hurts when when you don't have you know, your guys out there, you know, the household names that people want to see out there. But sometimes you have to do things that you don't want for the good of the sport um whether they're

you know, and people don't understand that. They look at, you know, the dollars of the guys, the current players, and they don't look at, Okay, what are they striking for the guys that are having trouble paying their own bills who played in the fifty who are trying to help the guys that they're played in the Negro League, help them get some part of some benefits and things like that. But they only look at because the fan is current they look at what are they looking at

right now? Not right not the big picture. And it's tough because you can't explain that and tell somebody that they know is in it. As a baseball player trying to explain it, they don't have anything. They don't They're like, whatever, whatever, you're making millions and millions of dollars to shut up a play. But they have somebody inside who knows what's going on and what they're trying to do. Then they're like, oh, well,

why didn't you say that. You're like, we can't say everything because it's a negotiation, and it makes it tough. I mean, any time that you have a work stoppage, it damages your your sport. You don't want to see that at all. I mean, you know, the coronavirus has has has stopped everything, uh, you know, but it's still you know, how many people are gonna start going to basketball games? How many people want to go to basketball games? You know, So it's it's got a lasting effect. And

this was nothing that the two sides argued about. It just happened to be a deadly virus and and it's still going to affect how we think, you know, how we go to games and things like that. Absolutely, you man, it's important. A lot of a lot of missnapp but we gotta get it straight before we move forward. Although you call yourself or you were a line drive hitter that happened to hit home runs, you consistently hit a

large amount of home runs consistently. I kind of felt like baseball came back to life in the late nineties early two thousand's with the assurgence of the long ball um. There was a lot of controversy that kind of swirled in that era with guy's numbers starting to go crazy. As you mean, someone who consistently hit and you see these mcguires pop up with seventy and Bonds with Bonds

with seventy three SOSA in the sixties. What are your thoughts when people are talking about Stobridge and you're seeing your peers put up these crazy numbers, but you're still you know, you're still true to yourself and doing what you consistently do as as as you see your peers doing what they're doing. I didn't worry about it. I never you know the thing that you know, Like I said, I grew up in a household. Never check somebody else's money.

Never question somebody else's money. You know what do they do? Whatever they do, they do you you can't control that. You're not you know, you're not gonna be the biggest personal team. You're not gonna be the fastest personal the team, not gonna be the strongest. But you just don't let somebody out work you. That's was my my attitude is I would ride my bike at two in the morning. You know, I get my fifteen miles in at two in the morning. Um, you know, nobody needs to see

how hard you're working. As long as you know that you're working, that's the most important thing. When I look in at mirror and go, I gave it all. That's the only thing I can do. The media, they're going to talk about what they want to talk about. You know that, And and that's the the downfall of playing you know, sports is some people have an extra grind. Some people just wake up on the bed side of the bed, and some people are true fans. And you know, you know, for for for me, did I worry about

nah m hmm. I didn't worry about nothing but my teammates and what they thought about me. What happened on somebody else's time. That was there's what happened on on my field. That's the only thing I cared about. I said, for they cheatahs, and I don't want cheats. You know, this is you make a ground. I mean, this is it's still kind of a complex subject, you know, looking back now that you're done, looking back on the steroid era of baseball, you were in, you know, when it

was going on. You're a part of it now kind of being removed from baseball obviously, what are your thoughts because obviously some guys are having problems getting into the Hall of Fame that that that there were good players, but their numbers were balloons once they started doing that. Looking back on all of that and knowing you were kind of in the mix playing during that time, what are your thoughts on it. Well, being a Hall of Fame member, I still don't vote. I don't have any

voting rights. That's up to the media, the voting media who vote on the Hall of Fame, and you know, so I don't get to to say, yeah, this guy gets him. Yeah, there are certain guys that should be in, um, you know, and you know there's certain guys that people go. He was borderline and all of a sudden, But there's guys that were great and then now they they become monsters. Um. But to me, it's one of those things that I don't vote, so I don't really have an opinion on,

you know, things that I can and can't control. That's the only thing I worry about. Um. But for the most part, you know, um, you know, Gene Kleins was my first hitting coach. He was like, numbers will take care of themselves, and people know who did the right thing and who did the wrong thing. Um, you just gotta keep playing. And he said it to me, uh after he called me so when you're nineteen in the big leagues, they you're hid and coach cause your numbnuts

all day. Come here numbnuts. So he's like, and he's still called me that. I'm like, dude, I'm fifties. Like, I don't care, you're still young. Uh. He was like, your numbers will your numbers will do it. You can't worry about anything else. Go out there and play your game. And you know the media is got uh their way of doing things. You just have to go out and play.

You have your wife and voting on the Hall of Fame. Yeah, there's some guys that should be, and there's some guys that you know, may not ever get in because of you know, whether they're questioned or not, if they had questionable uh five or six years. But for the most part, I don't look at it as a a knock on those guys, um because you know, I try to look

at both sides in a way. Uh, if you're a twenty five year old guy two kids and say this violence steroids is gonna get you, uh to be in a big leagues to provide for your family, what are you likely going to do if you're if you're on a borderline, if you're the guy that goes from Double A, I mean to me, Triple A big league, Triple A big League, Triple A big league, but just hunted dollar can keep you in a big league and you know, and you know, I got my my aunt and uncles

who have to take steroids to to to live, you know. But it's you know, for breathing and everything else. That's as MU and a couple other things. But you know, so I look at it, try to be like, okay, but when it comes to sports, it's a little different because people think that everything is fair. Everybody wants things to be fair. Anytime, like I said that, you have a black eye in your sport, it becomes you know, it becomes tough for the guys who are playing. You

were the kid on the scene in Seattle. Uh, you guys had a very talented team over your tenure there. Tell us what it was like when Alex Rodriguez came along, because he was someone you know, they were just exercised, you know, for him as they were for you, because they saw the potential superstar Hall of Fame talent and a young kid and you guys were together. So what was that like? Uh, you know, the first couple of years, Alex was you know, Alex, Alex was young, trying to

mold him to get him there. And you know, once he played a couple of games and started getting comfortable, once he was at short and he knew he was going to be the everyday short short stop. Um, you could see him really settling Batman and Robin. That's you know what it was like in our locker room. And I started laughing, And one day I made a comparison. I said, it's like mikel and Scotty. I just hope people realize sooner than later how good this kid can be.

And it was just funny because you know, you could see him as a kid start develop and get bigger longer and watch him because he bat a second, not bat a third, so I could just see him what you know, playing got a birds of view and you know, they show a clip of in Baltimore. I mean, we're at home playing in Baltimore, and they took my back which he used so they can X ray it. And so I just you know, I have you know, I'm

on the on deck circle. I threw my other bat to him and he went up and hit you know, he hit a home run with it. I think that year he had over four hundred against Baltimore. So they were trying to mess with him. See baseball, you can you know, hey, he's doing this, he's doing that, trying to get you out of your game plan. But he went up there and hit a home run and he

started laughing. Um, but yeah, he you know, the six years we played together, he was you know, Alex, you know what you see is what you get, uh, wanting to you know, learn the game, uh and study it like everybody else. You gotta still love a friendship. You gotta still communicate every now and then we get a chance. I mean, you know him in Miami, you know, traveling the world. You know, he got j Low. Uh, you know, he traveling all over the place. He's doing. You know.

I'm more of a homebody. Uh, you know, try to relax, raise kids and and and that's it. But uh, you know we see each other every now and then. Was say, hi, you know certain things you know, you know, the spring training you're all Star break, uh, and a couple other events that I gotta do that I'll run into him. What was it like after your tenure in Seattle to go back home? Obviously your first first year with the Reds you hit forty home runs. What was it like

going back and playing in Cincinnati? A little strange at first, wearing the same uniform that my dad wore for so many years. Just an adjustment from city to city. And people don't realize how hard that is, you know. Uh, you know, you know where to eat, you know where to go, even though I grew up there. Last time I was there for an extended period time, I was seventeen years old. I was seventeen so seven team the thirty. I was in Seattle basically so learning how you know

where to go, what routes to take. Um, you know what restaurants are are good? Um, you know, trying to get a new cell phone. Uh. Small things, the things you take for granted. You know you take those kind of things for grant because you're so accustomed to them. Yeah. So like you know, hey, you gotta change my number. Okay. UM. It was funny. It's like the lady I called, I said, hey, I need to get a cell phone, and she like, you want me to give it to you. I'm like, no,

I'm gonna give you my addressing, my credit card. She automatically assumed that I just wanted you to give me the phone. I'm like no, I mean and uh. For fifteen years until she passed away, we were pretty good friends. I mean she had stopped over and make sure I was okay. She was like my mom. You know, she would come in and say, hey, you need anything. I was like nah. She was like, I was just in the neighborhood doing my my cell phone stuff. I figured

I stopped by and say hi, bring over food. Uh. When I got hurt a couple of times. She made the family come over and keep me company, So you know it was it was pretty The hard part, like I said, is you know the adjustment. People can make the adjustment. Uh, if you're a superstar, it takes a little longer because there's certain things that you have. And I'm not asking for anything different, but I know things are different. Where can you go to hang out and

be okay? You know if if you then on the team, you can go anywhere. Nobody really know what you're playing. But if you're the number one guy, you know you gotta yeah, you know so. But the funny thing is is um I ate at the same Bena Hunnas from yes, from age seven till now. So every time I go to Cincinnati, always go there and it's the same one wrong been m You go in there, walk me through

this twenty four hour phase. September two thousand one, you're in Chicago playing against the Cubs and the next day is nine eleven. Talk to us what that was like because baseball was the one sport I always say through tragedy, Uh, sports is what's been able to pull us together. Unfortunately through this. You know that this pandemic. We have no sports but for nine eleven what was that? Like that twenty four hours and then being able to get back

to baseball knowing how bad the world needed it. I just woke up, Um happened to be watching CNN, and I was like, man, that's a hell of a movie. Like it like you're looking at something. And they were like, uh, live and then I you know, I was like, oh my, um you immediately pick up the phone. Uh. I called Melissa and she was like, hey, this is going on. I said, are you watching? And she goes yeah, um,

and it was just so real, like you like. And then they said all games are canceled and we were like what, Like we knew it like before we even got on the bus. So like the first bus is like at one thirty, we knew that, Hey, ain't no games being played today? We are, you know, and and it's a scary thing because you know, we're away from our families. You know, my wife is in in in Florida. I'm in Chicago. Uh, you know, we just had an attack on our country. Uh what do we do now? Um?

So we had to sit there for a couple of days and finally I was like, Oh, I'm about buy a car and drive back. I'm gonna drive back to Cincinnati, or I'm gonna drive to Florida. Uh. And one of my friends, Big Frank, who passed away and to be it will be twelve years tomorrow. Yeah, he's the one that also draw my car up from Florida to the one you want to slumping the one you had to slump in. Yeah, so Big Frank uh was in Cincinnat he drove picked me and Barry Larking up and drove

us back. And then uh, my wife drove up from Florida. And I remember opening the back of the suburban. It was packed like she wasn't going back. Uh, And all I see is a little a little rock while her head sticking out the back of it. But you know, you have a suburban. She packed it like we're not

going back. Whatever happens, we're all gonna be together. And I think that's what what helps is like when you with somebody through you know, whether you know pandemics or a terrorist at which you with family, you grow and you're you're better for it, and uh, you know. But it was the most unnerving probably week and a half that I've ever had, because you never you're not you don't know what's going on. How many times? You know,

is it gonna happen again? Because you hear the stories are they're gonna do it to a next time, to a sports arena. We're the only ones playing at the time. Um. So it was like one of those things like West Next isn't gonna hit a baseball or basketball football. You know, something's gonna, something's gonna you know. So the security changed, uh, you know, being able to go from the bus to

the plane, that changed different, different, you know. I mean, you know I remember as a kid, you know, I could run all the way to the gate to go see my dad when he came off the plane being pajamas. It's seven years old, going to see dead at the gate. Now, no, you need you need an idea. You need an idea seven years old? Now, yeah, look at I d at least two forms. Uh. But the other thing is, you know, leaving the ballpark now you know you got t s A that wants you before you even get on the bus.

You know. So it's changed a lot. You know. Uh, you know I know that people complain, you know, but it's the safety, for for the not just for you know you, and you know that's it. You know, people are so worried about themselves all the time that they don't see that, you know, there's other people on this you know, they don't unless you're a celebrity. They don't name but one person on that plane, if you celebrity. And now you know they name everybody. You know, they

don't name everybody, they just name that one. So you know, I try to tell people, you know, hey, it's for the good of the country. Uh, you know, even now they here in Florida, they talk about you know, they're gonna start letting businesses get back, but you still leary about you know, do you want to you know, uh what was it? Nel salions, were barbershop, a couple of

restaurants and tattoos. I'm like, okay, well I don't visit three of those, so we could there, you know, but that food I got to but you know, you got to have it. Yeah, you know, but it's just a matter of how we how we do things. And you know, like I said, going back to nine eleven, it's just scary. It was the scariest time that I had as a pro uh, because of the uncertain tees that go along

with it, and everybody had pretty much. But you know exactly where you are, not eleven right, and you always remember that time right. But there's certain things. But there's certain things in your life that you know, like I know exactly where I was at when I heard Kobe pass right. I remember, you know, looking at the temperature of the time and everything else, calling people that we're close to him, like, man, please tell me this ain't true.

You know, the certain things is you never want to hear and that and never want to see and that was one of them. Um, two thousand two to two thousand four, pretty injury ridden time for you. You miss games over three seasons two thousand and five to two thousand and seven. It looks like you get your swag back.

What was it like? Because people don't understand the mental that comes along with As bad as we want to get back out there, but the mental process of being able to recover and then recover to a level where you're coming back and you're back to being successful as you were before. Because sometimes a lot of athletes don't get to regain what they lost from those injuries. My mental focus is probably different. Like I told our trainer,

who um when I tore my hair string um. I was riding a bike and he sat like, right here the top of me riding a bike, and I said, look, man, this bike ride could be forty five minutes or it could be four hours. And he was like, what do you mean. I said, Look, it is my name on the back of that jersey. It is my career. It may say Cincinnati is on the front, but they don't go. Since they read, they look at and go, oh, that's King Griffe Jr. I'm gonna do this workout, but if

you stand behind me, it's gonna take long. I said, because what you have is a test after each session, here's what we need for you to be at these these certain benchmarks. But if you stand behind me, those bench marks get longer because I'm not doing it. I'm gonna sit here and slow play you. The next day he was in the He was in his office doing his work, and I was doing my work. It is my career and I will bust my butt. I don't like people looking over my shoulder. I want to be

looking over somebody's shoulder. You gotta be able to trust me. And I told the surgeon. I said, look, man, pep gonna stand here. We're gonna be here all day. He'd like, don't stand there. He liked to do. I like, I get my work in, I get out, um and you know here six weeks later we were able to run. I mean, if you look at it, I played in ninety five when I shot at my wrist, I played the playoffs with a plate and screws in it. You know, amazing, amazing,

amazing catch, by the way, and I don't. And the crazy thing is is, um, I had this surgery in December so I can make it to spring training to remove the screws and play. Injuries are part of the game. Um, I'm I've only I've got three at bats on a minor league extent. So I went down when I shout at my wrist. I had three in bats. I flew myself to Minnesota, looked at loose and I'm ready. Was like, huh by that time, they couldn't even have The doctor

was like, well, he already there. He I guess he's ready. Um any I've never gone on a rehab stint again because I told him I'm not I'm not going back to the monor league, no matter what. The only time y'all gonna see me as going back to my league as if I'm coaching or I'm doing something, but as a player, I will not put on a minor league uniform. And I promised myself that and my attitude and my mentality was I'm going to work to get back there

because it's people don't know professional rehab. It's totally different than the Mom Paul rehab that they have no idea what real rehab is. Like, No, we go, uh, hey, come see me Tuesday, Thursday. We see you next two day around the clock right. Uh. You know, I had a little bit of tough time in Cincinnati. Uh going back to that when I did get hurt is I

was visiting that one of Big Frank softball games. It was, you know, nine ten o'clock at night, and people are just ragging me on the radio talk about his as should have been rehabbing. What did you tell me? What rehab place is? Open? It at a ten o'clock. It back. But people don't understand that. They feel that, you know, they feel that they can say whatever they want. But then when an athlete says something back oh, we're the

bad guy, you know, and that ain't necessarily true. Is how you approach me is how I'm gonna approach you. You know. If you come up to me man, I like blah blah blah. You know, but then you know they feel that they can say something and then all of a sudden, well he he was an ass. I'm like, no dog, you came in me a certain way. Uh. But those are the type of things because I got hurt quite a few times, and Cincinnati, it ain't my fault,

you know. I got hurt on the field trying to make our team better A round a third upout my patel attendant hamstring, an ankle where I had my apparently no longest tendant. I don't even know how you pronounced that, but uh, it stibilizes your foot, you know. Um. I have eighty stitches from my ankle bone to that little almost through that little bone and then hangs out by your pinky tongue. I got eighties stish. They had to sell it together. I've got six titanium screws in my shoulder.

I've got three in my tailbone. I just had my other shoulder done, you know, twelve weeks ago. Um, do I complain, Absolutely? Not? Do I what? I do it all over again, absolutely, because it's the game that I love to play, and you only know one way to play and has to play hard. So when it comes to getting my work in, it's the same thing. In order for me to get out on the field. I gotta put my work in to get out on the field. And people don't see that. They think that, you know, hey,

what are you doing to rehab? Well, my rehab starts at nine o'clock and then I got till one, and then i'm when the team goes out on the field. Then I rehab from seven and no seven to nine ten o'clock, and then I do it all over again. So my rehab where at the ballpark. You know what when the team was in town, it was at the ballpark. When the team was out of town, I would go

to a rehab facility and work from like eight to four. Yeah, and then I come home and you know, watch part of the game, fall asleep, and then get up the next morning and do it again. But when the team was in town, I still, you know, nine to one, when when all the guys got off the bus and

stuff like that coming into the ballpark. You know, the trainers gotta you know, they got a job to do with the other guys, and then I would go back when they went out of the field to play the game, I would still be at there at the ballpark during my second round of therapy. No, it's a grind, definitely grind.

The everyday person has no idea. Now it's a lot easier to play the game than actually rehab because if I yeah, because rehab is not one of those things that uh, like I said, is it's one of those things where you like, I don't wish this on anybody. And I had to do it for basically two and a half straight years. M hm hmmm. That's tough. And I remember that those days. Those are tough. Um. So two thousand nine, you returned to Seattle eventually retire in

two thousand and ten. Was it important for you to get back to where you started as a professional retire and what was it like realizing Okay, it's time to hang it up. You always want to retire where you started. They gave you your opportunity. Um, whether it's good or bad. Uh, you know, there's two things happened that but you still have to be able to contribute to a team, and the team's got to be able to want you. So fortunately for me, I was able to do both. I

was still able to contribute. Being thirty eight, I knew I wasn't gonna play every day, you know, but I can help the younger guys in the clubhouse get them ready. How do I how do I approach the game where they needed to see because you know, when you have a guy who's done it UM constantly and throw up some numbers when he going there into a locker room,

you automatically look at him, going, that's him, that's that guy. UM. And having a young coaching staff that Seattle had at the time, they weren't gonna be able to do that. And so they brought in Mike Sweeney and myself, uh, to to be able to to help with the club out situation, and uh, we're able to do that, and then about retiring UM. And to be honest, I just got tired of being lied to, Not so much that I got tired of the team being lied to by

a certain individual. I won't mention his name, uh, but I told him, I said, look, when I become a distraction. I'm gone and they knew that. And I always said this. I said, I ain't gonna have this big old fan fair. I'm not gonna have a press. I'm not gonna I'm gonna just get my car and send the fact talk about he gone. Well, when athletes say that and they do it, people have to go up and you know, they get lived like he didn't have this, he didn't like like I already told y'all a while ago, I'm

gonna just get my car. I'll be gone. Um, and I did. I jumped in my card like three am and started driving. I drove from Seattle to Orlando NonStop myself. Yeah that's a I love that take you. That's a drive. That's a drive. Bro. It took me forty three hours. And that was it. That was off. That was it. I called. You know, I called a couple of people because you know, all my friends and family who, man, I don't want to hear about you retiring on ESPN called me. So I called the people that I need

to call. When I got home. Um, the assistant GM flew in that day and looked at me. He was like, you know, Roger was like, you're all right. I go yeah, I'm all right. He goes you look okay, I go yeah. And I looked at Melissa and I was like, hey, what's next. She was like what we got girls basketball, We're gonna be in Chica. We got Atlanta, we got Atlanta, Tennessee, Chicago, and then back to Atlanta. I was like, okay, let's go.

And I knew from that point on, I was dad, yeah, you know, and you know, I didn't worry about, you know, the baseball part of it now. And then a couple of weeks later, um, they re leaved the whole staff of the baseball department. Uh okay, the manager and his crew, and they asked me that I want to come back. I was like na, because then people, you know, the one thing about athletes is we have to look at it two things, two ways. If we do something, what's

the positive, what's the negative? If I were to come back, they would be like, well, he only came back because they and so, And I was like, you know, so it wasn't a positive. It wouldn't have been a positive spinnip Otter came back. So I was like, no, I'm good. I'm gonna stay retired by oh blah um. I got a couple of calls a couple of months after that, and they said, hey, we want you to join our front office staff. Here's what we want you to do, X, Y and Z. We want you to go see these

kids in the minor league. We want you to talk to him. I haven't. My phone number has been the same for twelve years. I have changed my phone number twelve years because the kids that that have it want that need for me to talk to they know that they got it. If you got my number, there's a reason why you have it. You know. Uh, you know, my wife is constantly telling me, hey, you need to get you a new phone number. This thing brings two minutes two months and I'll be looking at going, oh,

screen time with five thousand minutes or something like. You know, but it is what it is. But it was time. I mean, I didn't want to be a distraction. I didn't want everybody just to be able to talk about me. Once you start talking about me and I'm not playing in then I can't have that. Two thousand sixteen, you're in the Baseball Hall of Fame. What was that experience? Like you get the call, but it's like one of

those slow motion calls. You don't really know what to say, you know what I mean, you don't know what to say. And I get done with the call, and I was just like, then we fly up to New York and that's a like a press conference, press press conference there for two days. Ring the bell, which was cool. You got to ring the New York Stock Exchange bill. You see that on TV. I finally got to do it. We actually get to Hall of Fame on Wednesday, get

their Wednesday night. I'm sitting around all day Thursday. Um, I was funny. Wednesday, there's like a couple of hundred people in the hotel. Come Thursday. Ain't nobody in the hotel because they took the hotel, So nobody's in the hotel. But you know, the Hall of Famers, so they start coming in and and uh so Friday I sit down to write my speech. I only I started writing Friday, and again, being superstitious, I played in three Hall of Fame games and never walked into the building until I

was a Hall of Famer. Mm hmm. Uh So I started writing my speech. I gave it to him, they gave me back to me on Saturday, They were like they were getting nervous because I didn't write anything down. They were like, you're gonna write your speech. I was like, yeah, I just you know, I wanted to be there and be able to think about it and have the row emotions about being a Hall of Famer, then to be able to be sitting in my office going okay, so this is the way it is. You know. I was there,

I have my family, was there. I had some close friends, so I was able to to really concentrate and think about it. Where you know, me being in the house you can look at Okay, So I want to talk about this situation, but you know, I just want to hit certain people in my speech, you know, mom, dad, wife, kids, my agent, uh, Lynn from Nike and and y'all know Lynn. Uh. But you know there were certain you know people that I just wanted to hit uh and keep it moving.

I didn't want it to be one of those you know, long drawling out things now the hat backwards part um. They had to talk me into it. Frank Thomas is like, you better do it, you better do it. I was like, man, I can't do it. He like you better do it,

and like, id I do it. The feeling that I had was, I was overwhelmed because you're NonStop with the interviews from Wednesday Thursday, and when I finally got to sit down Friday, Uh, I was good at thenner Saturday, I got to play golf, which was a little weird, like they got the little golf course next to the thing, you and then there's people lined up on the road. I want to get autographs, and I'm like, let me just drive on this side and we stay over here.

Uh and if you you know, and like you know, the Hall of Fame and you know for basketball and based it's such a small place, you know, small city. You know, I didn't, you know, I didn't realize how small it was until I yea, this is our downtown was a close supermarket about fifteen twenty minutes away. I'm like, huh, how y'all getting anything here? And uh yeah, but it was great. I mean I was you know, I was glad it was over because then you know, seventeen eighteen

and nineteen, I got to chill. You know, I have no interviews. I had none. I was over there like

this all right, don't want it first day work. But you know, it's also like I you know, I got, I brought my dad with me, you know, and you know half of the big red machines, you know, they're they start lying, you know those stories that y'all here, and you know even today, you know, if Dr Jay walked in there and he started lying about them, stories about him and Oscar Brobson and somebody else, you'd be like, man,

look dog, y'all. But but it's funny, you just like really, but all these guys that I got to grow up watching, I am now looking at them and in baseball and I don't know how to work out basketball boat. We got sections. We got the big boys section. So if you got you know, four or five hundred, six hundred home runs, you said, at this table, three home rolls over there, you got you know, so uh, they were teasing. You know, the guys who have rate at two hundred,

they call it the kids section. They'll be able to this is that, y'all sexual y'all get a happy meal. I mean, it's the funniest egos in the world because they know they stats and they'd be firing off their stats to somebody else. But you know, when you have like like Hank he said, it on table, hanking. When they they there on table, you know, that's what that's funny thing, that's that, that's that grown folks territory of

the children. But then they go, you've got six hundred, you sit over there too, I'm like, I ain't sitting next to them because I don't because those those are like, you know, I tell everybody those so like, that's baseball royalty. And I understand that to two people that I am to a certain extent, but I have a different view

like everybody else. When they walk into the room, I'm like this, Like my last year I walked path was in San Francisco and I walked past the training room that's excuse me, not training from the clubhouse door, and Willie and McCovey were sitting there and I tried to sneak by, and Willie goes, excuse me, you've got enough home runs you can sit in this room too, And I was like, and I had to look like I'm still a kid, like you know, I'm like, man, that's

that's really basic. Yeah, And they started laughing because I immediately when I sat down after I talked to him, went back to the I called Barry and Berry said, he started laughing. He goes, I told you that was crazy because you know, and then uh, Barry came in

the next day to see me. But uh, it's so funny that you know when as kids, you know, there's certain people who walk into a room that y'all watch growing up that they just don't seem real, even though you may have played against him and you know they talked to you used to look at him like and then he ain't real. He just there And that was you know that, you know, you know Hank the same way. You know, Uh, hain't got mad at me last time, I said, he said, because I ain't getting my hug.

I said, Man, I just hugged you. He was like, oh, that was you. I said, yeah. He was like yeah, because I gave my side hug because he wasn't looking at me. He was in the middle of a conversation. I don't want to interrupt him, so I just gave him a little a little hug. Again. There's certain people that you know, you know when they walk in that room, like them numbers there and we all know those guys. You know, y'all having basketball. Somebody walking there and y'all

just that's him. M hm, there that man. Yeah, But I grew up like Willie Stargel Hankkaren Uh. You know I would see those guys constantly. But at ten eleven twelve, you have no idea historical context, right, and then all of a sudden you get hit upside you. He had like, and that's the thing that you know. After that, my dad was like, you gotta learn the history of the game that you want to perfect. And that's why I started studying, studying baseball. You know, I study other sports.

You know, I could run a high school football team, and I could probably get you a girl's basketball team. Well, see the girls basketball team. They're much more easier than boys. Boys want to hand want somebody all day. Girls fundamentally sound. You know, I got a chance to meet you when I played in Orlando. I would always see you at the game. No, you're a big basketball fan. Who were some of the teams you were following U this year and players that you follow and enjoy watching Lebron? Uh?

You know, I'm a what's crazy is you hear about my man? The Greek freak a lot? You know, Being in and Uh on the West Coast, you know Kyrie, uh, waiting to see when Durant gets back. I met Porzingis uh a couple of years ago. So I'm like, you know, so I look at it as I don't really look at teams. I just see my guys, like you know, the people that I know, um, and see what they're doing. I mean, that's you know, the people that I know,

and I go from there. But you know, being at Lebron's, I'm like, so I'm you know, I'm like, okay, here's I'm gonna watch Milwaukee because you hear a lot about Milwaukee Lebron and then uh New York. But the thing is, you know, you know, the Nets not the next because they are a little bit of trouble right now. They can't figure out the front office situation. Uh. But you

know I look at it that way. You know. Um, you know, back when we started, you looked at the team and if your guy left the team, he would know part you don't even mess with him no more, he ain't on my team. Now people change teams follow their players now, driven Yeah, so you know players sit there. Uh. You know, I watched Houston because you am a man left heart and left and and Westbrook now joined him after you know, how did that cane work? CP three? What's going on with it? I mean, you know I

look at it. Uh, you know, it is player driven. But these are the guys that you know, number one, my kids look at um. So we can have some conversations. So the dialogue not so much about uh sports with him, what about his game? Um, look what he's doing in the community and things like that. You know, I always say, hey, anybody can play the game. What is he doing to better his community? Uh? And and that's it. I mean I was on the governing board for twenty years. I

actually paid to be on that board. What I do it again? Absolutely? You know the Boys and Girls Club here they know and I'm in Orlando, so you know they know they can count on me. They call, hey, can we you know we need auction out of what you want? There's no question, it's like what you want. They're like, hey, uh, we got a lot of people that want to play golf with you. How many of you got We've got five. We've got five foursomes that paid the same amount. All right, let's go. And I

got no problems doing it. Uh, you know, like all my friends. Know, you know y'all got a charity event, be moren happy to show up, play golf, help y'all out and that man, thank you, that's what's up. That's little and get you on us a bowling. Yeah, I'm ready for that. How do you feel about that today's game compared to back in the nineties early two thousand's just like anything else they've they've you know, a little

bit softened it up. Um. You know, the big money has come in and made sure that these guys are on the field. If I take out my best player, people ain't taking vacations to come see guys play, you know back then you know, uh, man, but it's different than baseball because if he takes the day off in baseball, you know you you might be there, you're going to be there three days. Um in basketball, you're there one night and gone. So you know, when you hear lower management,

we always started looking like, what is lower management? In baseball? We go, yeah, he took a day off, he a little sore, you know, he got you know, we got a day off tomorrow, so we've given him two days. Uh. But you know when people look at you know, the word load management, they get upset. But um, we play a hundred and sixty two games. You know, we're in the town for three days. Um, people have an opportunity and if you're hurt, they know that you're hurt prior

to that. It's not you show up at the arena and uh, but it it's hard, but I understand. You know, you want to see your best players. So when a guy is making thirty six set thirty forty million, you want him out there and that's what you know. Buttsing them seats is the most important thing. And uh, you know, Um, it's tough. I mean it's it's tough because you you know, you want to be able to give the fans everything you have, but you also know that you need your

rest and how do you do it? You know, it's that fine line, you know, how do we rest you know, our our our big guys, because they're the ones that's driving this this this engine. But but people also have to Africa understand the opportunity that you're going to see a guy who may not normally play that might be become your favorite player. Next yeah it was next up. Yeah, you know, he might get an opportunity, he might drop thirty,

but like I like him. You know, I have mentioned I mentioned to this, you know, my kids all the time. You know. Uh, that's a guy called Wally Pip. Yeah, he decided he want to take a day off and he didn't play because the Iron Horsemen said, uh, don't worry about I got this. You know. Luke said, I'm gonna play it every day. The restless history. Yeah, but you know, and that's the hard part is as athletes, we know we want to go out there every day,

you know, and everybody knows. You could tell when somebody's run down, but you still want to give the people. You know, if you're a starter, you know that you want to go out there and and give it. You're all. You may need to take a breather here there, but you want to be out there because those people come to see you play. Being a big part of Seattle sports tradition in history. Um, with the Sonics obviously leaving,

I thought Seattle was a great city. Uh, Jack and I both got a chance to play against the Saunus before they left. Do you have any good stories about Sean Kemp or Gary Payton? Why are you out there as a as a player, Well, I had courts sad seats, but I had court site like like I was next to the bench, uh, on the baseline. So I always, you know, when they called time out, I always act like opposite everything. I thought she was on the team. Yeah.

So one day, uh, George happened to look over and look at me, and uh after the time out and everybody went out there, he slipped, but he said, what were you doing? Ibou to look? I was just trying to see if I can get me like, you know, two or three shots up while you know, I go in there. And he said absolutely not. I said that. You know, my daddy scored twenty points against you in high school, so you know, he was like, oh you

know that. I was like, oh, absolutely, you know. I was funny that, but you know it's funny because like Gary and and uh, the one person I tell you I was scared of was X Man because he just looked me and all the time, but he'd always give

me high five, like, man, what's up? Bro? I was like, uh, yeah, man, all right, But but you know when when you know, when you in such a small city and and I call a small city a small group, uh, and these guys you know when they want to come baseball games, we want you know, like now, you know, you go to different sporting events and they're like, hey, man, I'll leave you this, come on in to come on and we got the parking here, we got this. You gotta suite.

You know, we got you and uh, you know, you take care of Back then, you took care of everybody that was in your city, even though they may have play at a different sport, it was still your city. Yeah, that was y'all. See. I find that I don't find that as much nowadays. You know, when you know, when guys have three, you know, three sports franchises, they don't they don't reciprocate the baseball team and go to the

football team to football team. Um, when I got hurt in Cincinnati, I was the very first person to work out at the Bengal Stadium as a pole. I mean like, hey, I'm I was going on the the underwater treadmill and they were like, we we don't allow anybody over here, but you're the first. I'm like, huh, are we all

to build build this city together? It's just crazy. It was mind boggling to me that, you know, hey, if there's a piece of equipment that can help, you know, bring awareness to to you know, get a guy back, but also bring awareness to my city. I gotta do it. And it just it was mind boggling. And now they work together, but before their name worked at all together. It's different times. All right, last question, I'm gonna put

you on the spot here. You're all time top five in the NBA in any order, any order, don't have to be a order. All right, We'll go with Michael Kobe lebron Ai mm hmm like that. M hmm, Dr Jay and Dr Okay our respective five. There will be a dead go to. I kind of lied about the order things. So it's George in your duty. Is Jordan's the greatest player of all time? Do you see? Here's the thing I argue with my my my friends all the time about this. I don't have the greatest of

all time. I have the greatest of his era. Okay, because Michael didn't play against all the old greats, and I just feel that you've got to play against those guys. So when they talk about the top fifty best players, I look at it. No, you can have the top fifty of an era, not so much because how many home runs would Hank Garon William Mays hit if they didn't and I used in baseball terms, uh, if they didn't get thrown at, if they had to travel that we had, if they had two conditioning that we had.

So I can't you know, the Jordan's learned something from you know, Dr j uh Kobe learned something from from Michael you know. So it's a passing of the torch. So I can't say who's better. Basketball is different in every era and people have to adapt to that, just like you have to adapt in baseball and football. You know now you can't hit a quarterback below the waist and above the shoulder pad before you asked Terry Bradshaw all that. So I just look at it as is

he the best of his era? Absolutely? Uh? And because the game has always changed, you know, adaptability and availability to the two biggest things in sports. If I can adapt and be available, I could play. But you can't go wrong whatever. But with you know saying m J, you can't argue that. No. Absolutely, absolutely, that's a great

point though, that's a great point. Can thank you for your time for sitting down, Thank you of you today thank you for you to come back on Absolutely That's a wrap all the Smoke Uh special episode with Ken Griffith Jr. We appreciate your time, Jack, great show, Good job, Bro. You can cast us our Showtime Basketball. YouTube are all platforms streaming podcasts, all of them. Showtime presents The Shot with Love, a special concert event inspired by the original series.

Join us in Chicago's very own perform inspiring songs of strength and love Sunday seven, six Central at the Shot with Love dot com. This life was all I ever wanted. I'm not leaving, not yet. I was hoping. It's say you gotta hit the streets, make some money. Baby like us. Let's destroy people like him by Coupe. Get Showtime free at showtime dot com.