When it comes to two-sport athletes, there are only a select few that have made it to the top level in multiple professional sports like Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders. But Ken Griffey Jr. is doing it in an entirely different way by starring in multiple sports in different professions.
After a Hall of Fame baseball career that saw him hit 630 home runs and play in 13 All-Star Games, Griffey has charted his own path for a second career as a sports photographer.
And now Ken Griffey Jr. is reaching the pinnacle of sports through his new calling. After attending the Tokyo Series and photographing the Major League Baseball season opener in Japan, he is now at Augusta where he is working the tournament for Masters.com.
He sat down for an interview on Thursday morning with the Masters YouTube channel to talk about his unique second career behind the camera instead of in front of them. And Griffey shared how he got into photography thanks to his daughter.
“It was actually the only way I could see my kids. I was still playing and I understand what my dad felt like coming to watch me play,” Griffey Jr. said. “But now with social media it’s a little different. ‘Oh Ken’s here.” So actually my daughter literally stopped dribbling a baskebtall and just looked at me when she was 5. And I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to pay more attention to what’s going on.”
“I figured nobody’s messing with the photographer. Let me pick it up. Let me try it. And I got a couple photographer friends who sent me a couple cameras and lenses and said, ‘here you go’ and didn’t tell me anything about it, just don’t put it on auto,” he added.
Incredibly, Griffey Jr. isn’t the only Baseball Hall of Famer who has taken up photography as Randy Johnson has also found it as a second career. However, it’s probably best for the Masters patrons that it’s Ken Griffey Jr. and not the Big Unit roaming the grounds at Augusta National since it may be a little more challenging to see over the 6’10” pitcher.
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