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I've always wanted to be on a winning team, be competitive and have something to shoot for in October. It's never been a money situation.
I didn't start playing golf until '94, when the strike cut the season short. Never having played as a kid definitely makes it a challenge.
In baseball, there's certain things you can call someone: a fossil, graybeard, grandpa, dad, pops. But I got a chance to say it and mean it.
Anybody can be a dad. I just want to be a good parent. I want to be a dad that my kids can talk to. I want to have a relationship with them.
Just because I made it look easy doesn't mean that it was and you don't work hard and become a Hall of Famer without working day in and day out.
You're on an island when you're injured. Nobody understands what you're going through. And everybody's different. Some people heal quicker than others.
Father and son games - that was the best day. We'd be dressed at 6 o'clock in the morning. The game would be at 7 o'clock at night... And we'd play at, like, 5.
My dad (Ken Griffey) would have bopped me on the head when I was a kid if I came home bragging about what I did on the field. He only wanted to know what the team did.
The other guys, all they have to do is use their big butts and big python arms to hit homers. Me, I'm the little guy in the group. People always root for the little guy.
My dad wasn't a power hitter, and I didn't think I'd be a power hitter because the person I wanted to be like was him, and he was the one that taught me to play the game.
The NFL and NBA has done a better job than we have in showing the fun side of the sport, having people talk about it whether it's on social media, commercials or the news.
I like how in little league they have nine kids who play the field but we have 17 kids on the roster and all 17 kids should hit. I like that we do that down here in Florida.
My brother went to Ohio State. I think Cris Carter just graduated, but Cris was there a lot. I got a chance to go up there and watch the battle between Ohio State and Michigan.
I don't know what my numbers are as a DH, but the fact that you're sitting basically for three hours and 38 minutes of a baseball game, you're hoping you get four or five at-bats.
I'd have probably gone to Michigan. Only because one of my friends, Vada Murray, who passed away, went to Michigan and as a freshman and sophomore he was my big brother at Moeller.
When I came home, my kids wouldn't know if I went 0-for-4 or 4-for-4. I do not like to lose at anything, but I wouldn't be angry all day... Once I left the stadium, it was over with.
It doesn't bother me that I didn't get all the recognition. It really doesn't. I tried to keep things as honest as possible. People will either appreciate it over the years or they won't.
I'm in a Catch-22. If I don't go after a ball, I'm lazy, I'm not giving it 100 percent. If I do dive for the ball - which I did, and blew out my shoulder - it's, Why did I play it so hard?
I was just putting way too much pressure on myself. I was just trying to get that validation from my dad. It got so bad I remember my high school coach telling him not to show up to games.
I got to play with my dad. I got to go to work with him. That's the biggest thing that ever happened to me other than the days my kids were born. That's bigger than any record I'll ever set.
Athletes are going to tease each other. Football players want to be baseball players. Baseball players want to be football players. Basketball players want to be baseball players, and vice versa.
I think social media has allowed the players to be able to say things that maybe didn't come out right the first time and say what they really meant. I think that it keeps people fair and honest.
I'm really not comfortable doing interviews in a group, in press conferences. One-on-one, I'm all right, but those press conferences at the All-Star Game, I just don't... I feel better when I'm by myself.
Talk to people. Go another way. Don't kill yourself. It ain't worth it and I'm a great example. No matter how bad it seems at the time, work your way through it. Who knows how your life is going to turn out?
I know my Dad's a National League guy. I'm an American League guy. I tell him all the time we got better hitters. He's like well we got better pitchers. I'm like cause you all got those easy outs at the end.
I remember when I was a kid being called names, including the 'n' word. The first time that happened, it really bothered me. But most of the people I dealt with were all white. Most of my close friends were white.
When (the Reds) won, we loved it because we ran into the locker room and touched all the bats and gloves and got some bubble gum and red pop. When they lost, we were upset because we didn't get the bubble gum and red pop.
I don't think it's the intent of baseball not to have black ballplayers, but we have to find a way to get these kids back. We lost them to football. We lost them to basketball. We lost them to golf. People don't see how cool and exciting this game is.
A lot of my friends and guys who I have watched and grew up with and who have been at my house are Hall of Famers, and I just know them as Ozzie Smith, Eddie Murray, Kirby Puckett, Dave Winfield... I know these guys like my older brothers and uncles, the guys who took care of me.
I enjoy photography. It's a lot of fun. It keeps me on my P's and Q's and, when you think about it, most people think photography is just going to a game. But you start to think, dang, that would be a good picture. Or you're driving along and see something and think, 'that would be nice.'
No one is perfect. Your ERA is not zero. You're not going to have 30 wins. And your batting average isn't going to be 1.000. So you don't have the right to verbally talk out about somebody. Look at yourself. Did you do everything you could do? Did you start your day off right? Are you perfect?
My dad had a 'fro, and I didn't. So I wore his hat and it always hit me in the face, so I just turned it around and it just stuck. It wasn't like I was trying to be a tough guy or change the way that baseball is played. It was just that my dad wore a size 7 1/2, and I had a 6 1/4. It was just too big.
Baseball and golf have a lot of things in common, including the fact that players in both games love hitting for power. However, in both sports, trying to do so strictly with muscle strength doesn't work very well. In fact, I see a lot of guys in both baseball and golf struggle when they try to swing with tight arms.
Well, my dad (Ken Griffey) taught me that there's three parts. There's hitting, there's defense, and there's baserunning. And as long as you keep those three separated, you're going to be a good player. I mean, you can't take your defense on the bases, you can't take your hitting to the field, and you can't take your baserunning at the plate. But defense, is number one.