Ken Griffey Jr says he refused to sign with the Yankees because he felt the team discriminated against him when he was a kid
Griffey said in the doc "Junior" that he refused to join the Yankees because he felt discriminated against.
A security guard told a young Griffey that George Steinbrenner didn't want anyone in the dugouts.
Griffey said that as he left, the son of Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles, who's white, was on the field.
Ken Griffey Jr said in the documentary "Junior" that he never signed with the New York Yankees during his MLB career because he felt the team discriminated against him as a kid.
Griffey said he was in the Yankees' dugout with his father, Ken Griffey Sr, when a security guard told him he had to leave because "George doesn't want anyone in the dugout."
Griffey said his father told him to return to the locker room but to look at third base on his way out.
"It's Graig Nettles' son taking ground balls at third base," Griffey said in the documentary which came out in 2020.
Griffey Sr and Nettles, a white third baseman for the Yankees, were teammates in 1982 and 1983.
The documentary showed Griffey Jr. signing autographs before the Seattle Mariners' 1995 American League Division Series against the Yankees. When one fan told Griffey to come to the Yankees, he said, "If the Yankees were the last team — if they were the only team that gave me a contract, I'd retire."
In that series, Griffey batted .391, hit five home runs, had seven RBIs, posted a 1.488 OPS, and scored the series-winning run.
"At that time, my dad was 38 years old. He was like, 'I ain't fighting this no more. I got someone a little younger and a little better,'" Griffey said in the documentary.
According to the New York Post's Mark Fischer, the Yankees tried to trade for Griffey in 2003 but didn't land him.
In 2008, when Griffey was asked about his favorite memory of the old Yankee Stadium, he said, "It's leaving Yankee Stadium."
Watch the clip from the documentary below:
—Roger Cormier (@yayroger) June 22, 2020
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