KEN GRIFFEY AND BIG RED
Ken Griffey, Sr. has been a part of more baseball history than almost anyone in the game. From winning two championships with the Big Red Machine to playing Billyball with the Yanks to patrolling the very same outfield with his own son, Ken Griffey Sr. has seen and done it all in professional baseball.
Big Red: Baseball, Fatherhood, and My Life in the Big Red Machine (Triumph Books, May 2014) by Ken Griffey and Phil Pepe, reflects on an outstanding 19-year major league career beginning with Griffey’s days just out of high school and relating his decision to venture into the baseball business, documenting his time as a scout, coach, and manager along with his accomplishments as a father, raising two professional ballplayers. Highlights include:
• Recollections of winning the World Series in 1975 and ’76 and playing in "the greatest game ever played," Game 6 of the ’75 World Series
• Memories playing alongside Reds’ legends Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose
• His time playing in the Bronx Zoo under Billy Martin, Yogi Berra and George Steinbrenner
• The ultimate thrill of Griffey’s career and as a father: playing in the same outfield with his superstar son, Ken Griffey, Jr.
Big Red is the story of a life in baseball, but it’s much more than that. Ken Griffey’s story is one of love of baseball, love of family and love of life, and true glimpse of what it’s like when baseball really does run in the family.
ABOUT KEN GRIFFEY SR.
Ken Griffey, Sr. a former major league outfielder who played for nearly 20 years, a three-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion. He was the MVP of the 1980 All-Star Game and was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2004. An unsung star of the 1975-81 Reds, Ken Griffey hit .307 in nine years in his first stint with Cincinnati and challenged for the NL batting title in 1976 and 1977. The right fielder was a heads-up, all-around player, but was most proficient at the plate. Hailing from Donora, Pennsylvania, like Stan Musial, the lefthanded Griffey's career slumped after he moved to the Yankees in a 1981 transaction. Used in a platoon role at first base and in the outfield, Griffey's entire game suffered. Injuries also slowed him, but Ken was rejuvenated upon joining the Braves. Rejoining the Reds in 1989, he and his son, Ken Jr., made history as the first father and son to play in the major leagues at the same time.