Ahead of Father's Day, Ken Griffey Sr. sat down with his son, Ken Griffey Jr., to reflect on both of their prolific baseball careers and discuss what they've learned over the years about the sport and overcoming challenges.
For HuffPost's parent-child interview series Talk To Me, Griffey Sr. explained to his son about the difficulties he experienced when he left high school and entered the minor league.
"Learning the game of baseball was actually [a challenge] because I figured, coming out of high school, I knew all about baseball, but when I got into pro-ball, I didn't know anything about delayed steal[s], reading the pitchers, playing the outfield," he told his son, who was just elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. "I had to learn all those things as I went from rookie league to Triple-A. By the time I got to Triple-A, I was pretty much polished."
Another life challenge came much later for Griffey Sr. after he retired from Major League Baseball. In 2006, the former baseball star learned he had prostate cancer, which ran in his family. Remembering the experience, he said the diagnosis "changed my life completely." He has since spoken out about the importance of early screenings.
"[I] had things I wanted to do in terms of traveling a little bit and retiring, but I had to go through all the processes," he said. "I was able to talk to a couple of guys [who] had prostate cancer and I got some information from them, but a lot of men wouldn't talk about it at all ... But fortunately I got diagnosed early and was taken care of early."
While the Griffeys looked back on the tough times during the interview, the joyous moments also stood out. Griffey Sr. said the game kept him away from his family for long periods of time while he was on the road, but his proudest moments of his career were with his son.
"My proudest moment is actually September 14, 1990, in Anaheim, where I hit the home run that was further than yours and you hit right behind me. So my proudest moment is when we hit back-to-back home runs," he said. "And the next one was when I got the opportunity to play with you in Seattle and that was Aug. 31. And we hit back-to-back singles."
This Father’s Day, join HuffPost in New York’s Madison Square Park and record your own parent-child interview live in a beautiful Facebook Live studio booth. Not in NYC? No problem! You can make your own video from home.
If you can't make a video, celebrate your father with a note on our Father's Day tribute wall, where we're collecting the best advice handed down by dad.
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