Exclusive: Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. share advice for LeBron James, Bronny ahead of father-son debut
LeBron James and his son Bronny will soon become the first father-son pairing to share the NBA court. There are few people who can understand what playing professional sports with your son is like.
One person who can however, is Ken Griffey Sr. who played with his son Ken Griffey Jr. in Seattle for 51 games in the 1991 season becoming the first father-son duo in MLB history to appear in the same lineup.
Griffey Sr. and Jr. spoke Thursday at the workout day for the 2024 HBCU Swingman Classic, which was played on Friday at Globe Life Field. The duo explained what advice they would give to Bronny and LeBron before they take the court together.
“My advice is to be yourself,” said Griffey Sr., “When [Griffey Jr.] found out I was coming over, he kind of put some extra pressure on himself. He wanted to do better, he wanted to hit a home run every time up and then I said, ‘just be yourself, have fun, play the game,.”
Bronny James was drafted with the No. 55 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft out of USC. LeBron James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and is known as one of the game’s best players with 20 all-star appearances, four MVPs and four Finals MVPs over his 21-year career which started with the Cleveland Cavaliers before playing for the Miami Heat and now the Los Angeles Lakers.
Griffey Sr. was a 19-year MLB veteran who played for the Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners amassing three all-star selections and two World Series championships while playing in the famous Big Red Machine lineup.
Griffey Jr. gave similar advice, saying the pairing should soak up the opportunity.
“Go out and have fun,” said Griffey, “This is enjoyable, this is something that’s a once-in-a-lifetime, generation thing that happens. Think about this, the things that have to happen is your dad has to play a long time and you have to be really good early...just enjoy it, it’s gonna be fun.”
With 13 all-star selections, 10 Golden Gloves, and seven Silver Sluggers over a 22-year career, Griffey Jr. is regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
The elder Griffey spoke about how his son struggled to get hits in front of him early in his playing days.
“I said, ‘This is your team, so just relax and play the game,’ He finally took it because I’m gonna tell you what, between the age of 12, till the day before he turned 18, he didn’t get hit in front of me. He struck out every time, it took him a long time to get relaxed. Finally went to see him in the instructional league, he got a base hit. So I asked him, You OK now,’” said Griffey Sr., “[Griffey Jr.] said, ‘yeah, I’m fine now,’ but it took him six years to do it.”
Griffey Sr. shared an anecdote about going to see Jr. with then-Atlanta Braves Manager Bobby Cox in attendance.
“I remember one time the day before he got drafted, it was 40 scouts over in Dakota High School watching him, Bobby Cox was there because he was my General Manager with the Braves and we were playing Cincinnati that night,” said Griffey Sr.,”Bobby said ‘What are you doing?” I said, I’m getting ready to go to the stadium well, what are you doing here? [Cox] said,’ I come to see Junior,’ I said, ‘OK, he can’t hit,’ Cox said, ‘What do you mean he can’t hit,’ Well, ‘ said, watch. Those two times up he struck out. That night after he struck out the second time, I had to go play a game against the Reds that night. Come home. .. he went 3-for-5, two of them home runs with five RBIs, cussed him out.”
The Griffey’s are remembered as one of the MLB’s most iconic teammates despite their short time playing together and only time will tell if Lebron James and Bronny will join the pair as iconic father-son teammates.
This story was originally published July 12, 2024 at 8:18 AM.
