Quotes by Ken Griffey, Jr.

To succeed in baseball, as in life, you must make adjustments.

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.

I knew unless I got stopped I was going to go all the way. I don't know if I can run any faster. I just ran as fast as I could.

This is something I dreamed about as a little kid, being back in my hometown (Cincinnati) where I watched so many great players.

If I'm compared to Babe Ruth or Willie Mays, that's great. But I'm just going to go out there and be myself.

Why should I stretch? Does a cheetah stretch before it chases its prey?

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?

You lose, you smile, and you come back the next day. You win, you smile, you come back the next day.

My name is not 'The Best Player in Baseball.' My name is George Kenneth Griffey, Jr.

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.

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.

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.

To win a World Series, the whole team has to be hot, everything has to go your way.

I'm not some person who wants to be treated as a superstar and won't go out and help the team.

I didn't go into the Hall of Fame until I was a Hall of Famer. Three times I had been there, I never stepped foot inside.

My wife is from Seattle.

I think I owe it to the people of Seattle, and myself, to retire as a Mariner.

I'm damn proud to be a Seattle Mariner.

I'll never be that guy who's going to yell and scream at people.

I might go 0 for 4 in a game, but I still had a chance to help the team by making plays in the field.

I went out there and played as hard as I could because that's the only way I know how to play.

Talent may get you on the field but it's effort and attitude that will keep you there.

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.

That's not what I want to be known as -- a guy who doesn't want to play and is moody.

The two misconceptions of me are I didn't work hard, and that everything I made it look easy.

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.

Most of the people that I still talk to and hang out with, to them, I'm just Ken.

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.

It doesn't matter how much money you make; it's where you feel happy.

I came up as a number 2 hitter. My first year I hit 16 homers, and I was like, Whoa, I'm rollin'!

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.

You can't sensationalize a story that is a heartfelt story.

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.

My mom told me to hang around with the right people. That's what I've been doing. Just taking it easy and having fun.

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.

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.

I'm not a player who beats his own drum.

I get a little tired of people telling me what might have been. I think I've done OK. I don't dwell on what might have been.

Sometimes I'm like, Wow, 'Criminal Minds' is deep.

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 put up O.K. numbers -- not Bugs Bunny-style numbers like some other guys -- but O.K. numbers.

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.

Nobody wanted to run back kicks until you saw Billy 'White Shoes'' Johnson.

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.

Playing in the big leagues while my father is still active is the biggest thrill of my life. I try to see him play whenever I can.

There are more second-, third-, fourth-, fifth- and so on in the big leagues than first-round picks.

I do like candy bars, but if I have more than a couple of them I break out.

We teach our kids to be fair and things like that and if you make a mistake you apologize for it.

If baseball was all year round, I'd play all year round.

A couple things I'm gonna be remembered for: the hat backwards and the swing. And the smile.

I explained to my kids at an early age: I'm a normal dad with an abnormal job.

I go out there every day, take early batting practice, fly balls.

A franchise player, to me, is a guy like Kirby Puckett, Cal Ripken, a guy who's been in one organization through their entire career.

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.

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.

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'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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.'

My dad hit 152 home runs and that's the person I wanted to be like. My hero growing up.

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.

All my life in professional baseball, people said 'He could be better.'

I may not hit 50, 40 or 30 home runs, but I can do the little things like moving runners over that don't show up in the box score.

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?

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.

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.

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.