Pete Mackanin tells a great Ken Griffey Jr. story
Pete Mackanin went from scout to manager in July of 2007 when he took over in Cincinnati on an interim basis. And it was then that he first met Ken Griffey Jr., who will be inducted on Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
PITTSBURGH - Pete Mackanin went from scout to manager in July of 2007 when he took over in Cincinnati on an interim basis. And it was then that he first met Ken Griffey Jr., who will be inducted on Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
"Early in my stint there, I was standing in the tunnel before the game with Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr.," Mackanin said. "I told Ken Griffey 'Look it. I know you have a penchant for wearing your cap backwards. I don't go for that. Every time I see you do that, it's going to cost you five bucks. I'm getting deep in your wallet and maybe you'll pay attention to that. He looked at Adam Dunn and they looked at each other and said 'Five bucks?' They didn't know me at the time. That's my best story. He's a great guy and I really enjoyed being around him."
Mackanin's life in baseball has crossed paths with many Hall of Famers. He played with Andre Dawson and Mike Schmidt. Greg Maddux was his opening day starter in 1985 when Mackanin landed his first managerial job in the minor leagues. And he was the third base coach in Montreal when Pedro Martinez won the Cy Young award in 1997 in the Hall of Fame pitcher's final season with the Expos.
"One day we we're in San Francisco and there's a jeweler there who was named Pedro who used to sell jewelry to the guys in San Francisco," Mackanin said. "In '75 I had bought a ring for my wife. So this kid comes in and says 'Pedro wants to see you.' I said 'Tell him I don't have any money. I'm not buying anything.' He said 'No, he has something for you.' So I went over to this room. Pedro Martinez was with Boston but he bought Rolex watches for all the coaches. The jeweler said 'Pedro wanted you guys to have this.' I thought that was pretty cool. I asked him at the time 'I just want to know, how much is this thing worth?' He said '$5,300.' He bought six of us for the coaches. He didn't have to do that. It was pretty cool."
Mackanin is the not the only Phillies staffer with ties to Griffey. John McLaren, the Phillies catching coach, was on Seattle's staff from 1993 to 2002. It was tough, he said, to not go to Cooperstown on Sunday. McLaren said one of Griffey's greatest attributes was his ability to laugh at himself. It is something McLaren relays to younger players. McLaren said Griffey would swing at a pitch in the dirt, laugh, and then hit the next pitch 500 feet.
"He had such a great ability," McLaren said. "I remember he used to like to hit extra batting practice. I asked 'You really hit extra a lot.' He goes 'I can't really go to the mall.' He was like the Pied Piper. You go to the mall and you've got 100 people following you behind. Baseball cards were huge in that day so everybody wanted Ken Griffey Jr. to sign his card. So he took a lot of extra batting practice. One day we were in Boston and he says, everything away, everything away. And I happened to be coaching third that year so it had to be '96 or '97 one of those two years. The first time up he hits one into the net, that's when they had the net back there. I stuck out my fist and he winked at me. That was him. He worked at his game. He was such a great talent but he really worked hard at his game."