Horry County middle schooler gets surprise visit from legendary ballplayer Ken Griffey Jr.

Jordan Robinson thought he was attending a special honors awards ceremony Wednesday morning at Ten Oaks Middle School. Little did he know he was going to be invited to the Hank Aaron Invitational, a two-week long elite baseball training camp in Vero Beach, Florida.

“I saw the big camera crews and was like ‘What’s going on here? Am I going to be on a TV show?” the seventh grader laughed.

But that wasn’t the only surprise.

Robinson was personally invited to the camp by none other than Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.

Ellen Ross, Robinson’s grandmother, said her grandson's jaw dropped when Griffey walked in.

“If there were flies or bees, they would’ve flown right in,” she said.

Griffey’s visit to Carolina Forest Wednesday came as a message of inspiration to Robinson.

A few weeks ago, Robinson was ready to give up baseball.

As the only Black player on his baseball team, Robinson was being bullied by other kids and was even called racial slurs, said his stepfather Jordan Steljes.

Ross said any time she and other family members tried to help, it would backfire.

“Everybody gets livid and you know who they take it out on? Him,” Ross said.

Steljes said it was a situation that the family didn’t know how to handle.

“I played baseball, but this wasn’t a situation I had to go through,” said Steljes, who is white.

Ross added there was a meeting and apologies were offered but her grandson still struggled.

“I didn’t want him to get so discouraged that he wouldn’t play again,” she said. “Because he really loves it. It’s good for him. He’ll go out there and do it all by himself. He’ll ask for somebody to go practice with him. He loves it.”

So Ross took matters into her own hands and wrote a letter that made its way to the desk of Tony Reagins, chief baseball development officer of Major League Baseball and former general manager of the Los Angeles Angels. The letter told Robinson’s story and sought advice and support.

“There are obviously going to be challenges in life and how you deal with those challenges are really going to make or break how you evolve as a human being and we wanted to encourage Jordan playing baseball,” Reagins said.

After talking with Robinson’s grandmother and hearing about Robinson's passion for baseball, Reagins wanted to ensure that the middle schooler didn’t walk away from the sport he loved.

“I wanted to make sure that we put Jordan in an environment, from a league standpoint, that the experience would be really really positive,” Reagins said.

For Reagins, the environment was the Hank Aaron Invitational, where roughly 250 kids between the ages of 13 and 18 from across the United States receive elite-level training from former Major League players and coaches.

Reagins called Griffey and told him Robinson’s story. Upon hearing the story, Reagins said Griffey was “all in” and wanted to personally fly out to invite Robinson to the camp.

For about a half-hour Wednesday, Griffey and Robinson shared stories, advice and laughs about the game of baseball and the game of life.

“I just wanted to let him know that there are people out there who care and want him to do well and want him to achieve his goals,” Griffey said. “That’s what you want from any kid is to be able to go out there, be a kid and do the things that you want to do and love to do.”

Less than four months ago, the state of baseball looked completely different as the league faced an impending lockout and potential loss of an entire season. For a league that is trying to grow the game and have the younger generations enjoy it, Griffey said moments like the one he shared with Robinson are critical.

“You have youth development, you have the players association, the ownership, you got MLB, all have a goal and they want everybody to play,” Griffey said. “And it doesn’t matter where you’re from, who you are, what color you are. They want you to go out there and have an opportunity to live your dream.”

The biggest piece of advice Griffey offered Robinson was to not let anyone deter him from playing the game he loves.

“That’s the one thing that my dad taught me at an early age," said Griffey, whose father also played professional baseball. "There’s going to be people that are just going to try to say things and do things just to get under your skin and get you to go and not play your game."

Robinson listened intently as Griffey gave him pointers about his batting stance and how to get more power behind the bat — something that the Griffey, who is seventh on the all-time home runs list with 630, knows a bit about.

Griffey pointed out to Robinson that he will see him in Florida at the Hank Aaron Invitational but also wants to see Robinson a few years down the road — at the MLB Draft.

“See, you’re going to be ready for the draft after this,” Griffey said to Robinson, pointing to the invite on the table. “It’s going to be overload but you’ll have a chance to sit back when you get home and really think about all these things you need to work on.”

The Hank Aaron Invitational will be from July 20 to July 30 at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Florida. According to the MLB’s website, out of the 250 players at the invitational, the top 44 players from the second week will be invited to play in a special showcase game at Truist Park, the home of the Atlanta Braves.

The number 44 is synonymous with Hank Aaron, who wore 44 during his entire playing career. The special showcase game at Truist Park is part of an extensive "Hank Aaron Week" hosted by the Braves.

Griffey spent most of his 22-year career with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.

Robinson said he had watched a highlight reel of Griffey less than a week ago and is working on drawing inspiration from the man once called “The Kid.”

“I saw the aggressiveness of the swing and I kind of want to take that on my own,” he said.

Robinson is a man of many positions, having pitched, played infield and centerfield, but Griffey made it known what position Robinson should undertake.

“Let’s stick with centerfield,” the legendary centerfielder laughed. “I like that better. I vote for center.”