Ken Griffey Jr. surprises 13-year-old Jordan Robinson with Hank Aaron Invitational invite

Ken Griffey Jr., the National Baseball Hall of Famer and former Cincinnati Reds outfielder and Moeller High School standout, surprised 13-year-old Jordan Robinson at his middle school in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Wednesday to invite him to the Hank Aaron Invitational, a youth showcase and development experience scheduled for July at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla., according to a story from MLB.com's Alyson Footer.

Junior was hired by MLB in Feb. 2021 as a senior advisor to commissioner Rob Manfred to help grow the game, with "an emphasis on baseball operations and youth development, particularly on improving diversity at amateur levels." He's also the official spokesperson for the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation.

Last week, Junior appeared on ESPN's alternate broadcast of the PGA Championship with Joe Buck and Michael Collins, talking about his long-time friendship with Tiger Woods in addition to a story about Buck saying Griffey wasn't smiling when he played for the Reds.

An excerpt from Footer's MLB.com story:

"I work every day as hard as I can. I want to play in MLB, I want to play baseball for the rest of my life," Robinson said. "To see my hard work in some way get realized in some way really makes me extremely happy."

Griffey's visit to Myrtle Beach stemmed from a series of unpleasant events that prompted Robinson's grandmother, Ellen Ross, to reach out to MLB for help. She initially wrote a letter to Darryl Husband, a bishop in Richmond, Va., who works with MLB in a special Play Ball effort with Black churches to encourage young people of color to play baseball.

Ross asked for some guidance for her grandson, the target of alleged racial taunts from players while playing for the Carolina Forest High middle school B Team. Robinson was the only Black player on the team.

The ugliness resulted in some of the season being cancelled. The hostile encounters prompted Robinson to tell his family he wanted to quit baseball.

Griffey heard about Ross' letter and wanted to do something. An MLB executive first suggested he call Robinson. But the Hall of Famer wanted to take it a step further.

"I said, 'How about I just go see him?' I'll just go see him," Griffey said. "A phone call can only go so far. For me to jump on a plane and come here, it means more. I wanted to make a point that there are people here who care."

"Walking in the room, he just looked so different from his highlight reel," Robinson said. "He said his name, and it just surprised me."

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