Ken Griffey, Jr. Is Now a Racing Photographer

By The Drive Staff/The Drive

This article originally appeared in The Drive on Mar. 22, 2016

You probably know what Ken Griffey, Jr. is all about. Along with Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and a handful of others, the outfielder was one of a handful of pro athletes who managed to transcend sports, becoming pop culture touchstones. Besides the back-of-a-Topps stuff (630 homers, 10 Gold Gloves, 13 All Star appearances), Junior had his own Super NES video game, special-edition Nike Air Max, and played on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team. Save for Willy Mays, Ken Griffey, Jr. may be the greatest natural talent to ever grace the diamond.

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These days, though, he's spending much of his time pursuing one of his passions: Photography. Much like fellow Mariners Hall-of-Famer Randy Johnson, Griffey, Jr. has taken his eye off the ball and turned it to the viewfinder of a DSLR, snapping shots at Monday Night Football games, concerts, and even Pebble Beach Concourse d'Elegance events.

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And, recently, he's been aiming at some of the biggest events in racing. Posts on his Instagram account show his work from both the NASCAR Daytona 500 and IndyCar's Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, snapping cars and drivers alike. So if you catch a familiar face from behind the camera trackside, don't be alarmed: That's just The Kid, doing his thing.