Ken Griffey Jr. says he refused to sign with the Yankees after he was kicked out of the dugout as a kid while another player's son took ground balls in the field

• Ken Griffey Jr. said in the documentary "Junior," which premiered on Sunday, that he refused to join the New York Yankees because he felt that the owner George Steinbrenner discriminated against him and his dad.
• Griffey said that while he was visiting his dad in the dugout before a game, a security guard told them Steinbrenner didn't want anyone in the dugouts.
• Griffey said that as he left the dugout, the son of Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles, who's white, was taking ground balls on the field.
• The documentary played a clip of Griffey before the 1995 American League Division Series against the Yankees telling fans he'd rather retire than sign with the Yankees.

Ken Griffey Jr. said in the documentary "Junior," which premiered on Sunday, that he never signed with the New York Yankees during his MLB career because he felt that the owner George Steinbrenner discriminated against him as a kid.

Griffey said he was in the Yankees' dugout with his father, Ken Griffey Sr., when a security guard told him he had to leave because "George doesn't want anyone in the dugout."

Griffey said his father told him to go back to his locker room but to look at third base on his way out.

"It's Graig Nettles' son taking ground balls at third base," Griffey said in the documentary.

Griffey Sr. and Nettles, a white third baseman for the Yankees, were teammates from 1982 to 1983.

The documentary then showed Griffey Jr. signing autographs before the Seattle Mariners' 1995 American League Division Series against the Yankees. When one fan told Griffey to come to the Yankees, he said, "If the Yankees were the last team — if they were the only team that gave me a contract, I'd retire."

In that series, Griffey batted .391, hit five home runs, had seven RBIs, posted a 1.488 OPS, and scored the series-winning run.

"At that time, my dad was 38 years old. He was like, 'I ain't fighting this no more. I got someone a little younger and a little better,'" Griffey said in the documentary.

According to the New York Post's Mark Fischer, the Yankees tried to trade for Griffey in 2003 but didn't land him.

In 2008, when Griffey was asked about his favorite memory of the old Yankee Stadium, he said, "It's leaving Yankee Stadium."

Watch the clip from the documentary below:

—Roger Cormier (@yayroger) June 22, 2020

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