SEATTLE — Pete Crow-Armstrong parked himself on the railing of the dugout and started up a conversation with the photographer wearing a backward Seattle Mariners hat.
And there he stayed for the next several innings talking about baseball, life and all sorts of topics with Ken Griffey Jr.
“We just started shooting the (stuff). Simple as that,” Crow-Armstrong said.
Griffey’s presence is all over this All-Star week in Seattle, from his involvement in the HBCU Swingman All-Star Classic on Friday, to his role as one of the ambassadors for the midsummer classic.
On Saturday, he was mainly a photographer, hanging out in both dugouts during the Futures Game before taking pictures of the celebrity softball game where his son, Trey, was a participant.
But during the Futures Game, Griffey spent several innings chatting away with Crow-Armstrong, a first-round pick of the New York Mets in 2020 who is now playing for Double-A Tennessee in the Cubs’ system after being part of the Javier Baez trade in 2021.
Crow-Armstrong initially wanted to introduce himself. It turned into much more.
“I think it’s important to carry yourself as if you were talking to your mom, your dad, your grandmother, whoever. … I’m not trying to be in his ear. I’m trying to just say hello be respectful,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Whatever I got out of that was gonna be pretty cool either way and end up being a nice conversation.”
Crow-Armstrong is rated as the top prospect in the Cubs system and one of the top 15 in baseball, depending on the publication. He went hitless in his two at-bats in the Futures Game, but took away plenty from his conversation with Griffey and others on his coaching staff that included Raul Ibañez’s Félix Hernández and Adrián Beltré.
“I think what’s so cool about it is these guys don’t have to be here,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I think that’s the coolest part actually. They love being in baseball enough, they like seeing the storybook of baseball get longer and longer.”
