MLB Network debuted “When America Took the Field,” a two-hour documentary commemorating the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th, 2001.
Former Moeller High School standout and Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. is featured in the film, which examines how baseball brought Americans together in the aftermath of one of the darkest days in American history.
Junior’s involvement is related to a relationship with a family that started with an e-mail then-Reds director of media relations Rob Butcher shared, from the widow of FDNY firefighter Kenny Marino, who was killed in the 9/11 attacks.
The e-mail read, “My husband Kenny Marino a Rescue 1 firefighter is still missing. Ken Griffey Jr. was his favorite baseball player – If Ken Griffey Jr. could hit an extra homerun for Kenny – I know he will be looking down with a big grin.”
Kenny Marino flew to Seattle to watch Ken Griffey Jr play, before Marino was killed on 9/11.
“Prior to that, Kenny flew to Seattle to watch me play,” Griffey says in the documentary. “Him being (tall), he stuck out like a sore thumb. And I was walking to my car and he goes, ‘Hey, everybody wants something from you. I want to give you something.’ And he gave me a T-shirt of his fire station. To be able to have that connection, words can’t describe how I felt at the time that they told me, ‘Remember this?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ ‘That’s the dad.’ For me, it was terrible.”
“I don’t go up there trying to hit home runs,” Griffey continued. “I know I have a job to do, and I’ve got to go out there and do it the best I can. But in the back of your head, you go up there and try (to hit the home run). Once it left the bat, I was like, ‘Wooo, I got it.'”
“I just remember thinking, ‘If Kenny could only see this or be here,'” Katrina Marino said. “It was just the highlight of everything. And I don’t know how hard that is to do because I’m not a baseball person.”
Ken Griffey Jr. was relieved to be able to hit a home run for Kenny Marino’s family.
“No, it’s not easy,” Griffey added. “But you’ve got a family sitting at home that asked me to do something. And I was just glad I was able to do it.”
“I asked to meet (Marino’s kids),” Griffey continued. “That was very important. I wanted to spend time with them, and hang out with them.”
“Naturally easy-going with the kids, with me,” Katrina Marino explained. “He was everything Kenny had told me Ken would be like.”
“For me if something happened to me and my kids were that young, I would hope somebody would do the same thing,” Griffey added. “To give them something to smile about is, for me, why I play the game.”
Ken Griffey Jr. said he visits the 9/11 memorial site.
Griffey said it took him about an hour to find Kenny Marino’s name the first time he visited the memorial.
“Not having a dad, I can’t imagine what they went through, and continue to go through,” Griffey said.
Marino’s kids said they considered Griffey “a family member” as they grew up.
“Ken Griffey Jr. has treated us like his family over the years,” Katrina Marino added.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ken Griffey Jr embraces firefighter’s family in MLB Network 9/11 doc
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