Griffey Jr. doc airing today on MLB Network

June 21st, 2020

SEATTLE -- One thing prides himself on more than anything in life is being a good dad to his three kids, so it's fitting that MLB Network has dedicated this Sunday -- Father's Day -- to the Hall of Famer who once played in the same Mariners outfield with his own dad.

MLB Network is premiering a 90-minute documentary at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Griffey and will also air five of his highlight games and two Home Run Derbies that he won as part of the wall-to-wall Father's Day coverage.

Here's the full slate on Sunday (all times ET):

8 a.m.: 1998 Home Run Derby at Coors Field in Denver
9:30 a.m.: 1999 Home Run Derby at Fenway Park in Boston
11 a.m.: Mariners vs. Rangers from June 14, 1994 (Griffey goes 4-for-7 with two homers)
1 p.m.: 1992 MLB All-Star Game in San Diego (Griffey wins MVP)
3 p.m.: Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS -- Yankees vs. Mariners (Griffey scores winning run in 11th)
6 p.m.: Reds vs. Cardinals from June 20, 2004 (Griffey hits 500th homer)
8 p.m.: "Junior" documentary debuts
9:30 p.m.: Reds vs. Mariners from June 22, 2007 (Reds win 16-1 as Griffey returns to Seattle)
Midnight: Junior documentary re-airs

Titled "Junior," the documentary is narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Sterling K. Brown and includes interviews with former Mariners manager Lou Piniella and numerous teammates, as well as thoughts on what made Griffey such an iconic figure from LeBron James, Reggie Jackson, Bo Jackson, Gary Payton and others.

Ken Griffey Sr. plays a key role in the documentary, and he and his son discuss Junior's rise to stardom from his time growing up in Cincinnati, with insight from his brother Craig and his high school coach at Moeller High, and how he blossomed with the Mariners as a teenage phenom through interviews with former teammates Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, Joey Cora, Dan Wilson and Harold Reynolds.

With the MLB Network documentary as well as an upcoming docuseries on PlayersTV, Griffey is opening up a bit about his life now that his three children -- Trey, Taryn and Tevin -- are older.

"I grew up where my dad went through a lot of things and he instilled certain things in me," Griffey said this week on ABC News. "Just to show that even though we are baseball players or athletes, we still have a personal side to us. I want my kids to grow up to be successful people in any field.

"I think it's important to show the other side of us and be able to show the world there are more important things than to hit a ball, run into a wall, catch a football, shoot a basketball. We are humans. It just so happens we have a platform and a voice that others may not have."

Fittingly on Father's Day, Griffey and his dad -- a three-time All-Star and two-time World Series champ with Cincinnati's Big Red Machine in the 1970s -- relish how they played together as teammates in Seattle from 1990-91 and the bond they formed around baseball and life.

"Their joy of just being with each other, as dad and son, was something that you've never seen, and it was so special that you just had to appreciate it," Reggie Jackson says in the film. "You just had to enjoy it and recognize the specialness of it between two people."

The "Junior" documentary was co-produced by MLB Network and Heart & Hustle Productions.