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MLB legend Ken Griffey Jr. working as Masters photographer

Grant Grubbs Profile Pictureby:Grant Grubbs•04/10/25•

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Ken Griffey Jr. photographer at Masters
© Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Ken Griffey Jr. is taking his talents to the Masters this week. No, the Hall-of-Fame baseball player hasn’t suddenly blossomed into a golf pro. In fact, he will be capturing the best moments from the professionals this week while serving as a photographer for the event.

After Griffey retired from the MLB in 2010, he took up photography as a hobby. As he does in most things, Griffey excelled behind the camera.

Since 2015, Griffey has worked as a part-time sports photographer. He has been credentialed to shoot MLB, MLS, NFL, and IndyCar events. Now, he can add the Masters to that list.

Griffey is covering the event for Masters.com. On Thursday, the 10-time Golden Glove Award winner sat down with the Masters YouTube channel to discuss his unexpected post-retirement career.

“It was actually the only way I could see my kids. I was still playing and I understand what my dad felt like coming to watch me play,” Griffey said. “But now with social media it’s a little different. ‘Oh Ken’s here.” So actually my daughter literally stopped dribbling a basketball and just looked at me when she was 5. And I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to pay more attention to what’s going on.”

“I figured nobody’s messing with the photographer. Let me pick it up. Let me try it. And I got a couple photographer friends who sent me a couple cameras and lenses and said, ‘Here you go’ and didn’t tell me anything about it, just don’t put it on auto.”

Evidently, the minimal advice was enough for Griffey to begin. Since then, he hasn’t looked back. In an interview with USA Today last year, Griffey explained the difference between the joy of playing sports versus photographing them.

“There’s probably a 100 of us, low-key photographers. It’s so nice to see. Photographs are so much different than sports. You’re not competing against anyone, you want to help the next person,” Griffey said.

Ken Griffey Jr. hasn’t lacked exciting moments to capture on the first day of the Masters. On Hole 14, 65-year-old golfer Fred Couples nailed a 191-yard shot for eagle. Earlier in the day, reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler sunk a 62-foot putt for birdie.

The Masters will continue throughout the weekend. ESPN will provide coverage of the historic event on Thursday and Friday until 7:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the third and fourth rounds this weekend will move to CBS from noon to 2 p.m.