Griffey Becomes American Public Diplomacy Envoy

Ken Griffey Jr. has joined a new team. He was introduced Tuesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the newest American Public Diplomacy Envoy. Griffey is set to make his first baseball-related trip for the State Department to Panama in January. He will represent the “values of the United States, not the government of the United States,” Rice said. As an unofficial ambassador, Rice said Griffey will travel overseas to "talk to young people and to spark their interest in America and in our culture."

Griffey said he was eager to get going. He said he didn’t really have to think about it when Secretary Rice called. He loved the idea of reaching out to young children about our culture and also about baseball.

Once ridiculed by baseball's old guard for doing things like wearing his hat backward, blowing bubblegum bubbles and endorsing video games, “The Kid” outgrew all of that to become not only an elder statesman of the sport but of the entire country. Ken Griffey Jr. turns 39 this week. He is sixth on the career home run list with 611. He played for Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox last season, and later filed for free agency. He joined former baseball star Cal Ripken Jr., figure skater Michelle Kwan and actress Fran Drescher as envoys.