A three-time Major League Baseball all-star and MVP of the 1980 all-star game, Griffey broke into the majors with the Cincinnati Reds in 1973. He was part of The Big Red Machine that captured World Series titles in 1975 and 1976—the only National League team to win back-to-back championships since the New York Giants in 1921 and 1922.

Griffey came just shy of winning the National League batting title in 1976 and remained in Cincinnati until 1981, when he was sent to the New York Yankees. He played in the Bronx until 1986 when he was traded to Atlanta before being sent back to Cincinnati in 1988. He spent a season and a half with the Seattle Mariners before retiring in 1991 after a 19-year career.

Along with his son, Ken Griffey Jr., he was part of the first father-son tandem to play for the same MLB team when they took the field against the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 31, 1989.

Griffey Sr. played 1,997 career games and compiled a lifetime batting average of .296 with 152 home runs and 859 runs batted in. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2004.

The event, which provides funds for the Dinos men’s baseball and women’s fastball clubs, has rapidly grown over the past several years, and Griffey joins a roster of keynote speakers that has included Jim Abbott, Jack Morris and Bill Buckner.