{"id":527722,"date":"2026-03-09T00:07:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/527722\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T00:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:07:24","slug":"ken-griffey-jr-dusty-baker-share-spotlight-honor-roberto-clemente-in-mlb-network-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/527722\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Griffey Jr., Dusty Baker\u00a0share spotlight, honor Roberto Clemente in MLB Network feature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ken Griffey Jr. and Dusty Baker represent two of baseball\u2019s best goodwill ambassadors, so it\u2019s fitting that they found time to pay tribute to the best of them all.<\/p>\n

Griffey and Baker recently visited the statue honoring Roberto Clemente in Managua, Nicaragua. The Pittsburgh Pirates legend died in a plane crash while trying to bring relief supplies from Puerto Rico to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake in 1972. Clemente was 38.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never made it to Nicaragua,\u201d Griffey said, \u201cbut his spirit did, and it never left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got here, that\u2019s the first place I came: this statue,\u201d Baker said, gazing up at Clemente\u2019s likeness. \u201cThis is something that was close to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MLB Network captures that tribute in a documentary short exploring Nicaragua\u2019s baseball history \u2014 and future. The 9-minute feature will debut during its \u201cHot Stove\u201d program <\/a>at 10 a.m. ET on Monday.<\/p>\n

Griffey traveled to Nicaragua in his role as a global ambassador for the World Baseball Classic. Baker is the manager for longshot Team Nicaragua<\/a>, which began play in Pool D last week. As Baker says in the doc, \u201cI was a 25th-round draft choice, so you know I\u2019m an underdog-type guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast night,\u201d Baker added, \u201cI was up, and it was dark, and I saw the stars. It made me really realize how fortunate I am to be here. \u2026 We\u2019re in a David and Goliath situation. We\u2019re going to try to make this a \u2018Miracle on Ice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fun to watch Griffey and Baker, a pair of charismatic giants, bantering while exploring the country\u2019s beauty, food, coffee and community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Dusty,\u201d Griffey said via email. \u201cHe\u2019s what baseball is all about. He\u2019s been impacting the game for decades, and now he\u2019s teaching these young Nicaraguan men about life and baseball. Getting a chance to experience this trip with him is something I\u2019ll remember for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ken<\/p>\n

\n Ken Griffey Jr. is making the rounds as a World Baseball Classic ambassador, including this visit during a Pool B game between the United States and Brazil. (Kenneth Richmond \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

When Griffey asks Baker what he\u2019s learned about the Nicaraguan culture that he didn\u2019t expect, the three-time National League Manager of the Year delivers a poignant answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea how giving the people are,\u201d Baker replies. \u201cThey\u2019ll give you something when they have nothing to give. And it\u2019s really refreshing to see that they\u2019ve got beautiful people here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griffey has leaned into his WBC ambassador role, showing the same joyful ease on camera as he once did on the field. He cooked pasta <\/a>with Michael Lorenzen and Jac Caglianone of Team Italy, sat down with Manny Machado <\/a>to discuss the Dominican Republic\u2019s love of baseball and ventured behind the scenes with Team USA <\/a>on workout day.<\/p>\n

Griffey also interviewed Grammy winner Tainy in Puerto Rico <\/a>about the WBC anthem. He\u2019s also toted his camera all along to every stop, including shooting Team USA\u2019s victory over Great Britain on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

For pure feel-good cinema, though, it\u2019s tough to top watching Griffey and Baker having a heart-to-heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes the WBC so special is that it unites people all over the world,\u201d said Ben Friedfeld, MLB Network VP, content logistics and field production. \u201cSeeing Junior and Dusty expound on their love for the game deep in the heart of Nicaragua was just a memorable experience. The image of them alongside the great Roberto Clemente\u2019s statue is timeless.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ken Griffey Jr. and Dusty Baker represent two of baseball\u2019s best goodwill ambassadors, so it\u2019s fitting that they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85,143382],"class_list":{"0":"post-527722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}