How Ken Griffey Jr. Became Augusta's Most Interesting Photographer

Rory McIlroy dropped to his knees on the 18th green at Augusta National on April 13, 2025. He had just won the Masters in a playoff against Justin Rose, completing the career Grand Slam that had been the one missing piece from one of the best resumes in golf history. Twelve cameras captured the moment for broadcast. One of them was held by Ken Griffey Jr. The number on Griffey's credential was 24. The number on his back in Seattle, Cincinnati, and New York was also 24. Augusta doesn't hand those out by accident. ## The Second Career Nobody Fully Saw Coming Griffey retired from baseball in 2010 with 630 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves, and a Hall of Fame case so clean it was unanimous on the first ballot in 2016. Most athletes of that stature move into broadcasting. Griffey tried some of that. Then he picked up a camera. He has been shooting professional sports events for years now. MLB games, NFL sidelines, MLS matches, IndyCar events. He is not a celebrity doing a vanity day with a camera. He shows up, operates in the photo pit, and files images. People in the industry who have seen him work say he takes it seriously in a way that genuinely surprises them, because the name could let him coast and he doesn't. The Masters credential is the hardest in sports photography to obtain. Augusta National controls every aspect of media access including the exact number of credentialed photographers and where each one can stand. Griffey earned his spot inside that system. Photographer No. 24 in the Augusta photo pool in 2025 is a real thing, not a courtesy visit. ## McIlroy's Grand Slam and Why the Timing Matters Rory McIlroy won the 2025 Masters to become the sixth player ever and the first European to complete the career Grand Slam. He already held the US Open, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. The Masters was the one that kept escaping him. He had come close in 2022, let a lead slip, and the conversation about whether he would ever win it had gotten uncomfortable in the way that only Augusta conversations can. He won it in a playoff against Justin Rose. He fell to his knees. He cried. Griffey was one of the photographers in the building. The NBC special, Photographer No. 24, premieres April 5, 2026. The timing puts it one week before the 2026 Masters begins. Augusta and NBC are not releasing this documentary by accident. They are using Griffey's story to build the narrative runway for the tournament. ## What Griffey Said and What He Didn't Griffey has talked about his photography work in a specific way. He says his name opens doors but that he doesn't want to walk through them just because of the name. He wants to earn the access. That framing is notable because it tells you something about how he thinks about the second act. He is not treating photography as a celebrity flex. He is treating it as something he is genuinely trying to get good at. Most athletes who pick up cameras after retirement produce commercially fine but artistically thin work. They know the right people, they get the access, and they frame subjects the way any technically competent photographer would. Whether Griffey's work at Augusta is different is something the documentary will presumably argue. The Masters giving it their backing suggests they think the answer is yes. ## The Counterpoint and Why It Doesn't Kill the Story The counterpoint is easy to state: Ken Griffey Jr. got into Augusta because he is Ken Griffey Jr. The credential exists because of the home runs, not the photography. That is probably true. Augusta wanted Griffey's name in their orbit and licensed the access accordingly. But here is what the counterpoint misses: the photograph doesn't care who holds the camera. McIlroy's knees hit the turf the same way whether the photographer is a 30-year veteran of the AP or a 55-year-old Hall of Famer who wanted to be Dizzy Gillespie before he wanted to be Griffey. The moment was real. The image exists. And Griffey was in position to take it. That is the thing about second acts. The first act doesn't guarantee the second one. It just opens the door. What you do inside the room is still on you. He was in room 24 at Augusta. In April 2025, that was the right room to be in.