MLB All-Star McGriff Named Sebring Grand Marshal

Fred McGriff, a 2023 inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, has been named grand marshal of next month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac.

McGriff spent 19 years in the big leagues with six different teams – Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a five-time All Star, a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner, hit 493 career home runs with a lifetime batting average of .284 and 1,550 RBI.

He was voted most value player of the 1994 All-Star Game.

Drafted in the ninth round of the 1981 amateur draft by the New York Yankees, perhaps his most notable time in the big leagues was with Atlanta from 1993-1997, where he hit two home runs in the 1995 World Series helping the Braves defeat the Cleveland Indians.

Growing up in Tampa, he attended Jefferson High School. The left-handed first baseman returned home to become a member of the inaugural Tampa Bay Devil Rays lineup in 1998, playing the first three seasons for the expansion franchise. He closed his career in 2004 as a member of the Rays for the second time.

McGriff had 10 seasons with at least 30 home runs in a single season for five different teams, which is an all-time MLB record he shares with Gary Sheffield. Since his retirement, McGriff has remained active in professional baseball, originally working in the front office for Tampa Bay and now with the Atlanta Braves.

His 493 home runs tie him for 29th all-time with Lou Gehrig.

McGriff will give the command to drivers to start their engines shortly before the start of the race on March 16 at 9:40 a.m. ET.