Ken Griffey Jr. Retiring Ken Griffey Jr. retiring at age 40 SEATTLE – Ken Griffey Jr. retired Wednesday night, ending one of the great careers in baseball history. The 40-year-old Griffey told the Mariners that he was done playing, and manager Don Wakamatsu made the announcement before Seattle faced Minnesota. "While I feel I am still able to make a contribution on the field and nobody in the Mariners front office has asked me to retire, I told the Mariners when I met with them prior to the 2009 season and was invited back that I will never allow myself to become a distraction," Griffey said in a statement. "I feel that without enough occasional starts to be sharper coming off the bench, my continued presence as a player would be an unfair distraction to my teammates and their success as a team is what the ultimate goal should be," he said. Y! Sports
This is sad to see, but it was a bit overdue. He should of called it quits after ending last year w/ a walk-off hit where he was carried off the field. The game has passed him but in his Prime, he was GREAT. If it wasn't for injuries that derailed Griffey somewhat, I believe he would be towards the all-time lead in HR's. Griffey is the only reason I ever picked up a baseball and wanted to play the sport so much. He will forever be an All-Time Great in my eyes because he really was my idol growing up.
We have #24 written on the field, that's good enough for me to continue on with the season His bat has been horrible all year long, and he was just a DH.
I Idolized Griffey when I was growing up. What an amazing player. He's the reason I started wearing my hat backwards.
