Ken Griffery’s Retirement Marks The End Of One Baseball’s Best Careers

Ken Griffey Jr. announced his retirement Wednesday night in exactly the way we as fans want our superstars to leave the game: he simply didn’t show up to work. The Mariners are set to host the Twins tonight, and Griffey just decided, that was it. No hemming or hawing. No dragging it out. And while it’s surprising news, it really isn’t that surprising at all.

Griffey’s 2010 season has been, in a word, forgettable: no home runs, just 18 hits in 33 games and an embarrassingly low OPS+ of 28. He certainly knew that it was time, and probably didn’t need those numbers as confirmation. But they were there. There’s probably an argument to be made that he held on just a couple months too long, but who are we to fault someone for giving it one last try. And when he failed this season, he knew that it was finally over. His retirement is the end of one of baseball’s best careers ever.

Griffey ranks among baseball’s all-time leaders in home runs (5th/630), multi-homer games (T7th/55), extra base hits (T6th/1,192), total bases (12th/5,271), runs scored (31st/1,662), doubles (36th/524), intentional walks (4th/246) and hits (46th/2,781). On the all-time home run list, he trails only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (660), and ranks 3rd among left-handed hitters. [...]

Griffey has been a 10-time American League All-Star (1990-99), winning the All-Star Game MVP in 1992 and three Home Run Derby’s (1994, 1998, 1999). He was voted the American League Most Valuable Player in 1997 and selected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. He was also a three-time National League All-Star (2000, 2004, 2007).

Griffey, who also won 10 Gold Glove Awards and seven Silver Slugger Awards, spent the first 11 seasons of his career with Seattle after the Mariners drafted him in 1989. He played in Cincinnati from 2000 until they traded him to the White Sox during the 2008 season before making his return to Seattle in 2009.

Mariners President and COO Chuck Armstrong, who’s had a long personal relationship with Griffey, offered his thoughts on the retirement.

“Ken is both the finest ballplayer I have ever known and one of the finest people I have ever known,” Armstrong said. “I consider myself unbelievably fortunate to have had the opportunity to watch a first-ballot Hall of Famers’ career unfold in front of me, and in front of the great fans in Seattle.”

“Ken is truly the heart of soul of this franchise. Without his contributions there is little doubt that Safeco Field would not exist and, almost certainly, baseball would have left the Northwest.”

“He always gave his all on the field, and quietly was a force for good in the community.”

”On the personal side, over the years my family and I have developed a close relationship with Ken and his family that we cherish. Ken Griffey Jr. epitomizes all that is good and right about professional athletics. He is a role model for the youth of today. In the years to come I do not expect our personal relationship to diminish. On behalf of all of us in the Mariners Family, I wish all the very best of health and happiness to Ken Griffey Jr. and his family. “On a side note, just a few minutes ago I informed Commissioner Selig of Ken’s decision and he asked me to express his personal thanks and admiration for all that Ken has meant to the game of Baseball.”