Griffey retires

Before I reprint some article from a Seattle newspaper, let me just glance back at my own personal history and how it has intersected with both Ken Griffey junior and bicycles.

First, when I moved to Seattle many years ago I had a loft right across the street from the King Dome, which is where the Mariners played their home games. At the time the Mariners were a joke of a baseball team and tickets were easy toc ome by. How easy? The Boeing Company would purchase hundreds of tickets for each game, but since Boeing employees had yet to band wagon jump, a fat labor leader would position himself on a corner near the stadium and give away tickets. So friends and I would wander over, grab some tickets, drink some beer and scream stupid stuff in an almost empty dome.

Then Ken Griffey stated to play. Instead on nonsense, be began to chant "hit a home run" and often times, it seemed, he did.

Then Alex Rodriqguez showed up and Randy Johnson and the team started to win and the dome was imploded and a new outdoor stadium was built and the team continued to do well and all the band wagon jumpers made their move and no more free tickets could be found, ever.

Griffey moved on, as did Rodriqguez and Johnson and the team sometimes played well, but mostly they did not. Griffey returned in the twilight of his career a couple of years ago, and now he is retiring. Hold for the story I have stolen, because, first, bike riding.

One year my friend Glen and I somehow had opening day tickets and we were riding our bikes like crazy men down second avenue in Seattle, happily on our way to the big game when I crashed and faced it on the pavement. Blood dripping down my face, my shirt torn, my body sore, but we were blocks away from the golden land, so we walked it, got in, drank some beer, yelled for homeruns and the world seemed right.

Ken Giriffey is only a baseball player, he will never cure cancer or paint a beautiful picture. But he did have a sweet swing and a beautiful smile. Today, he retired from a game he has played his whole life. I have never met Ken Griffey, but I like the way he has played, the way he has carried himself and sometimes a team and that infectious smile that said, even though he was playing a game for millions of dollars, he knew, in the end, it was a game.

"Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon.

Griffey, 40, hit 630 home runs in a 22-year career that began with the Mariners as a 19-year-old in 1989.

"I've come to a decision today to retire from Major League Baseball as an active player," Griffey said in a statement released by the team.

Griffey was not at Safeco Field for the Mariners' game Wednesday against Minnesota.

"This has been on my mind recently, but it's not an easy decision to come by," Griffey said in the statement. "I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to have played Major League Baseball for so long and thankful for all of the friendships I have made, while also being proud of my accomplishments."

Griffey, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1987 draft, spent the first 11 years of his career with the Mariners. He was traded to Cincinnati after the 1999 season, and played with the Reds until spending the second half of the 2008 season with the Chicago White Sox.

Griffey returned to the Mariners last season and hit .214 with 19 home runs and 57 runs batted in. He was given credit for helping the Mariners rebound from a 101-loss season in 2008 to go 85-77 in 2009.

But Griffey had struggled at the plate this season, hitting just .184 in 98 at-bats. He had not hit a home run this season, and had seven RBI.

"I'd like to thank my family for all of the sacrifices they have made all of these years for me," Griffey said. "I'd like to thank the Seattle Mariners organization for allowing me to finish my playing career where it started. I look forward to a continued, meaningful relationship with them for many years to come.

"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 before the 2009 season and was invited back, that I will never allow myself to become a distraction. 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 team is what the ultimate goal should be."

Griffey ranks fifth all-time in home runs, trailing only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (660).

Griffey was a 10-time American League All-Star and was the league's MVP in 1997. He also made three National League All-Star teams. He won 10 Gold Glove awards and seven Silver Sluggers.

"Ken is both the finest ballplayer I have ever known and one of the finest people I have ever known," Mariners president Chuck Armstrong said in a statement. "I consider myself unbelievably fortunate to have had the opportunity to watch a first-ballot Hall of Famer's career unfold in front of me, and in front of the great fans in Seattle."

Armstrong and Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln each credited Griffey with saving baseball in Seattle.

"Ken is truly the heart of soul of this franchise," Armstrong said. "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."

Lincoln called Griffey "the ballplayer most responsible for keeping Major League Baseball here in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest."

Lincoln continued: "For me, Ken Griffey is more than just a fabulous baseball player. He is a great man in every sense of the word. He is a wonderful family man; he is a man of deep compassion who has given generously to his fellow man; and he is a man who has played the game of life clean and with passion and conviction."

Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik called it a sad day for the Mariners.

"It is rare in this game when you get an opportunity to reunite a player and a team," Zduriencik said. "We feel honored that Ken was able to end his career where it began, here in Seattle. I'd like to wish Ken, Melissa and his family the very best."

Griffey said in the statement that he hoped his teammates could focus on baseball and "win a championship for themselves and for the great fans of Seattle, who so very much deserve one.

"Thanks to all of you for welcoming me back, and thanks again to everyone over the years who has played a part in the success of my career."