Seattle Mariners

The Ken Griffey, Jr. Era officially ended on Wednesday, June 2, 2010 when the player known as “The Kid” retired from baseball after 22 seasons, 630 home runs, 1836 RBIs, and 1662 runs scored.  Griffey retires with one of the greatest resumes in the history of Major League Baseball.

Read any of the coverage of Junior’s retirement and you’ll begin to piece together the narrative of his career.  Griffey was drafted No. 1 overall in 1988 by the Seattle Mariners out of high school, and made an immediate impact in the major leagues.

A part of my childhood died Wednesday.

No, my dog didn’t pass away. My mother didn’t give away the stuffed bear my parents bought for me the day I was brought into this world. And my trophy collection is still intact on the shelves of my West Chester bedroom. Nonetheless, I felt as if any one of those things had actually happened.

Growing up, a lot of kids wanted to be like Mike.

Not me, I wanted to be like Ken.

George Kenneth Griffey Jr. had it all.

He had the skill at the plate and in the field that only others could dream of having, giving him that superstar label rather early in his career.

Unlike most other superstars though, Griffey also had the personality and charisma that created a likeable clubhouse atmosphere.

He was the perfect guy to look up to, and that's why so many little kids did, including myself.

This week in the world of sports, the phrase, “all bad things come is threes,” was taken to a new level. 

Much like the film industry, which lost Gary Coleman, Dennis Hopper and Rue McClanahan in a nine-day span, the sport’s world experienced the retirement of a baseball icon, a perfect game sabotaged and the death of a college basketball coaching legend.

It started late-Wednesday afternoon when reports out of Seattle said the Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr., 40, was retiring. 

Ken Griffey Jr. is my version of The Beatles.

For every generation there are cultural phenomena that don’t resonate with their predecessors and go unappreciated by their successors.

I spent about two hours attempting to write a fitting sendoff for Junior the morning after he retired.

When Ken Griffey, Jr. retired earlier this week I realized I was officially old. 

I remember a night in 1988 when we took my niece up to Everett, WA to see the then Everett Giants play the Bellingham Mariners featuring an 18-year-old phenom by the name of Ken Griffey, Jr. From that point on I referred to my niece as a Griffey baby. 

She turned 24 earlier this year and works as manager of a sports club. So yeah, I'm getting old.

There are a lot of ways to retire. Ken Griffey Jr. seems to have found a new one. A mobile retirement.

According to Seattle Mariner President Chuck Armstrong, talking on Seattle sports radio station KJR, Griffey's agent, Brian Goldberg, called Armstrong Wednesday afternoon with some news. Junior was retiring, effective immediately.

A few minutes later, according to Armstrong, Griffey himself called to confirm it.

You imagine it went something like this:

'So would you like to do a press conference Junior?'

'Well, I can't, exactly.'

After going a dismal 8-19 in May that dropped them into the cellar of the mediocre AL West, the Mariners have played inspiring baseball in June, going 3-0 to begin the month.

I understand that three games isn't exactly the 1995 comeback all over again, but if you look at the numbers going back into later May, this team is showing signs of life.

Ken Griffey Jr. has called it quits after 22 years. One of the best players of all time, “The Kid” has endured one too many injuries, aged one too many years, and sat on the bench one too many games. After a stellar career, he has decided to hang up his cleats.