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.

Griffey was hitting only .184 with no homers and seven RBIs this year and recently went a week without playing. There was a report earlier this season -- which Griffey denied -- that he'd fallen asleep in the clubhouse during a game.

Griffey was a perennial All-Star outfielder and ranks fifth on the career home run list with 630. He won an MVP award and was a Gold Glover. The only thing missing on his resume was a trip to the World Series.

A star from the get-go, he played 22 years in the majors with Seattle, his hometown Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox. He hit .284 lifetime with 1,836 RBIs.

For a time in the 1990s, he was considered the best player in baseball. But then injuries began to take their toll and his production started to decline.

I don't know abuot anyone else, but in 1989 when Ken came up, I was 7 years old and really just starting to get into baseball. My dad had gotten me a pack of baseball Donruss cards and I was opening them at the card store and in the pack of cards I had gotten the purple Ken Griffey Jr. Rated Rookie card. The owner of the card shop told me I had gotten a valuable card because he was going to be an all-time great. Instantly Ken became my favorite player. Throughout my childhood I ALWAYS wore #24, I always used Ken's batting stance from the right-side and I even played Centerfield. Through the years, I got all of his rookie cards and all of his valuable cards and it was just extremely sad to see what happened to his career from all the injuries that he suffered. Throughout the years, I always rooted for Griffey (even to do well against the Yankees when they played) and I think I can take solace in the fact that he got all his stats legitimately and by not using PED's or steroids.

Today is a very sad day for baseball and for me. You will be missed Ken.

hope he doesnt show in any roid reports ever.

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.

Griffey was hitting only .184 with no homers and seven RBIs this year and recently went a week without playing. There was a report earlier this season -- which Griffey denied -- that he'd fallen asleep in the clubhouse during a game.

Griffey was a perennial All-Star outfielder and ranks fifth on the career home run list with 630. He won an MVP award and was a Gold Glover. The only thing missing on his resume was a trip to the World Series.

A star from the get-go, he played 22 years in the majors with Seattle, his hometown Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox. He hit .284 lifetime with 1,836 RBIs.

For a time in the 1990s, he was considered the best player in baseball. But then injuries began to take their toll and his production started to decline.

You can respect that he went out like a man, no snivelling or whining.

From your mouths to Jah Jah's ears, Commander. I really hope those guys were clean. Regarding the whole PED era, I will always love the angle that crazy-ass Pedro Martinez takes in how guys who were playing clean in that era should be given props:

"I dominated that era and I did it clean. I can stand by my numbers and I can be proud of them... I have a small frame and when I hurt all I could do was take a couple of Aleve or Advil, a cup of coffee and a little mango and an egg -- and let it go!"