Griffey Jr. decides to retire


After 22 seasons, 630 home runs, 2,781 hits Ken Griffey Junior has called an end to his active playing career. This is not the last stop for his career though, that will surely come in six years when he is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His home run totals rank fifth all time, but it is his class that made him a hit with the fans. One of my finest baseball memories is of Ken Griffey Jr. hitting a pair of diners at Old Tiger Stadium when I was a kid. Without a doubt the game of baseball will miss him, but to be perfectly honest it was time for him to go.

Let us put all of the sleeping in the clubhouse stuff aside for a moment, and deal with the fact that Griffey was one of the most unlucky athletes in the history of sport. In had constant injuries and he averaged just 121 games played over his 22 year career. More than that though he is one of the only men with 600 home runs who has never fallen under the suspicion of using performance enhancing drugs. In fact he may be the only slugger of this era to be inducted into Cooperstown.

Griffey is a true icon of this sport, and really of this era. Even though he never claimed to be, it was also a heck of a role model not only for his fellow players, but for the young fans of this game we call baseball. Farwell Ken, we all shall miss you.

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