Ken Griffey Jr. retiring at age 40

SEATTLE (AP)—Ken Griffey Jr.(notes) 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’...