Ken Griffey Jr. retires from baseball

SEATTLE, June 2 (UPI) -- Seattle Mariners outfielder and likely future Hall of Fame member Ken Griffey Jr. has retired from baseball, the team said Wednesday.

The announcement was made by Mariners President Chuck Armstrong, The Seattle Times reported.

Griffey, 40, socked 630 home runs -- good for fifth on the all-time list -- in a career that spanned 22 years, beginning and ending with the Mariners. He played eight years with the Cincinnati Reds and one season with the Chicago White Sox.

"Ken is both the finest ballplayer I have ever known and one of the finest people I have ever known," 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."

Griffey, a 12-time all-star and the 1997 American League MVP, finished his career with 2,781 hits, 1,836 RBI and a .284 batting average.

In his long and productive tenure, however, Griffey appeared in only 12 post-season games and never reached a World Series.

This year he was used sparingly, finishing with 18 hits in 98 at-bats, mostly as a pinch-hitter and a designated hitter.