Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports brings attention to the exacts words that Ken Griffey Jr. used when he announced his retirement. Griffey said, “ . . . nobody in the Mariners’ front office has asked me to retire . . .” Did Griffey avoid mentioning manager Don Wakamatsu and the possibility that he forced him to retire?

When asked by FOXSports.com about Griffey’s retirement, Wakamatsu said, “In no way would I ever force a player of that magnitude to retire. This was Ken’s decision. I would honor Ken and his career and never even approach that.”

Griffey chose retirement because he felt that his “continued presence as a player would be an unfair distraction” to teammates. However, Rosenthal says that Griffey may have felt the pressure to retire from Wakamatsu. According to Rosenthal’s sources, Wakamatsu asked Griffey about retirement at least once in recent weeks.