Just days after he was voted into the Hall of Fame, the Mariners announced that they will retire Ken Griffey Jr’s number.
Griffey will be the first Mariner whose number will be retired. His nr. 24 will hang next to Jackie Robinson’s 42.
The event of retiring his number will take place on August 6.
During a press conference at Safeco Field, Griffey stated that h was honored to have his number put next to Robinson’s. “If Robinson didn’t do what he did, maybe none of this would be possible,” Griffey said. “Maybe baseball wouldn’t be the same. We’d still have divided Negro Leagues to baseball.” Griffey was the initiator of wearing nr. 42 during Jackie Robinson Day as he was the first who asked the Commissioner of MLB to allow him to wear Robinson’s number.
Ken Griffey weekend will take place from August 5 – 7 during the series vs the Angels, only two weeks after the Hall of Fame induction. The game on August 5 will be a Griffey bobblehead night, The pregame jersey retirement ceremony will be on August 6 and August. 7 will be a Griffey replica-jersey day for the first 20,000 fans. His number also will be retired throughout the club’s entire Minor League system.
Griffey will be the first player that will wear a Mariners cap on his plaque in Cooperstown.
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