Ten Golden Gloves, seven Silver Sluggers and one in-game nap is enough for Ken Griffey Jr. The all-time great Seattle Mariner probably stayed on a season too long. But he’s a clear Hall of Famer and Wednesday he decided that his career had gone on long enough.

Griffey had been brought back to Seattle last year as a veteran presence and stuck around for one final season this year as the Mariners made several aggressive moves in the offseason aimed at contending for a championship. But the Mariners got out of the gates slowly and one report indicated that he was going to retire or be released sometime last month.

He finishes 2010 with a .184 batting average and no homeruns. But he finishes his 22 year career with 630 homers and a .284 average to go along with the above-mentioned accolades. Throughout the 1990s he was regarded as one of the best – if not the best – players in the game, though his stats would undoubtedly have been even better if he had not spent most of 2002-2004 on the disabled list.

Griffey also was regarded as a truly decent guy. In one of the few controversies to arise during his career, two unnamed players told the Tacoma News Tribune that Griffey missed an opportunity to pinch hit earlier this year when he fell asleep in the clubhouse. His teammates defended him aggressively, locking out the reporter who broke that story for at least awhile.

The linked Seattle Mariners press release includes several Mariners officials giving him his well-deserved due. There’s little to no question in my mind that he will be a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection in five years. He was untainted by the steroid allegations that have hampered his peers such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire. And even with the injuries his numbers clearly put him among the all-time greats.

A discussion on one of the local sports radio talk shows raises a more interesting question: Is Griffey the best professional athlete to never win a championship? Karl Malone in the NBA, Dan Marino in the NFL and Bonds, among others, are under discussion as his competition from the other major sports.

But Griffey has to be right up there toward the top. Your thoughts?