Mariners honor Griffey by retiring his number 24

In front of a capacity crowd at Safeco Field on Saturday night, Ken Griffey Jr. took one more step into baseball immortality.

Following his July 24 induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, “The Kid” had his No. 24 uniform number retired, becoming the first player to have his number retired by the Mariners.

To honor Griffey, the field was decorated with his number as navy blue 24s were painted down both baselines and in center field. Each Seattle player and coach wore the number on the back of his warmup jersey, and many players wore their hats backward during batting practice – a nod to Griffey’s signature look.

But it was the pregame ceremony that stole the show. The tribute packed videos, speeches and fanfare into an hour and 15 minutes that celebrated one of the sport’s all-time greats.

Icons including Kobe Bryant, Hank Aaron, Jeff Gordon and Willie Mays paid tribute in video form to Griffey, who racked up 630 home runs among his 2,781 career hits, was one of only three players with three consecutive seasons with 140 or more RBIs (along with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig), and had nine seasons of 30 homers or more and seven with 40-plus homers.

In other MLB news, Jake Arrieta pitched eight shutout innings and ended his three-game losing streak as the Chicago Cubs defeated the Oakland A’s 4-0.

Arrieta (13-5), the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, was 0-3 with a 4.88 ERA in his previous five starts after going 12-2 with a 2.10 ERA in his first 16.

Also, Miami’s Ichiro Suzuki, pinch-hitting in the eighth inning, chopped a bouncer and beat the throw of third baseman Nolan Arenado for his 2,999th career hit, ending an 0-for-11 drought with his single during the Marlins’ 12-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies.