The New York Knicks might want the Yankees to help recruiting LeBron James, but Derek Jeter doesn't see the point.

"It wouldn't make sense," the Yankees captain told ESPNNewYork.com.

Knicks president Donnie Walsh wants as many New Yorkers as possible to help convince James to choose Madison Square Garden when NBA free agency opens July 1. James is a Yankees fan, and has a special pair of Yankee-styled Nikes.

"If there's Yankees that want to help us, we would involve them," Walsh told the New York Post on Sunday.

James' good friend Jay-Z echoed Jeter's sentiment on recruitment.

"That's his decision," the hip-hop mogul and part owner of the New Jersey Nets said in a Rolling Stone interview.

"We're friends -- we've still gotta hang out! I don't want to convince somebody to do something, then have to see him and say, 'Uh, yeah, we're 4-30 ... sorry.'"

CC Sabathia is also friends with James, but admitted he didn't know what he'd say to persuade James to pick New York.

"You don't have to sell winning in New York," Jeter said.

When it was pointed out to Jeter that since he has won in New York, James could find out about how special it is, Jeter still didn't budge.

Jeter hypothetically compared it to if he were going to be recruited by one of the Los Angeles teams and Magic Johnson called him.

"If I were going to another baseball team, how would a basketball player help?" Jeter said. "I don't play basketball. I have nothing to do with that."

Unaware of Walsh's comments at the time he spoke about James, Jeter said he doubted the Knicks would ask him.

"I don't see how it would work," he said. "It is completely different."

Jeter, who was a standout basketball player in high school, knows James a little.

"He's a nice guy," Jeter said. "He's a big Yankee fan so I've gotten to meet him. I probably think of him as a player like everyone thinks of him as a player -- he can do anything."

The Kid has called it quits.

Just the way Ken Griffey Jr.(notes) wanted, there will be no farewell tour for one of the greatest players in baseball history. Instead, Griffey simply informed the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night his career was over.

The 40-year-old Griffey unexpectedly announced his retirement before Seattle’s game against Minnesota on Wednesday after 22 seasons, 13 all-star appearances and widespread acclaim as one of the greatest players of his generation.

Stuck in a limited role as a backup designated hitter and spot pinch-hitter, Griffey called Mariners’ team president Chuck Armstrong and said he was done playing. Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu called his players together before the start of batting practice to inform them of Griffey’s decision.

“While I feel I am still able to make a contribution on the field and nobody in the Mariners front office has asked me to retire, I told the Mariners when I met with them prior to the 2009 season and was invited back that I will never allow myself to become a distraction,” Griffey said in a statement.

“I feel that without enough occasional starts to be sharper coming off the bench, my continued presence as a player would be an unfair distraction to my teammates and their success as a team is what the ultimate goal should be,” he said.

Griffey was not in the clubhouse before the game, and the team said he would not be at Safeco Field.

Milton Bradley(notes), Griffey’s teammate for only a few months, turned to Mike Sweeney(notes) during batting practice and said, “on a day like this, it should rain in Seattle.”

Griffey was hitting only .184 with no homers and seven RBIs this year and recently went a week without playing. There was a report earlier this season— which Griffey denied—that he’d fallen asleep in the clubhouse during a game.

He ends his career fifth on the all-time home run list with 630. He won an MVP award and was an 11-time Gold Glover. The only thing missing on his resume was a trip to the World Series.

“It’s a sad day for the Mariners, our fans, for all the people in the community that have loved Ken, admired him as a tremendous baseball player and a great human being,” Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln said. “It’s always tough for great superstars like Ken or anyone else to make a decision to retire. This has been his life for so many years, but he has made his decision and will support it. We will honor him in every way possible.”

A star from the time he was the overall No. 1 pick in the 1987 draft, Griffey played 22 years in the majors with Seattle, his hometown Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox. He hit .284 with 1,836 RBIs.

But his greatest seasons, by far, came in Seattle.

Griffey played in 1,685 games with Seattle and hit .292 with 417 homers, most coming in the homer-friendly Kingdome, and 1,216 RBIs. He won the AL MVP in 1997 and practically saved a franchise that was in danger of relocating when he first came up.

Griffey returned to the Mariners in 2009 and almost single-handedly transformed what had been a fractured, bickering clubhouse with his leadership, energy and constant pranks.

Griffey signed a one-year deal last November for one more season in Seattle after he was carried off the field by his teammates after the final game of 2009. Griffey hit .214 last season with 19 homers as a part-time DH. He was limited by a swollen left knee that required a second operation in as many offseasons.

“Of course it surprised us. You never know what is in a players mind. They debate things here and there and in this particular case Ken made his decision and there wasn’t anything anybody could say,” Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik said. “You support him, you’re behind him and again, he’s a legacy in this community and certainly in the game of baseball.”

His career is littered with highlights, from homering in eight straight games to tie a major league record in 1993, to furiously rounding third and sliding home safe on Edgar Martinez’s(notes) double to beat the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series in 1995. His first major league at-bat was a double and Griffey homered the first time he stepped to the plate at home.

A year after making his big league debut, Griffey enjoyed one of his greatest highlights. Playing with his All-Star dad, Ken Griffey, they hit back-to-back home runs in a game for the Mariners.

For a time in the 1990s, he was considered the best player in baseball. And during the Steroids Era, his name was never linked to performance-enhancing drugs, a rarity among his contemporaries such as Barry Bonds(notes), Sammy Sosa(notes) and Mark McGwire.

“I think it’s pretty easy for me to personally say he’s the greatest player to ever play this game,” said Seattle catcher Rob Johnson(notes), whose locker was just a few feet from Griffey’s. “He did everything. He wasn’t just a home run hitter. The guy played outfield as good or better than anyone ever played. … To me he is the greatest player to ever live and to get a chance to play with him and to get to sit next to his locker is pretty special.”

Griffey also is regarded as the player who helped keep the Mariners in Seattle, a point Armstrong noted during an impromptu gathering just a few steps from the batter’s box at Safeco Field. It was Seattle’s unlikely late season playoff run in 1995, spurred by the return of Griffey from injury, that led to the construction of Safeco Field and the future security of a franchise rumored for years to be on the move.

Once he left Seattle for the Reds, injuries began to take their toll and his production started to decline. Griffey’s final hit, during his lackluster final season, was fittingly a game-winning pinch-hit single against Toronto on May 20.

Colorado manager Jim Tracy and others were surprised as the news of Griffey’s decision began to make its way around baseball.

“Did he really? Wow,” Tracy said before facing the San Francisco Giants.

The AL MVP agreed to a $184 million, eight-year contract extension with Minnesota on Sunday that includes a full no-trade clause, a massive deal that shows the Twins are no longer spending like a small-market club.

The deal covers the 2011-18 seasons and is the fourth largest -- both in total value and average salary -- in major league history. Mauer will make $12.5 million this year in the final season of a $33 million, four-year deal and will earn $23 million in each of the following eight seasons under the extension.

The team said on Sunday evening that neither Mauer nor team officials would comment until a news conference scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT on Monday at the team's spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla.

With the announcement, the entire state of Minnesota can take a deep breath and relax.

"184 million for Mauer! Wow," Twins center fielderDenard Spantweeted on Sunday night. "I'm glad it got done so we can all concentrate on winning now."

The 26-year-old Mauer, who has won three AL batting titles and is considered one of the best defensive catchers in the game, was entering the final year of his current contract.Even though both he and the Twins insisted all along that he would be staying in Minnesota, Twins fans were growing more nervous by the day as negotiations dragged on.

Manager Ron Gardenhire joked this winter that the Twins were simply deciding whether to "give him Minneapolis or St. Paul."

By the looks of it, the Twins gave him both.

Agent Ron Shapiro and Twins brass eventually worked out the deal, ensuring that the hometown favorite wouldn't be lured away by one of the many big spenders that were salivating at the thought of adding the sweet-swinging lefty to their battery after this season.

Then the Twins, who have become much more fiscally aggressive as they prepare to open Target Field in 2010, came through with a staggering package.

The $184 million total worth is fourth behind two deals signed byAlex Rodriguez-- the $275 million deal with the Yankees signed in December 2007 and a $252 million contract signed with Texas in December 2000 -- andDerek Jeter's $189 million deal signed with the Yankees in 2001 that expires after this season.

The only players to have a higher average salary than Mauer's $23 million are Roger Clemens ($28,000,022 prorated deal in 2007 -- he actually received $17,442,637 -- with the Yankees) and Rodriguez, who had average salaries of $25.2 million under the 2001-10 contract originally signed with Texas that he cut short and $27.5 million in a deal with the Yankees that runs through 2017.

Yankees ace CC Sabathia also has an average salary of $23 million as part of a deal that runs from 2009-15.

Mauer easily will become the highest-paid catcher, surpassing the $13.1 millionJorge Posadaearns annually under a $52.4 million, four-year contract with the Yankees that runs through 2011.

Mauer, the St. Paul native, was the No. 1 overall pick by the Twins in 2001 and quickly emerged as a fan favorite. The 6-foot-5 former star quarterback at Cretin Derham-Hall High School almost single-handedly brought sideburns back into style in the Twin Cities and receives marriage proposals by the dozens from giddy female fans at every home game.

Shy and soft-spoken, Mauer has tried to avoid the spotlight, but even that became more difficult as his on-field accomplishments piled up.

Last year, after missing the first month of the season with a back injury, Mauer hit .365 with 28 home runs and 96 RBIs to help the Twins win the AL Central division.

For years, the Twins were considered penny-pinchers, and fans were angered when the team traded aceJohan Santanato the Mets and let center fielderTorii Hunterleave in free agency before the 2008 season.

But the Pohlad family has grown bolder in recent seasons as the opening of new, revenue-producing Target Field approached. They signed first basemanJustin Morneau, a close friend and former roommate of Mauer's, to a six-year, $80 million deal in 2008.

This year they added shortstop J.J. Hardy, second baseman Orlando Hudson and slugger Jim Thome and signed center fielder Denard Span and pitcherNick Blackburnto long-term deals, showing Mauer that they weren't afraid to spend the money necessary to surround him with a capable supporting cast.

Then came the Mauer deal, which is $104 million more than they've ever spent on a contract and vaulted them into a financial stratosphere typically reserved for the big-market clubs in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.

Now the Twins can christen the new stadium in style when it opens in April, with their homegrown superstar behind the plate for this year and many more to come.