☆☆☆ - Ken Griffey Jr. 600+ Career Homerun Thread - ☆☆☆

[you big dummy]

June 30, 2008
#603

Walk off two-run homerun

6 behind Sosa!!

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June 9, 2008

#600
In the first inning tonight in Florida, Ken Griffey Jr. became the sixth player in history with 600 HR.

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April 6, 2008

#594

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April 15, 2008

#595 on Jackie Robinson Day

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April 17, 2008

#596 3-run shot against cubs

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April 23, 2008

#597

�

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May 22, 2008

#598

Ken Griffey Jr. is two home runs away from reaching 600, a milestone shared by only five others.

All-time home-run leaders
[table][tr][td]Rk.[/td] [td]
Player
[/td] [td]AB[/td] [td]H[/td] [td]RBI[/td] [td]SO[/td] [td]AVG[/td] [td]HR[/td] [/tr][tr][td]1.�[/td] [td]
Barry Bonds
[/td] [td]9,847[/td] [td]2,935[/td] [td]1,996[/td] [td]1,539[/td] [td].298[/td] [td]762[/td] [/tr][tr][td]2.�[/td] [td]
Hank Aaron
[/td] [td]12,364[/td] [td]3,771[/td] [td]2,297[/td] [td]1,383[/td] [td].305[/td] [td]755[/td] [/tr][tr][td]3.�[/td] [td]
Babe Ruth
[/td] [td]8,399[/td] [td]2,873[/td] [td]2,213[/td] [td]1,330[/td] [td].342[/td] [td]714[/td] [/tr][tr][td]4.�[/td] [td]
Willie Mays
[/td] [td]10,881[/td] [td]3,283[/td] [td]1,903[/td] [td]1,526[/td] [td].302[/td] [td]660[/td] [/tr][tr][td]5.�[/td] [td]
Sammy Sosa
[/td] [td]8,813[/td] [td]2,408[/td] [td]1,667[/td] [td]2,306[/td] [td].273[/td] [td]609[/td] [/tr][tr][td]6.�[/td] [td]
Ken Griffey Jr.*
[/td] [td]8,989[/td] [td]2,599[/td] [td]1,721[/td] [td]1,619[/td] [td].289[/td] [td]598[/td] [/tr][tr][td]7.�[/td] [td]
Frank Robinson
[/td] [td]10,006[/td] [td]2,943[/td] [td]1,812[/td] [td]1,532[/td] [td].294[/td] [td]586[/td] [/tr][tr][td]8.�[/td] [td]
Mark McGwire
[/td] [td]6,187[/td] [td]1,626[/td] [td]1,414[/td] [td]1,596[/td] [td].263[/td] [td]583[/td] [/tr][tr][td]9.�[/td] [td]
Harmon Killebrew
[/td] [td]8,147[/td] [td]2,086[/td] [td]1,584[/td] [td]1,699[/td] [td].256[/td] [td]573[/td] [/tr][tr][td]10.�[/td] [td]
Rafael Palmeiro
[/td] [td]10,472[/td] [td]3,020[/td] [td]1,835[/td] [td]1,348[/td] [td].288[/td] [td]569[/td] [/tr][/table]

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May 31, 2008

#599

Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. today hit his 599th career home run, drawing a step closer to joining one of baseball's most exclusive fraternities.

Griffey hit a two-run shot off Braves pitcher Jair Jurriens in the first inning at Great American Ball Park. He drove in Jay Bruce, who had singled, to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

Only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Willy Mays (660) and Sammy Sosa (609) have hits more home runs than Griffey.

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June 9, 2008

#600

[h1]Griffey becomes 6th to reach 600 homer milestone[/h1]
By CHARLIE MCCARTHY - 6 minutes ago

MIAMI (AP) - Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 600th home run on Monday night, completing his long ascent and becoming the sixth player in history to reach that milestone. The Cincinnati Reds outfielder homered off Florida lefty Mark Hendrickson in the first inning. Griffey joined Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa.

Griffey homered with Jerry Hairston on third and one out. The left-handed swinger launched a 3-1 pitch 413 feet into the right-field seats.

The 38-year-old outfielder hasn't enjoyed many golden moments since the Reds got him from Seattle in 2000. This will rank as one of his best with Cincinnati and, possibly, one of his last, given that he's in the final year of his contract.

It was a long time coming.

Griffey, one of baseball's most prolific sluggers before injuries began to take their toll, started the season with 593 home runs.

It took 216 at-bats to make history - his previous homer came May 31.

Griffey hit No. 597 on April 23 at Great American Ball Park, then went 90 at-bats - the second-longest drought of his career - before connecting again in San Diego on May 22.

He went another 29 at-bats, and even got a day off during the week to work on his swing, before hitting No. 599. Griffey went 17 at-bats between that homer and No. 600.

Like his 400th and 500th, this home run came on the road.

Unlike Bonds and Sosa, Griffey has stayed clear of questions about whether he came by all of his homers legitimately. His name has never come up in baseball's steroids scandal. Unlike Sosa, he's never been caught using a doctored bat.

Although Junior is linked numerically with Hammerin' Hank and the Babe, he has never been defined by the home run.

His game is so well-rounded that he was voted an All-Century outfielder with Seattle before his 30th birthday. By then, his backward cap and light-up smile were the face of baseball.

His statistics were setting the pace, too. When Griffey was traded to his hometown team before the 2000 season, he was significantly ahead of Aaron's record home run pace.

It seemed like a sure bet that when his nine-year, $116.5 million contract was wrapping up this year, he'd be the next home run king, or close to it. Then, the city would have two of its own atop baseball's revered lists - Pete Rose as the hits king, Junior as the home run king.

It hasn't turned out that way.

Griffey hit 40 homers in his first season with the Reds, when he became the youngest to reach 400 career. Then came a succession of major injuries - torn hamstrings, torn patella tendon, separated shoulder, torn ankle - that knocked him way off Aaron's pace.

Nearly knocked him off the map, too.

The one-time superstar got booed in his hometown and overlooked in conversation about the game's best players. It took him more than four years to get to homer No. 500 in 2004.

It seemed he might never make it to 600.

A year later, he was back in the swing.

Griffey hit 35 homers in 2005, winning the comeback player award. He followed it with 27 homers in 2006.

Last season, he played in 144 games - his most since 2000 - and hit 30 homers, leaving him seven shy of No. 600. The Reds erected a countdown board at Great American Ball Park, and featured him on the cover of the 2008 media guide.

While he closed in on the prominent power number, Griffey gave it little thought. He's never spent much time thinking about his statistics. He preferred to wait and talk about No. 600 when he got it.

Until then, his personal homer list would have to speak for itself.

Griffey was the youngest player in the majors - still only 19 - on April 10, 1989, when he homered off the Chicago White Sox's Eric King on the first pitch he saw at Seattle's Kingdome.

Homer No. 36 was one of his most satisfying. It came one batter after his father, Ken Sr., homered off California's Kirk McCaskill on Sept. 14, 1990, an unprecedented father-and-son moment in the majors.

Even now, Griffey says those two seasons he spent playing with his father in Seattle were the best times of his career. And he has suggested that he would like to finish his career back there.

 

[jville819]

Greatest player of this era

 

[desh b]

Dope pics

 

[fraij da 5 11]

Griff.

 

[mustbetheshoe58]

he'll always be known as "the kid" to me

 

[fede dpt]

His swing is beautiful.

 

[outkast9984]

man this guy was my favorite player when i first got into baseball. i remember having the grey griffey shoes with that strap going across in middle school.cant wait till he gets 600. would have been in REAL homerun king if it wasnt for the injuries

 

[i fr3sh i]

*

 

[memphisboi55]

^

but props to griffey... the prettiest stroke of all time (no #!#*)

 

[Chester McFloppy]

 

[jville819]

If Griffey Jr could reach 700 HR would you consider him one of the 3 greatest HR hitters of all time along with Aaron and Ruth. I know Bonds is statisticallythe greatest HR hitter ever but a lot of people question him and the steroid controversy will always follow him. Griffey was never mentioned in any of thesteroid talk and is known as one of the good guys in the MLB.

 

[acidicality]

 

[gothams terror]

He should be on a winner

honestly, even as an Angels fan, I'd still love to see him in a Mariners uni

@ Injuries.

My favorite ball player.

 

[suprafly36]

One of the best at the game

 

[j steezzz]

i don't care what Bonds* did , if Griffey was healthy his whole career, it would be a wrap for anyone else trying to keep up

BONUS.. oldie but a goodie

 

[overtime626]

without a doubt, THE SWEETEST BASEBALL SWING of all time!!!!!

 

[wildkycat]

Griffey personifies baseball's best

Injuries curtailed numbers but image remains untarnished

• Game always first for humble Griffey
• Pay it forward: Junior a mentor to Prince
• Griffey's career statistics

Sure, you can look back on the seven-plus seasons Ken Griffey Jr. has spent in Cincinnati and call it a disappointment.

After all, when the Reds sent Mike Cameron, Brett Tomko, Antonio Perez and Jake Meyer to Seattle for Griffey on Feb. 10, 2000, it was a red-letter day in the Queen City of the West. The '99 Reds had won 96 games and finished just 1 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central Division, and adding the then 30-year-old center fielder in the prime of his career was widely viewed as the piece that would put Cincinnati in the playoff picture for years to come.

Unfortunately for Griffey and Cincinnati, the expectations following the prodigal son's return to Ohio -- his father Ken Griffey Sr. was a starter on the Big Red Machine of the 1970s -- proved to be far greater than the reality.

The Reds won 85 games in 2000 while Griffey hit 40 homers and made the All-Star team in what to date has been the high-water mark of his Cincinnati tenure. The Reds haven't had a winning record since then and Griffey, now 37, has been limited to fewer than 112 games per season in five of the last six years because of injuries.

As disappointing as his run with the Reds has been, as he closes in on 600 career home runs, Griffey deserves to be applauded for what he has accomplished during his entire career, not just in Cincinnati, and for what he's meant for baseball and could mean in the years ahead.

In an era in which some of his contemporaries' achievements have been tainted by steroid rumors or other unsavory associations, Griffey's image is as unsullied today as it was when he was selected as the first overall pick of the 1987 First-Year Player Daft.

Think about that a moment.

We're talking about a 13-time All-Star, a nine-time Gold Glove winner and a seven-time Silver Slugger. He's been a Most Valuable Player (with Seattle in '97), an All-Star Game MVP, led the league in home runs four times and driven in 100 or more runs eight times. A career .290 hitter, Griffey has hit .300 or better eight times.

This is a guy who has already amassed Hall of Fame-caliber numbers, and there hasn't been a hint of impropriety along the way.

This is one of the greatest players the game has seen and a guy who stays out of trouble and yet he somehow gets less recognition today than others who have accomplished less on the diamond.

The biggest criticism anyone can level at Griffey, outside the disappointing run with the Reds, is that he's been injury prone. He missed 260 games during 2001-2004.

While it's true he's been hurt a lot since he turned 30, he was usually injured as a result of playing the game hard. Other times involved accidents that could have happened to anybody, like slipping in the shower. At worst, Griffey is guilty of having tough luck.

Ask a few of his former managers, guys like Lou Piniella and Jerry Narron, and you get nothing but praise for Griffey and the way he plays the game. The consensus is Griffey is a gamer, a guy who plays the game the right way.

"He's always had incredible talent," Piniella said. "And he makes it look so easy, but he doesn't take [his skill] for granted."

It is a skill that has taken him to a plateau only five others -- Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa -- have reached. Unlike the two most recent members of the 600 homer club, Griffey joins without the cloud of controversy.

You might have seen Griffey's name on the disabled list several times, but not on a court docket.

You haven't seen Griffey's name associated with corked bats, grand jury testimony or unfortunate off-the-field incidents.

Others exercise the kind of poor judgment that provides tabloid fodder. Not Griffey.

Maybe it's because he has spent his career playing for teams not located in the biggest media markets, but Griffey gets considerably less attention than the new home run king, Bonds, and the player some observers believe will break Bonds' record one day, Alex Rodriguez.

And yet you wonder whether Griffey, if he is able to stay healthy and keep playing into his 40s, will end up on the career home run chart. He's averaged 31 each of the last two seasons and should top that number this season. If Griffey hangs around until he's 42 or 43 and maintains that average, he would wind up with around 750 home runs.

Six hundred, 700 or 800, with Griffey, his place in history shouldn't be measured solely by how many. How he got here, in an era in which integrity isn't as common as it once was, is nearly as impressive.

Harold Reynolds interviews Griffey about 600: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200804172540855

 

[bkmac]

I wore my Griffey Mariners jersey today, and he hit #596.

[Flavor Flav]YEA BOI![/Flavor Flav]

Griffey's still got it

 

[nyvictory45]

My favorite player. No *'s over here.

 

[wildkycat]

ooohhhh i just got an idea for a sick avy when he hits 600.

 

[bkmac]

Originally Posted by wildKYcat

ooohhhh i just got an idea for a sick avy when he hits 600.

I can't wait to see it

I was just looking at your avy, man, I need to get a Griffey Reds jersey for the summer. I was thinking either the White/Sleeveless, or the Home [Authentic]. Ialready have a Griffey Mariners made by Rawlings (I don't mess with M&N, it's got to be vintage or nothing

), I need the Reds now.

 

[gangsta207therevolution]

Bonds was a better overall hitter ( even pre roids) but Griffey has the shortest hr stroke. that is a work of ar.

 

[wildkycat]

Originally Posted by bkmac

Originally Posted by wildKYcat

ooohhhh i just got an idea for a sick avy when he hits 600.

I can't wait to see it

I was just looking at your avy, man, I need to get a Griffey Reds jersey for the summer. I was thinking either the White/Sleeveless, or the Home [Authentic]. I already have a Griffey Mariners made by Rawlings (I don't mess with M&N, it's got to be vintage or nothing

), I need the Reds now.

you know we don't wear the sleeveless anymore right? but you should get the Red alternate, that thing is hot.

 

[breakinyourankles]

Come back to seattle!!

 

[bkmac]

Originally Posted by wildKYcat

Originally Posted by bkmac

Originally Posted by wildKYcat

ooohhhh i just got an idea for a sick avy when he hits 600.

I can't wait to see it

I was just looking at your avy, man, I need to get a Griffey Reds jersey for the summer. I was thinking either the White/Sleeveless, or the Home [Authentic]. I already have a Griffey Mariners made by Rawlings (I don't mess with M&N, it's got to be vintage or nothing

), I need the Reds now.

you know we don't wear the sleeveless anymore right? but you should get the Red alternate, that thing is hot.

SMH, even though I'm not a Reds fan, I should have known that. The red is nice, but I don't know if I'm a big fan of it. I like the look of theHome jersey (White) for the summertime.