TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Griffey Reached 600 The Right Way: Cleanly

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 12, 2008

TAMPA - He already had like 600 nicknames.

Junior. The Natural. The Kid.

The Kid is 38. But Ken Griffey Jr. still possessed a child's happiness after he made history the other night in Miami with his 600th home run.

Only five other men have ever done that - Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth and the flying pig brothers, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa.

It happened in a football stadium made into a Marlins baseball stadium, before a smattering of fans, some of whom fought for Griffey's home run ball. Not that it will go for as much as it would have if baseball had been clean all those dirty steroid seasons. Monday's moment was devalued.

And that's a shame.

A Victim Of His Own Body

This Cincinnati Red is the guy who should have passed Hank Aaron and his 755 home runs, and he might have, had injuries not stopped him and, oh, if BeelzeBonds hadn't sold his soul and done it first.

Ken Griffey should have caught Aaron, not Bonds.

A-Rod eventually will pass Bonds. Should have been Griffey.

"Who knows what Griffey would have done without the injuries," said our local slugging great, Fred McGriff. "He'd probably have 700, maybe more."

Junior is a victim of his own body. He's also exactly the kind of victim we've been talking about since the steroids mess tainted anyone who ever hit a long ball.

McGriff can relate. He hit 493 home runs in his career, and they look better and better each day - clean as a whistle. Heck, Freddy couldn't even make Jose Canseco's books, and Freddy played with Jose on the Rays.

Back to Junior.

"He's one of the two best players I've ever played against," McGriff said. "It's Griffey and Bonds."

McGriff isn't accusing anyone of doing anything wrong.

"I'd have to see the proof," he said.

He can only tell you what he thinks.

And he thinks Ken Griffey did it right.

We do, too.

He was a Natural.

If anything, his 600 dingers carry back across the years, to Mays and Aaron, and even further, to Ruthian days, when beer, hot dogs and bicarbonate were all Babe needed to rattle bleacher seats.

The steroids era has painted every slugger with a broad stroke, so even if no one accuses them, the very act of hitting homers has been diminished.

And that's a shame.

Griffey's homers should mean even more now.

His 600th beats Bonds' and Sosa's 600th.

Beats any of Mark McGwire's historic homers, too.

Really, how many home runs would Griffey have right now without those injuries? Maybe he would have been able to bounce back, faster and better, from some of his injuries had he been on the juice.

Think about it.

Well, Griffey never did.

Someone raised The Kid right.

The Ken Griffeys, senior and junior, once hit homers in the same big-league game. Ken Griffey Sr. was proud of that. Bet he's prouder of this.

The Kid swung in the age of lowdown, dirty dogs.

His sweet swing seems even more majestic now.

"We should all applaud what he's done," Fred McGriff said.

He Can Hold His Head High

In a mostly empty football stadium, on a hot June evening, Ken Griffey Jr. hit the 600th home run of his major-league baseball career.

You know what should matter? What should matter is what happened after Griffey circled the bases in Miami. When he reached the Cincinnati dugout, his 14-year-old son, Trey, was waiting for him.

Remember when Mark McGwire hugged his boy after No. 62? Remember when Bonds hugged his son after he passed Aaron?

Well, this was different.

Because we're pretty sure that when Ken Griffey looks his child in the eyes - or any child's eyes - he can hold his head high. He taught his son. He taught us all.

You can do it clean.

You can do it right.

Write that down 600 times.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT