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Griffey hits No. 600
And now it’s 600.
At 7:22, on a hot Florida night, Ken Griffey Jr. joined the ‘600’ Club, bashing a 3-and-1 pitch from Florida left-hander Mark Hendrickson into the right field seats - a no-doubt 413-footer.
Griffey joins an Elite Five with 600 or more home runs - Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa.
The Marlins picked their own poison on this one.
On Sunday, with first base open and one out and a runner on second in the first inning, the Marlins walked Griffey intentionally. On Monday, same situation - one out, runner on second, first inning, they decided to pitch to him.
With a quick flick of his ebony bat, the long wait was over and a very small turnout in Dolphin Stadium to witness history gave him a standing ovation and demanded a curtain call, which he gave them.
Griffey had gone 24 plate appearances (17 at-bats, 7 walks) since he hit No. 599 against Atlanta on May 31 in Great American Ball Park.
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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.
Comments
By Florida Buckeye
June 9, 2008 11:51 PM | Link to this
I’m very PROUD of Griffey Jr: I watched his father play and am proud to tell any children that I have that I saW him play as well…congrats!By Kyle
June 9, 2008 7:59 PM | Link to this
Congratulations, Junior.By Roger
June 9, 2008 7:57 PM | Link to this
Thanks Hal, you are the man too!! Tonight will be a night for Mr. Jay Bruce to remember also. Now I am ready to get on with some wins.