Ken Griffey Jr. finally got his 600th home run tonight but unfortunate for him, it was an away game down in Florida at the empty orange seat ghost town known as Dolphins Stadium. A mere 16K fans turned out in Miami to see the legendary slugger accomplish the feat of a lifetime, that only five other players have accomplished before him.

Here’s a blurb from the AP Article by Charlie McCarthy…

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 outfielder homered off Florida lefty Mark Hendrickson in the first inning of the Reds’ 9-4 victory against the Marlins. Griffey joined Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa. The 38-year-old 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. Griffey received a standing ovation from the crowd of 16,003 and responded by coming out of the Reds dugout and waving his helmet to the fans. The game was the last one of an eight-game road trip for the Reds, who will return home Tuesday night to play the St. Louis Cardinals.

What’s up with the city of Miami and their disdain for their sports teams? At least when Ken Griffey Jr and the Reds were up here in Philly last week, Citizen’s Bank Park was packed with diehard fans hoping to catch a piece of baseball history. However, true to his humble yet dedicated nature, Griffey didn’t wait until he was back on home turf tomorrow and he got the job done, leading the Reds to a victory over the Florida Marlins who have been playing tag with the Phillies for the lead in the NL East.

…and only 16K fans present ??? I think this is a sign that it’s about time the Marlins relocated to Central Florida, preferrably Orlando, where at least they and the sport of baseball are appreciated.

Ken Griffey Jr., who has been approaching his 600th career home run has sat out the last few days in the Reds vs Phillies series at Philadelphia. While the reports are Griffey is not feeling up to snuff, we all know the real reason is that the Cincinnati Reds organization would rather see him make his 600th strike on Reds territory in front of the home town fans. You’d have to be a jet fuel genius to realize that a scenario such as Griffey’s 600th would account for higher than average ticket sales at the box office and I don’t think there’s many true baseball fans out there who would disagree with the organization’s intentions to please their fans and take them to the show.

Here’s an excellent article about Griffey’s 600th from of all places, a NY Yankee blog, but the author brings several insightful and overall positive opinions to the table. Including this quote which is indicative of a true MLB baseball fan…

Griffey deserves to be treated just like those who hit 600 prior to him. He deserves to have more people talking about him and praising him. So why don’t we? As baseball fans I think that we should all be excited for this historical happening, regardless of what team we root for.

Couldn’t agree any more with that bit of logic especially these days when players move from team to team at the blinking of an eye. Regardless of the current team a player is part of the starting linuep, we should respect them when they accomplish greatness which only furthers the game we love as fans.

SportsPhile also has another fantastic article entitled Where’s All The Hoopla For Ken Griffey Jr’s 600th Home Run? that echoes similar opinions to the previously mentioned article. One especially intriguing observation is when the the author, Chuck, states the following…

What you WON’T see is much of any celebration on Ken Griffey Jr. approaching the 600th home run milestone. I believe this is so unfair and hypocritical because Ken Griffey may be the first player in the last 35 years to reach 600 without cheating. He’s being forced to quietly make history in the shadows.

A statement we here at BaseballTalkPro are in total agreement with. The truest of MLB baseball fans are watching Griffey humbly advance into the elite 600 crowd occupied by only five other sluggers: Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa. The closest active players behind Griffey is the Yankees’ bombshell Alex Rodriguez and the White Sox’s Jim Thome.

Hats off to Ken Griffey and we’ll all be watching for that 600th HR in from of the Cincinnati Reds fans !!!