Blast - Griffey blasts #600 against Marlins

Ken Griffey, Jr. finally did it. In the first inning of Monday night’s game in Florida against the Marlins, Griffey belted a no-doubter to right field for the 600th home run of his career. The 38-year old took lefty Mark Hendrickson deep on a 3-1 count with Jerry Hairston, Jr. standing on third base.

Griffey is the sixth person to crack 600 HR’s, joining Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds*, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa*.

After Griffey launched the home run, the real fun began. 25-year old Justin Kimball said he caught the ball and put it in a wool cap, only to have someone grab the cap and run off. Police said they found the fan that had the ball and that they will look at the video replay to see if Kimball’s claims can be supported.

Great, problem solved, right? Nope. The Marlins say that someone from Major League Baseball had already authenticated the ball for a middle-aged man named Joe (they didn’t give out any more details).

Micah Warren is the Blast Magazine sports editor

In Baseball, Sports on June 9, 2008 at 21:43