Griffey wallops 600th homer

MIAMI - Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 600th home run last night, 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 in the 600-homer club.

The 38-year-old homered with Jerry Hairston on third and one out. The lefthanded 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.

"I don't think I touched any of the bases. I sort of floated around," Griffey said.

The Reds' Dusty Baker has managed the last three players to achieve the milestone: Bonds in San Francisco, Sosa in Chicago (though Sosa hit his for Texas), and now Griffey.

"It's awesome every time you see a milestone like that," Baker said. "It doesn't take away from the others. It adds to it."

The game was the last of an eight-game road trip for the Reds, who will return home tonight to play the St. Louis Cardinals.

Griffey was a clubhouse fixture during the famed run of the Reds' Big Red Machine in the 1970s.

"It's emotional to see the kid I saw running around with my sons in the clubhouse in Cincinnati hit his 600th home run," said Tony Perez, a player on those teams who now is a Marlins executive. "I'm sorry it came against us . . . but it's emotional and it brings back a lot of memories."

Ken Griffey Sr. was at the game along with Griffey Jr.'s wife, Melissa, and their three children.

Griffey, who hit his first homer April 10, 1989, reached 600 home runs in 2,439 games, the third-fewest total among the six: Ruth did it in 2,044 games and Bonds in 2,394.

Griffey hit 40 homers in his first season with the Reds, in 2000, when he became the youngest to reach 400 for his 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.

The Reds outfielder needs nine home runs to tie Sosa for fifth all-time.

Controversy ensued in the stands after the home run. Justin Kimball, a 25-year-old from Miami, said he caught the home run ball. He said he put it in a wool cap but then had the cap ripped from his hands.

Police said they had found the fan who ended up with the baseball and would look at videotape to see if Kimball's claims could be supported.

However, the Marlins announced that Major League Baseball had authenticated the home-run ball for a male fan who would identify himself only as Joe.

Cincinnati 231 000 003–9 11 1

Florida 000 030 010–4 5 3

Cincinnati AB   R   H   BI   Avg.      Florida AB   R   H   BI   Avg.   

Hairston Jr. ss 1   1   1   0   .336      HRamirez ss 4   1   1   0   .299

Janish ss 4   0   0   0   .257      Hermida rf 4   0   1   2   .264

Bruce cf-rf 6   0   1   0   .400      Cantu 3b 5   0   1   1   .285

Griffey Jr. rf 4   1   1   2   .260      Jacobs 1b 4   1   1   1   .246

Bray p 0   0   0   0   ---      Uggla 2b 4   0   0   0   .304

Weathers p 0   0   0   0   ---      LGonzalez lf 2   1   1   0   .286

FCordero p 0   0   0   0   .000      CRoss cf 4   0   0   0   .222

BPhillips 2b 5   1   2   1   .273      Pinto p 0   0   0   0   .000

Dunn lf 5   1   1   0   .240      Treanor c 2   0   0   0   .264

Encarncion 3b 3   2   1   0   .234      Hendrickson p 0   0   0   0   .286

Votto 1b 2   1   1   1   .279      Badenhop p 1   0   0   0   .083

Bako c 4   2   2   5   .250      a-JJones ph 1   1   0   0   .121

Volquez p 3   0   0   0   .069      Lindstrom p 0   0   0   0   ---

Burton p 0   0   0   0   .000      b-Helms ph 1   0   0   0   .245

c-APhillips ph 1   0   0   0   .214      Kensing p 0   0   0   0   .000

CPatterson cf 1   0   1   0   .203      Amezaga cf 1   0   0   0   .250

Totals 39   9   11   9         Totals 33   4   5   4      

a-grounded into fielder's choice for Badenhop in the 5th. b-lined out for Lindstrom in the 6th. c-grounded out for Burton in the 8th. E: Janish (3), HRamirez (9), Cantu (14), LGonzalez (2). LOB: Cincinnati 11, Florida 8. 2B: Dunn (8). HR: Jacobs (14), off Bray; BPhillips (12), off Hendrickson; Bako 2 (6), off Pinto, Hendrickson; Griffey (7), off Hendrickson. RBIs: Griffey 2 (29), BPhillips (35), Votto (33), Bako 5 (20), Hermida 2 (30), Cantu (35), Jacobs (35). SB: Hairston 2 (12). CS: Bruce (2). SF: Votto. RLSP: Cincinnati 6 (Janish 2, Bruce 2, Griffey, BPhillips); Florida 3 (Cantu, Jacobs, Helms). RA: CRoss.

Cincinnati walks (5): Griffey, Encarnacion 2, Votto, Bako.

Florida walks (6): HRamirez, Hermida, LGonzalez 2, Treanor 2.

Cincinnati strikeouts (13): Bruce 3, Griffey, BPhillips, Dunn 3, Encarnacion, Bako, Volquez 3.

Florida strikeouts (8): Hermida 3, Cantu 2, Jacobs, Uggla, CRoss.

Cincinnati IP   H   R   ER   BB   SO   NP   ERA   

Volquez (W) 6   3   3   3   5   5   101   1.56

Burton (H) 1   0   0   0   0   1   7   2.76

Bray (H) 1/3   1   1   1   1   0   12   3.06

Weathers (H) 2/3   0   0   0   0   1   8   4.03

FCordero 1   1   0   0   0   1   14   2.83

Florida IP   H   R   ER   BB   SO   NP   ERA   

Hendrickson (L) 21/3   5   6   5   3   4   85   5.76

Badenhop 22/3   3   0   0   0   4   43   6.00

Lindstrom 1   0   0   0   0   2   11   4.76

Kensing 2   0   0   0   1   2   26   4.35

Pinto 1   3   3   3   1   1   31   2.09

W: Volquez, 9-2. L: Hendrickson, 7-4. H: Burton, 5. H: Weathers, 6. H: Bray, 4. IR-S: Weathers 1-0, Badenhop 3-0. IBB: off Kensing (Griffey) 1. HBP: by Badenhop (Janish), by Hendrickson (Votto). WP: Pinto. Umpires: Home, Bill Hohn; First, Hunter Wendelstedt; Second, Marvin Hudson; Third, Tom Hallion.

T: 3:09. A: 16,003 (38,560).