Ken Griffey Jr. Is A Very Special Boy

As you might have heard, Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 600th homer last night, becoming only the sixth man to do that. It's pretty impressive, even if he did it in Florida.

Of all the praises of Griffey we hear, perhaps our least favorite is that he "did it the right way." The implication, of course, is that Griffey hit all his home runs without steroids, unlike Barry Bonds and (presumably) Sammy Sosa. This seems more an insult to Griffey than to the alleged users. Praising Griffey by denigrating others' accomplishment doesn't allow Griffey to stand on his own, turns him into a martyr rather than the upper echelon Hall of Famer he is. Griffey should not be defined by others. He should be defined by being one of the best pure baseball players we've ever seen. He should also be defined by jock straps.

Because the Reds might well find him a place to be traded now that he has 600 — though the Mariners idea is looking less likely — here are his best homers as a Red.