Is Milestone Burnout Cheating Ken Griffey Jr. Out of Adulation for 600 Home Runs?
In baseball, 2007 will go down as the year of the milestone. We had Barry breaking the all-time HR mark in San Francisco, Craig Biggio surpassing 3,000 hits in Houston, Tom Glavine eclipsing the 300-win mark for the Mets, Sammy Sosa hitting his 600th career home run for the Rangers and Alex Rodriguez and Frank Thomas with the 500th home runs of their respective careers. As fans, are we burned out on milestones? I ask because one of the most popular players since the beginning of integration is on the doorstep to 600 home runs and there’s barely a peep out of the mainstream media. Ken Griffey Jr., sixth on the all-time home run list with 591, is on the verge of joining Sammy Sosa in the 600 club. Now, the questions surrounding Sammy after his dismal performance in front of Congress for the *teroids hearing helps explain why his feat went off without much fanfare. But Griffey? Those rumors don’t dog him like they do many power hitters from the 90s and 00s. With the Reds 12 games under .5
