Posted on Mon, Mar. 31, 2008

Closing on 600, he's still Junior

Losses and injuries haven't changed Red outfielder

By Joe Kay

Associated Press

CINCINNATI --

Home runs never defined Ken Griffey Jr.

The backward cap. The can-you-believe-it smile. The Gold Glove that turned flyballs into mesmerizing outs. The arm that made runners think twice. He’s always been much more than that sweet swing.

Now that he’s on the verge of a very powerful number, nothing has changed.

The Cincinnati Reds 38-year-old outfielder opens the season Monday only seven homers shy of 600. The countdown started late last season, and will occupy fans for the first few weeks of the new one.

Griffey? He’s got other things in mind.

“It’s just a number that’s coming up,” he said in an interview as spring training wound down. “But that’s not the biggest number. The biggest number is the next one (No. 594) and then the next one after that. You can’t look at something that’s dangling out there when you have something in front of you that you have to get first. You get that one, then worry about the next one.”

When he arrived from Seattle before the 2000 season, Griffey was ahead of Hank Aaron’s home run pace. Barely 30 at the time, he was already an All-Century outfielder and one of the game’s most popular players.

But during his second season in Cincinnati, Griffey tore his left hamstring. For the next few years, he was defined more by injuries than statistics.

Then Griffey batted .277 with 30 homers and 93 RBI last season. He played in 144 games, his highest total since his first year in Cincinnati.

When it was over, Griffey was only seven swings away from joining Barry Bonds, Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa with 600 career homers.

As he approaches the mark, it’s the other things that stand out.

“People change over time,” Reds Manager Dusty Baker said. “Basically, he’s still the same Junior I remember when he signed. He’s not jaded. He still enjoys the game. He still has a good time.

“A lot of times as we get older, you lose that fun and innocence of youth. But Junior is still the same Junior I knew a long time ago.”

Another thing that hasn’t changed: Griffey keeps his family front-and-center. His father, Ken Sr., introduced him to the game when he was an outfielder on the Big Red Machine. The two of them played together for Seattle in 1990-91.

Asked to pick his favorite accomplishment during his 19 years in the majors, Griffey didn’t hesitate to come up with a family moment.

“Play with my dad,” he said. “That’s probably my favorite memory so far.”

Griffey is entering the final season of his nine-year, $116.5 million deal. He makes $12.5 million, the same as in each of the last seven years.

There’s a club option for 2009 at $16.5 million, with a $4 million buyout. Once this season ends, his future will become a hot topic. He’s still the team’s marquee player and its biggest gate attraction.

But, that’s something for later.

Griffey is more focused on helping the Reds break their run of seven straight losing seasons, their longest slump in a half-century.

And he thought about how he’s been lucky in other ways. Into his mind popped a nice, round number that was even more satisfying than 600.

“I got to play baseball for 20 years,” he said.