In 1989, I was 13 years old, and like most 13-year-olds, I collected baseball cards. Back then, you didn't have to take out a mortgage to buy a pack of cards in your local convenience store, and I must've bought hundreds of packs to get this one.Ken Griffey Jr. was going to be a transcendent star, and even kids like me knew it.
Almost 20 years later, here we are, waiting to see if Griffey (gotta love the blue Mariners turtleneck) will make history this week. He needs one home run to become only the sixth player to hit 600 in his career. It could happen tonight. Griffey doesn't have any homers, but he's 4-for-5 in his career, against tonight's starter, Kyle Kendrick.
There have been other historic homers hit in Philadelphia. Courtesy of longtime Phils PR honcho Larry Shenk and homer historian David Vincent, here's a list:
400
Babe Ruth: vs. A's (Rube Walberg), Sept. 2, 1927 at Shibe Park
Hank Aaron: vs. Phils (Bo Belinsky), April 20, 1966 at Connie Mack Stadium
Jim Thome: vs. Reds (Jose Acevedo), June 14, 2004 at Citizens Bank Park
500
Jimmie Foxx: vs. A's (George Caster), Sept. 24, 1940 at Shibe Park
744
Barry Bonds: vs. Phillies (Jon Lieber), May 5, 2007 at Citizens Bank Park
In case you're wondering, all of Mike Schmidt's milestone homers after his first were hit on the road.
***
No surprise here, but Chase Utley was named NL Player of the Week.
More on that later.
2 comments:
I was covering the game when Thome hit his 400th. I remember it because the game didn't end until like 2 a.m. because of 2 long rain delays (fortunately, Thome hit his homer early in the game), but we didn't talk to him until about 2:30.
Anyway, that night, Griffey had 499 home runs, and the buzz was whether both players would get the milestone on the same night. As it turned out, Griffey didn't play that night and he didn't hit No. 500 until June 20, 2004 in St. Louis.
Also, that game was a makeup from a game that was rained out earlier in the season, so the Reds were only there for the one night before moving on to another city.
The question, then, becomes would you like to see Griffey get 600 here, or would you rather he did it someplace else?
I want to see him hit it somewhere else.
Which means, almost certainly, he'll hit it here.
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