Barry Bonds. Hank Aaron. Babe Ruth. Willie Mays. Sammy Sosa. Ken Griffey, Jr. The 6 men to achieve greatness. And yet only one in this era did it right, Mr. George Kenneth Griffey, Junior.

Last night in the first inning of his ball game, Griffey stepped up and smashed a curveball into the outfield stands of Dolphin Stadium, his 600th home run. (As if you didn't already know that.) But Griffey's mark in history is one we have not seen in a while. Sure, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa hit 600 homers more recently, but many people disagree that the records were accomplished fairly. So it stands that Griffey is the premier home run hitter of his time.

I'm not so sure that reaching 600 home runs is "achieving greatness" as some have called it. It's just a number. Griffey already hit the 6th most home runs in history, he really had nothing to prove by reaching 600. He was an MVP, 7x Silver Slugger, 10x Gold Glove winner, 13x All-Star selection, reaching 2000 hits, 400 doubles, 1000 RBIs, 1000 runs, etc. The list is nearly endless. He was already great. We knew back in 1989 when he hit his first home run that it would be the first of many, if not the most ever. However, injuries plagued Griffey over the years causing him to miss significant time in the last decade. That alone makes 600 home runs impressive. He's kept up the pace of 30 home runs per season, and if you discount all his time off that number jumps to 40. If you figure that he would hit 35-40 homers each year if he was not injured, multiplied by 20 years you get somewhere close to 755 762. So instead of watching him hit 600, we could have been watching 763.

But he is not just a great ballplayer. He is a great person. So many have said they love watching him play or hit home runs more than anybody else because when he does it he has the most fun. Isn't that how a true winner plays? When we were kids they always said it doesn't matter the score, as long as you have the most fun. Griffey took that to heart and it made him better than ever.

"My father hit 152 home runs, and that’s who I wanted to be like. He just told me as a kid, ‘Don’t get to high, don’t get too low—just be yourself. I think that’s the one thing I take pride of."

It was always about family for Griffey. In 1990 and 1991, he teamed up with his father to form the first every father-son teammate tangent. His son, Trey, was able to greet him in the dugout when he finished rounding the bases last night. Griffey seemed more excited for his son to be there with him than he was about breaking 600. To top it off, in 2006 Griffey changed his number from 30 to 3 to honor his 3 children.

Adored by fans, awed by scouts, idolized by kids and major league ballplayers alike, Griffey might just be the best ballplayer we get to watch.
With that I will leave you with one word for each home run Griffey has ever hit, courtesy of Joe Posnanski.