Quietly hitting 600 HR?

Fantasy sports, Atlanta Braves, the Intimidator's son be damned. When Ken Griffey Jr. (the only Junior that really matters) steps to the dish, I just want to see long balls.

I want to win fantasy championships. But if the guy I'm playing has Kenneth on his squad, then I still hope he leaves the yard every healthy at-bat that he has. If my pitcher is facing Cincinati, then I hope he goes 9 innings, 27k's, 4 hits (all Griffey HR's), 3 ER, no BB, and the win.

*About those 3 ER on 4 HR's, in the 6th inning, my pitcher's defense commits an error after 2 outs, and Junior connects for his 3rd homer of the game on a 2-run shot, and none of those runs are charged to my pitcher, but then Brandon Phillips gets K'd to end the inning.

When my favorite team (the ATL Bravos) are visiting the Big Red Machine, and Griffey comes up in the bottom of the 9th, with the game tied and John Smoltz on the bump: I really want the Braves to win, I really really want Smoltzie to win this battle of future Canton neighbors, BUT, at the same time, I'm actually hope Kenneth Jr. hits a walk-off job to break my heart.

In somewhat less invested jargon, I hope that Dale Jr succeeds with Hendrick Motorsports. I hope that he accomplishes at least half of his dad's win total, and then I hope NASCAR fans are reasonable enough to realize that 37 wins is still a hell of a feat, and stop comparing little Dale to the Intimidator. But mostly, I want Ken Griffey Junior to be the only Junior that people care about. I want people to cheer on Griffey's march to become just the 3rd member of baseball's 700 HR club the way NASCAR fans cheer them some Earnhart.

*About Griff being the 3rd member of the 700 HR club… yeah… that wasn't a typo, there are currently only 2 members in that club.

For some reason, people aren't geeked about the Kid doing what only 3 others have in hitting 600 career long balls. In an Era when most of our baseball Titans have proved to be less like actually Running Man Champions, and more like Captain Freedom (for those that aren't big enough losers to actually get that reference: Captain Freedom, played by the former governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura, deceived the fans by killing a fake Ben Richards, played by the current governor of California, on a popular execution tv show).

*Yeah… about doing what only 3 others have in hitting 600 HR, that also wasn't a typo. Willie, Babe, and Hank…

I know, I know… Kenneth had his injury problems, but regardless, he is a legend, and when we look back at his career, instead of saying "I remember where I was when I saw Ken Griffey Jr hit #600," we're going to be saying, "I remember where I was when Sportscenter replayed Ken Griffey Jr's #600." The fanfare is minor. As I was watching the Softball College World Series Sunday morning, there was not cut over to the Braves vs. Reds game when Griffey came to bat in the 7th. I flipped over to TBS to see if they cut away from the Marlins vs Phillies game to show Griffey's AB, but no dice… perhaps I got there right after he was already intentially walked. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there is a lot more coverage than I'm seeing. I hope I'm wrong, and I hope that by the time Griff is lauded again as he was back when he was building Seattle's empire it isn't too late.

*by the by… how lame of ATL to intentionally walk Kenneth in that particular situation.