Milestone Month Continues: Junior Swats Number 600

June has been a month filled with milestones being broken. Players have reached the 400 and 500 home run clubs, respectively. Manny Ramirez was the first player to reach a milestone in June, belting his 500th career home run against the Baltimore Orioles on June 1st. Chipper Jones then joined in on the fun, swatting his 400th home run against the Florida Marlins on June 5th. Ken Griffey Jr. yesterday continued the trend of having a milestone broken every four days by hitting his 600th career home run yesterday. Like Manny and Chipper, Griffey wasted little time with a first inning home run. Griffey sent a 3-1 Mark Hendrickson curveball into the right field stands at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. With his homer, Griffey became just the sixth player in MLB history to reach 600 home runs. With his shot, Griffey may have cemented himself as one of the Top 10 greatest players of all-time as well.

Despite his immense accomplishment, many wonder what would have been. Griffey was the youngest player to hit 300, 350, 400, and 450 home runs, respectively. He was named to the All-Century team as just a 29 year old and was named Player of the Decade for the 1990s. By the time he was 31, Griffey already had 438 home runs, averaging 41 home runs every year for which he had played a full seaosn in. Had Griffey continued at his pace, he would likely have either broken Hank Aaron's all-time home run record of 755 either this season or the next. However, injuries derailed Griffey's hunt at Aaron and instead of hitting number 756 yesterday, Griffey had to settle for number 600. After his 40 homer campaign in his first season with the Cincinnati Reds in 2000, Griffey played just 111, 70, 53, 83, 128, and 109 games a season, respectively. Had Griffey been healthy for those years, he could have easily ended up being baseball's new Home Run King.

Griffey's years with Cincinnati have been filled with disappointment, a wonder of what should have been. However, even at age 38, Griffey is not finished yet. While he likely has no chance of catching Aaron, Griffey does have a shot at becoming just the third player (Barry Bonds doesn't count) in MLB history to reach 700 homers. He also has yet to win a World Series, and a trade to a contending team in July could help him get that.

Even as Griffey is entering the twilight of his career, he is still considered to be one of the greatest players of all-time. When it's-all-said-and-done for the future Hall of Famer, he may be considered the greatest of all-time. Through all 19 seasons in the big leagues, there has been no greater pleasure for a fan than to watch Ken Griffey, Jr. From all the towering home runs to some of the most spectacular catches throughout his years in Major League Baseball, Ken Griffey, Jr. has entertained us in a way that few people can in every generation. As Milestone Month continues, one of the all-time greats has just reached one of his.