Griffey Passes DiMaggio, Mantle

"The Kid", as he was once accurately known, isn't young anymore. However, toiling since coming home to the Reds for the 2000 season, Griffey has managed to hit his 500th homerun as a Red and remained a feared bat in baseball.

Now a revamped "Kid" donning the number 3, he is working on, first, keeping his legs healthy. Along the way he hopes to set a few new marks.

Today, with a sinking line drive over the left center field barrier, he passed Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle for 12th place on the all time homerun list. He also passed Mantle's fellow Bronx Bomber "Joltin'" Joe DiMaggio on the all time RBI list.

In 2006, Griffey has been swinging the bat well, beginning in the World Baseball Classic with the 2nd highest batting average and on-base pct. (.524, .583) in the whole tournament. He also had the 3rd highest slugging pct at 1.048.

Notes: The Reds claimed their first victory of the season 8-6 over the Chicago Cubs. In his Reds Pitching debut, Bronson Arroyo homered and was awarded the victory.

Slugging pct in baseball is the total amount of bases touched divided by at-bats.

Mickey Mantle's autobiography, The Mick was the first book I ever read.

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