Ken Griffey Jr. became the 6th member of the 600 club (and the 3rd new member in just the past few years) yesterday. It was only his 7th homer of the season and he's on pace for just 18 home runs (in 567 at bats) this year.

The all time home run leader board is now:

#1 Barry Bonds 762
#2 Hank Aaron 755
#3 Babe Ruth 714
#4 Willie Mays 660
#5 Sammy Sosa 609
#6 Ken Griffey Jr. 600
#7 Frank Robinson 586
#8 Mark McGwire 583
#9 Harmon Killebrew 573
#10 Rafael Palmeiro 569

Who will be next to 600?

Barring serious injury it's almost certain to be Alex Rodriguez, possibly as early as late next season. He's having a slow season thus far with just 10 homers but he is heating up now in June. He's hitting .438 in June and has 2 homers in his last 3 games.

Rodriguez needs 72 home runs to reach 600.

Who else?

Jim Thome is just 9 home runs behind A-Rod and could theoretically pass 600 before Rodriguez. He actually has 2 more home runs than Rodriguez so far this season. But Thome turns 38 this season while A-Rod will be 33.

Manny Ramirez has 504 home runs and appears likely to reach the 600 club in late 2010 or early 2011 (barring injury of course.) Ramirez is 36.

Chipper Jones has 401 home runs at age 36 and appears to be a very long shot for the 600 club, the only thing that makes me even consider him is the incredible season he's having this year. If he is one of those players that plays a high level into his early 40s he has an outside shot at reaching 600.

Vladimir Guerrero & Andruw Jones are at 373 & 370 respectively. They are both in their early 30s and could reach 600 if they avoid injury and production slow down.

But considering Jones had a bad year last year and has been plain awful this year, his chances look pretty slim at the moment. But he can fully recover from his surgery and hit like he has in the past, he has a shot.

Guerrero is also having a bad year (although not as bad as Jones) and only hit 27 home runs last year so he looks like far from a lock for the 600 club.

Labels: Ken Griffey