Tony DeMarco

With one swing of the bat last week in Cincinnati, Ken Griffey Jr. passed both Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.

There were no reality series film crews there to capture the moment. No national reporters were on hand solely to follow Griffey's every move. Even the local newspapers saw Bronson Arroyo’s solid outing and home run in his first victory in a Reds uniform as the biggest news of the day.

But quietly, under the radar and above suspicion, Griffey took another step into the sluggers’ pantheon, and to gaining the rightful place we thought injuries might deny him. It is a great story on its own merit, no syringes or investigations in sight. And it’s about time the baseball world realizes it.

With a blast over the left-center field wall off Jerome Williams, Griffey broke a tie with Mantle and moved into 12th place with 537 homers. (He's now at 538). The fifth-inning solo shot also gave him 1,538 RBI and pushed him past Joe D. into 31st place on that list. Griffey has 1,543 through Wednesday.

“Those guys are legends,’’ is about all Griffey Jr. had to say afterward.

And so is he. This was only the beginning of the milestones that could come this season for a healthy-again, still-only-36-year-old Griffey Jr. With 11 more home runs, he will pass Mike Schmidt. With 26 more, he will jump over Reggie Jackson and into the top 10 all-time. Thirty-two more will push him past Rafael Palmeiro, and with 36 more, Griffey Jr. will climb to eighth all-time ahead of Harmon Killebrew. That would leave Mark McGwire (583), Frank Robinson (586) and Sammy Sosa (588) easily within reach in 2007 — when Griffey should rise to No. 5 all-time.

“That’s pretty good company right there,’’ Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky said. “It’s impressive. He’s a Hall of Famer without a doubt.’’

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At 31st in the RBI chase and with only Barry Bonds active among those ahead of him, Griffey needs 93 more RBI to pass Ernie Banks at No. 19. Along the way, he will put Willie Stargell, Fred McGriff, Willie McCovey, Sosa, Al Kaline, Killebrew, Andre Dawson, Schmidt, Goose Goslin and Harold Baines behind him. 195 more RBI would leave Griffey Jr. at No. 16, just ahead of Jackson and just behind Robinson. And it will take 304 more to get Griffey Jr. into the top 10 by passing Carl Yastrzemski at 1,844.

Maybe it’s not controversial enough to grab headlines these days, but the names involved and numbers attached speak for themselves. The closest Griffey has come to the current steroids maelstrom was being tied into the unfolding Bonds saga by the allegation that Bonds talked about steroid use during a dinner Griffey hosted. But Griffey diffused his involvement by saying he doesn’t remember hearing those words from Bonds. And now Griffey is back under the radar again — where he prefers to be.

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More importantly, he’s healthy again. The sprained right foot suffered last September no longer is a problem. Neither is the left knee repaired in September by arthroscopic surgery. And he is another year removed from 2004 surgery to repair a complete tear of his right hamstring, and 2003 surgery on his right ankle.

Griffey Jr., slammed his way through the World Baseball Classic, leading an underachieving Team USA, and it took him all of two games to hit his first home run of the regular season — something that took him 23 games and 80 at-bats to accomplish last April, when he was knocking off rust after missing 331 of a total of 648 games in a four-year period 2001-04.

But as Griffey's health improved, he put together a season worthy of the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award – a .301 average, 35 homers and 92 RBI. The 128 games were the most he played in since 2000, his first in Cincinnati.

Now, a 40-homer season doesn’t seem out of reach — not when he will play half the time in the Great American Ballpark, where a major-league-high 246 left the yard in 2005. That his first of the season went to left-center is another good sign. Scouts have seen him slipping into a dead-pull hitter with decreasing bat speed, but this was reminiscent of the back-to-back, 56-homer slugger with power in all directions.

“He looks like the same guy he was a few years ago,’’ Krivsky said. “We’re trying to keep him healthy, and so far, so good. He’s swinging the bat well, and he’s in a good frame of mind. Everything has been positive from him. Hopefully (the injuries) are over with. He’s still a definite threat. I think he’ll have a great year.’’

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