By Brandon Zhu
On this day in 1997, Seattle Mariner Ken Griffrey Jr smashed his 56th home run of the season, leading the Mariners to a 9-3 win over the Oakland Athletics. The legendary player spent 22 years in MLB and is one of the most prolific home run hitters of all time. Griffrey Jr’s 630 home runs ranks him 7th on the all time MLB career home run list. Hitting dingers runs in the family and one of the greatest father and son sports moments was shared by Griffrey Sr and Jr. In a 1990 game against the California Angels the Griffrey duo blasted back to back homeruns in what could only be described as the perfect like-father-like-son moment. Griffrey Jr finished his career as a 4x AL home run leader, 7x Silver Slugger Award winner, 10x Gold Glove Award winner, and a 13xx All-Star. In 2016, Griffrey Jr was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame as a first ballot receiving a record 99.32 percent vote.