Ken Griffey Jr. follows through on his 400th career home run. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

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        DENVER — Renowned for his multiple baseball skills, Ken Griffey Jr. again displayed his versatility Monday by delivering a birthday present along with a milestone.

        Griffey belted his 400th career home run in the fourth inning of the Reds' 7-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies, becoming the youngest player to reach that number. The center fielder, 30 years and 141 days old, eclipsed Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx, who was 30 years and 248 days old when he set the previous standard.

        “It is and it isn't,” Griffey said when asked whether he considered his latest feat a special one. “I started playing when I was 19, which is not usual. I've stayed pretty healthy and somewhat consistent over the years. I don't really think about the numbers. I just think about trying to help the ballclub, and if I hit a home run, I hit a home run.”

        Griffey also gave his father, Reds bench coach Ken Griffey Sr., a memorable 50th birthday present. It marked the fourth homer that the younger Griffey has struck on his dad's birthday. The tradition began in Griffey Jr.'s 1989 rookie season with Seattle, when he hit his first Major League homer.

        “I think a lot of things mean more to the family,” said Griffey Jr., who immediately agreed to surrender the fielder's glove he was wearing to Jay Wissot of Denver, who caught the home-run ball. “Like today, my dad turned 50. I can give him the ball.”

        Griffey Sr.'s pride was evident as he walked through the visitors' clubhouse at Coors Field, gripping the ball tightly and laughing derisively at a television producer who wanted him to pose with it.

Ken Griffey Jr. watches his hit sail over the wall for a home run in the fourth inning. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        Given to joking about his son's accomplishments, Griffey Sr. responded playfully to his birthday “gift.”

        “It doesn't mean anything to me,” he said. “I haven't received anything yet. His mom gets a car (on her birthday); I get a home run.”

        Griffey Jr. also leaned on humor. “He's cheap,” he said of his father. “It just makes it easier. I don't have to send him money. Western Union's usually closed by the time I get home, anyway.”

        The homer unleashed a torrent of facts besides the stream of gags:

        • Griffey moved into sole possession of 30th place on the all-time home-run list, passing Detroit legend Al Kaline (399). Baltimore's Cal Ripken Jr., who remains active, has 403.

        • It was the fourth homer Griffey has hit off Colorado starter Rolando Arrojo, who served up the longball to left field on a 2-0 pitch. Griffey is 7-for-12 in his career off Arrojo, who pitched for Tampa Bay until this year.

        • Griffey's shot, which tied the score 1-1 and traveled an estimated 378 feet, was his second homer in two days, suggesting that he is emerging from his opening-week doldrums.

Ken Griffey Jr. gets a hug from Barry Larkin. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        “He's still learning the (National) league,” Griffey Sr. said of his son, who came to the Reds from the Seattle Mariners in a celebrated Feb. 10 trade. “It'll take some time. But he's starting to get an idea of what he wants to do.”

        Griffey Jr. wanted the home-run ball for his father so much that he also is expected to give Wissot an autographed bat and warmup jacket. Griffey probably will donate the batting helmet he wore while homering to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

        At the request of Wissot and his wife, Alyn Park, Griffey also promised to donate $10,000 in the name of his mother, Birdie, to Denver's Conflict Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing violence and racial and cultural tension.

        “I wish I could say it was a great catch,” said Wissot, who has held season tickets for Section 152, Row 1, Seats 15 and 16 since Coors Field opened in 1995. “I just stuck my glove up. It was an easy catch. I didn't have to move.”

        Wissot said that eight or nine different people offered him various sums of money for the ball, even as much as $10,000.

        To Griffey Jr., the ball was priceless.

        “I can get another glove,” he said. “I can't get another 400.”

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