By Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writer

HOUSTON - The black leather chairs were arranged in two precise rows and awaited their distinguished occupants.

The procession of baseball legends past and present began rather unceremoniously, but proved jaw dropping nonetheless.

Ken Griffey Jr. was among the last to take a seat in the crowded room overlooking the Minute Maid Park outfield Monday afternoon.

The Reds center fielder last month became the 20th major league player to hit 500 career home runs.

But Monday, in that crowded room, Griffey sat behind Willie McCovey and beside Eddie Murray as the 14 living members of the 500 home run club gathered for a celebration.

"This is great," Griffey said. "These guys are the best of the best."

The fraternity is as exclusive as it gets in baseball.

Hank Aaron heads the list with 755 career home runs. Griffey completes it - for now - with 501.

"When you stop and consider there have been more than 16,000 players," commissioner Bud Selig said, "you can understand the magnitude of this distinguished achievement."

Not since 1971, when Aaron, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson were still playing, have there been this many active members of the 500 club.

Griffey is joined by Giants left fielder Barry Bonds (681), Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa (555) and Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro (541) as active members of the group.

Click to view an Acrobat PDF file (1.3mb) with details on some of the better "30-something" sluggers in baseball history.

"It's always cool to be around guys that played," Mays said. "Because there is no ego. Everybody loves each other."

The celebration was to continue today.

Bonds, Griffey and Sosa were elected National League All-Star starters.

But Griffey's partially torn hamstring, suffered Saturday in Milwaukee, disassembled the trio before it had a chance to take the field.

Astros outfielder Lance Berkman will start in Griffey's place.

"I've got to get healthy so I can go back and do everything I need to for the Reds," said Griffey, who declined to get into specifics about his injury. "I was really looking forward to being out there with those guys."

So were many of his peers.

"It was going to be pretty special," said Astros pitcher Roger Clemens, who was named the NL's starting pitcher Monday. "I would even have stopped to step off the mound and look out there."

Until the injury, which occurred while chasing a fly ball at Miller Park, Griffey had navigated the first half with some aches but avoided any trips to the disabled list.

His production - .251 with 20 home runs and 60 RBI in 80 games - combined with his pursuit of 500 helped ease Griffey's name back into the nation's consciousness.

The Home Run Derby and All-Star Game would have strengthened the notion that he had moved past the injuries that cost him 207 games the previous three seasons.

Instead the same old questions arose Monday.

Will he play a more cautious center field when he returns to the Reds lineup after the All-Star Break?

"I'm going to give you everything I've got," Griffey said. "If the ball is in the air, and I think I've got a chance to catch it, I'm going to go after it. If that means run into a wall, I'll run into a wall.

"It's the way I was taught to play, and it's the only way I know how to play."

Would he embrace a move to either left or right field?

"I'd still run into the wall," Griffey said.

Playing left field has certainly helped Bonds avoid injuries, and proved that being a thirty-something doesn't necessarily signify the immediate beginning of a career's end.

Bonds has hit 326 home runs, and been on the disabled list just once, since he turned 34 years old.

"It's one of those things that just happens," Griffey said. "I wish I could prevent it, but I'm going to go after everything, give it all I've got and stay positive."

AL starting lineup

1	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle	CF	.321, 31 RBI
2	Ivan Rodriguez	Detroit	C	.369, 59 RBI
3	Vladimir Guerrero	Anaheim	RF	.345, 77 RBI
4	Manny Ramirez	Boston	LF	.344, 77 RBI
5	Alex Rodriguez	New York	3B	.270, 58 RBI
6	Jason Giambi	New York	1B	.241, 35 RBI
7	Derek Jeter	New York	SS	.277, 48 RBI
8	Alfonso Soriano	Texas	2B	.289, 55 RBI
9	Mark Mulder	Oakland	P	12-2, 3.21 ERA

NL starting lineup

1	Edgar Renteria	St. Louis	SS	.283, 40 RBI
2	Albert Pujols	St. Louis	1B	.304, 60 RBI
3	Barry Bonds	San Fran.	LF	.365, 48 RBI
4	Scott Rolen	St. Louis	3B	.339, 80 RBI
5	Sammy Sosa	Chicago	RF	.279, 39 RBI
6	Mike Piazza	New York	C	.297, 40 RBI
7	Lance Berkman	Houston	CF	.299, 59 RBI
8	Jeff Kent	Houston	2B	.285, 52 RBI
9	Roger Clemens	Houston	P	10-3, 2.62 ERA