Griffey, Piazza elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

“That decision is not up to me, so I’d rather not share my opinion on it” Griffey said when asked if he thinks Bonds and Clemens are Hall of Famers. Griffey is the first number one overall draft pick to be inducted into the Hall of Famer where as Piazza is the lowest drafted player.

Fans screamed, and rightly so, when Citi Field opened as more of a monument to the Brooklyn Dodgers than its own franchise, and coming off a World Series appearance with a team of emerging stars, this feels like the right time for the Mets to create a bit more tradition.

Mets catcher Mike Piazza and Mariners outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. earned induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on Wednesday. My congratulations goes out to him for his extraordinary 22 years with this very worthy and well deserved honor.

“As you watched Junior, he was different”. I just hope they aren’t the ones who voted for Eckstein and Kendall.

All but three voters named Ken Griffey Jr. on their ballots, which comes to a percentage of 99.3. “It would mean so much because it’s something that as a kid I never thought would ever happen”. He said being in Seattle during the dawning of the Internet age, with Grunge music and Nintendo around the corner, gave him opportunities to be more than just a baseball player. “He was born for it”.

To one of the best players in the 90s and of all time, congrats Ken Griffey Jr, youll forever be the kid. Ryan has said he reserves the right to change his mind. I cherished every second of the rare times I saw him on television, and in 1998, got to see him go heads up with Sammy Sosa in Spring Training. His father shared it with the Tacoma News Tribune.

Piazza was the 1,390th player chosen in 1988, long before the draft was shortened to its current length of 40 rounds. (Rickey Henderson was another, for the record.) Griffey played the game with a lot of pizzazz, but also with a lot of class and determination. Ken Griffey Jr. seems assured of e… Seaver was a teammate of Griffey’s father with the Reds, and the younger Griffey has known him since then.

“His dad played a major role in the process”, Mooney said.

Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand. The team signed him to a tiny contract, but he quickly proved himself as a hitter and was named Rookie of the Year in 1993, his first full season in the major leagues. That was the final season the Pittsfield Cubs called Wahconah Park home. Among the others who will not be on future ballots because they did not receive 5 percent of the vote were Jim Edmonds (2.5) and Nomar Garciaparra (1.8). Bagwell received the next highest percentage at 82.1%, and Piazza barely sneaked in at 76.2%.

And Barry Bonds? Like most down-ballot candidates, he improved his returns – but perhaps not enough to project enshrinement in the six more years he remains on the writers’ ballot. “I was really surprised it was so high”.

Mooney was the scout for the Houston Astros who recommended that Bagwell be the player sent to the Astros when Houston traded relief pitcher Larry Anderson to Boston on August 30, 1990. He wants to be in the Hall of Fame.

“That’s an example of the contribution you can make as a professional scout. They’re not all going to work out like that”.

It should be a great day again this summer in Cooperstown for these two stars of the 1990s. “He really deserves it”, said Mooney.

He got in on his fourth year on the ballot. There were two write-in votes for Pete Rose, who never was allowed on any Hall ballot because of his lifetime ban from baseball.