Piazza into Hall of Fame as a Met, Alderson makes an appearance

On Friday, the Mariners announced they will retire the number Griffey wore during his entire tenure in Seattle at some point in the upcoming season.

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Mike Piazza knows better than anybody the rigors of playing baseball in New York City, but the Hall of Fame catcher wouldn’t trade away his time in the Big Apple for anything in the world. A red carpet and all Seattle Mariners employees lined the hallway and cheered as he approached the conference room. The Mariners announced that no one in the entire organization would ever wear number 24. He becomes the first Mariners player to have his number retired by the team.

“It’s still sinking in”, said Griffey Sr., speaking from his home in Philadelphia as he prepared to travel to NY for a press conference where Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, the class of 2016, were to be introduced.

While no Mariners player has worn No. 24 since Griffey’s retirement, several minor leaguers, including Danny Hultzen and Brian Moran in 2015, have.

“They were Hall of Famers before all this stuff started”, Griffey said on MLB Network. From the Dominican Academy to Triple-A Tacoma, no player will ever be assigned 24 again. To honor Robinson, the Mariners – like all teams – have the No. 42 inside a baseball displayed prominently on the wall in left-center at Safeco Field.

Just think, we nearly didn’t get to witness Ken Griffey Jr.’s greatness. Griffey Jr. joins Stan “the Man” Musial as Donora natives who are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

By using his baseball background he now sports a handicap index of 3.6 although he didn’t take up golf until later in life.

The Hall of Fame decides which cap goes on a plaque with input from the player.

The Aug. 7 game will include the giveaway of 20,000 replica Griffey jerseys.

Ken Griffey Jr. returned to Seattle on Friday to meet with the local media after being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. “If he didn’t do what he did, who knows if this would have happened”. Batted and threw righthanded, 16 seasons, 12 All-Star appearances, 10 Silver Slugger Awards, NL Rookie of the Year 1993, All-Star MVP 1996, .308 average, 2,127 hits, 427 home runs (record 396 as a catcher), 1,335 RBIs, and as a catcher, led the league in putouts four times, and assists twice.

“If [Robinson] didn’t do what he did, maybe none of this would be possible”, Griffey said.

The Griffeys still get back occasionally to Donora, where they have a connection with athletic greatness.

“Having my number next to him?” He’s a trailblazer in more ways than one.

As the process comes around every year for the foreseeable future, we’re just going to have to accept that the Hall of Fame will present a skewed version of the era and future generations will need to delve deeper into the history rather than relying on the designation as a Hall of Famer to tell you who were the greats of the age. Not only do younger voters give Mussina a chance in the future but also he will no longer face the backlog of pitchers in front of him.