Griffey, Jr., Piazza are Hall of Fame choices

(AP Photo/Adam Nadel, File). And not just because Piazza had some of his best years while playing for Murdoch’s favorite team, the Mets.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File).

Ross’s favourite memory of Raines in an Expos uniform is from the home opener at the Big O in 2001, when Raines returned to the Expos as a 41-year-old following stints with the White Sox, New York Yankees (where he won two World Series) and Oakland A’s.

Griffey will be joined in the Hall of Fame class of 2016 by slugging catcher Mike Piazza.

That’s awfully far from Cooperstown – not only on a map.

“I can’t be upset”. Let everyone – that’s the freedom we have, you can say these things and that’s just the country we live in.

Last year Piazza received 69.9 percent of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote, falling shy of the 75 percent required for induction.

Junior Griffey and Piazza will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 24th. “It’s a mixture of love and frustration and ups and downs and the emotions are very strong”. “I couldn’t be prouder of him”. In 1993 he was named National League Rookie of the Year.

Griffey and Piazza played through the ’90s, which has become known as baseball’s steroid era.

They’ve had precious few stars who have stayed around long enough to make a huge impact, but there’s no reason Tom Seaver should be the only player with his number retired. Now, he’s one of 17 catchers in Cooperstown.

“This game is a special game (and) the reason it’s under the microscope is that reason”, said Piazza, 47. He doubled, stole third base, scored on a sacrifice fly, and sat around for two hours waiting for the game to end, and hours more before the Mariners bused out of town.

Piazza’s unexpected rise to stardom, however, proved at first a blessing and later a curse.

Former Expo Vladimir Guerrero will be eligible for the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time next year, while it will be the 10th and final chance for Raines.

In 2013, with both players appearing on the ballot for the first time, Clemens was named on 37.6 percent of votes cast, while Bonds was at 36.2 percent. Just whispers about pimples on Piazza’s broad back. Piazza has denied these accusations and has never been linked publicly to PEDs in any credible way, though he has admitted using several then-legal substances that have since been banned. He did acknowledge using androstenedione, amphetamines, Creatine, ephedra and a type of asthma medicine that made him more alert and focused. I never dreamed about it. But again I never dreamed about being a major-league baseball player when I was a kid.

The debate probably has six years to run, at which time the writers will have to swallow hard and make one last call: Is it a Hall of Fame without the only seven-time MVP and the only seven-time Cy Young victor?

When his career ended after one season each in San Diego (2006) and Oakland (2007), Piazza had hit 396 home runs as a catcher – the most in major league history.

Griffey was 19 when he debuted with the Mariners in 1989 and went on to play 11 seasons in Seattle, leading the AL in homers four times. “So for me, that was something that I was able to sort of draw from to just keep patience and just keep optimistic”. Piazza received 83.0% of the vote.

A Ken Griffey Jr. flag waves from the Space Needle in honor of Griffey’s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Seattle. Piazza was also never regarded as an accomplished fielder at a position where defense is typically the focus.