Ken Griffey Jr. inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame

That their baseball paths started so differently – the Seattle Mariners made Ken Griffey Jr. the first pick of the 1987 amateur draft, and a year later the Dodgers selected Mike Piazza in the 62nd round with the 1,390th pick, ahead of only five other players – in the end didn’t matter one bit.

When he finishes, Griffey – who rose to such stardom in the 1990s that he made the all-century team in 1999 (just 11 years into his career) – will finally get to see his name etched among the games’ greats – alongside Sultan of Swat, Teddy Ballgame, Flying Dutchman, Stan the Man, Hammerin Hank and The Say Hey Kid.

“I wanted to share the moment with them”, Griffey said. That’s a National Baseball Hall of Fame rite of passage.

Griffey, 46, was a 13-time All-Star and the 1997 MVP, finishing with 2,781 hits and 630 home runs with the Mariners, Reds and White Sox. “It was important for me to be able to do it with them and not just by myself”. He returned to the Mariners for the final two seasons of his career. Obviously, it was going to be the Mariners because of the history I have with the team.

Some of the Mariners fans in Cooperstown this week have piled out of cars sporting Washington and Montana license plates.

Fans await the start of the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center on July 24, 2016 in Cooperstown, New York. With the weather forecast calling for a warm and rain-free Sunday, Hall officials expect a sizable contingent of Piazza supporters to make the day trip north.

Piazza, who will go into the Hall as a Met, has made it to baseball’s ultimate shrine. He follows in the footsteps of Tom Seaver, who was enshrined in 1992.

And, for this new Hall of Famer, the most humbling of experiences. Piazza has been awestruck this week, he said, hanging out with Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt and chatting with Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench.

“That was the essence of the Griffey-Niehaus relationship, constant teasing and good-natured badgering that worked because it came from a foundation of mutual respect and fondness”.

Piazza is a special case, as I’m from southeast Pennsylvania. “There’s no better fans. They’ve been so fantastic to me and my family”.

It’s no different than the legacies of Griffey and Piazza.

Piazza is going to touch on that in his speech Sunday, making sure to thank those who helped him along the way and Mets fans, too. Traded to the Mets in 1998, Piazza played parts of eight seasons in NY and led the Mets to the World Series in 2000. He batted.296 with 220 homers through 2005 before finishing his career by playing a season apiece with the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics. Considered by many as the greatest offensive catcher in history, Piazza finished his career with a 308/.377/.545 slash line, .922 OPS, 427 home runs and 1,335 RBI and 12 All-Star nods.

“I don’t want to sort of telegraph my speech, but obviously that’s a huge part of my history with the city”, Piazza said.