Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza select Hall of Fame plaque hats

Speaking to Reuters a day after Ken Griffey Jr. was elected to the Hall of Fame in record fashion, the elder Griffey said that some who have been overlooked by voting members of the baseball writers’ association belong in Cooperstown.

W hen Mike Piazza enters the baseball Hall of Fame this year, he will wear the only fitting cap: a blue and orange one.

After slipping on a Hall of Fame jersey along with Mike Piazza, Griffey put his cap on the way most players do.

SEATTLE (AP) – Ken Griffey Jr. paused and for a moment the joking stopped.

Elected with 99.3 percent of the votes, the highest percentage ever, Griffey will be the first player with a Mariners hat logo in the Hall.

Griffey ended up in intensive care after swallowing the surplus of aspirin, which he told The Seattle Times was the only time he acted on his suicidal thoughts despite previously thinking about killing himself “with my father’s gun or something”.

“They said, ‘We’ve got a little surprise for you, ‘” Griffey recalled on Friday after a news conference at Safeco. “I just told him to be yourself and you’ll hit more home runs, you’ll drive the ball better”.

The star known as Junior will also throw out the first pitch for the Mariners’ home opener on April 8 against Oakland.

Watch the entire news conference below to hear Griffey talk about visiting the Negro Leagues Museum with Buck O’Neil, the role of his family in his career and much more. “He should be in the Hall of Fame, I don’t care what anyone says”. “You deserve it.’ He’d pat me on my head like he always did and call me son and give me a hug”. It was just the beginning of the honors in Seattle for No. 24. “It’s the right thing to do”, Griffey said of choosing to go in as a Mariner.

Griffey completed his duties with the Hall of Fame in NY on Friday morning and immediately caught a flight to Seattle.

“A heartfelt thank you to all the fans on Twitter/in person who continue to show love & support, ” one of his tweets said.

Bonds, a seven-time National League MVP who in 2001 raised the home run record to 73 and retired as the all-time home run leader, received 44.3 percent in his fourth year on the ballot. The younger Griffey became a 13-time All-Star outfielder and finished with 630 homers, which is sixth on the career list.

Coincidentally, it was Griffey who asked former Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig if he could wear No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day, which is now an annual tradition for every player and coach.

Wanting to play closer to his home in Florida, he pushed for a trade to Cincinnati – his father’s old team and the area he grew up in- after the 1999 season.

“Twenty-four other guys that helped me”. We all had our part. Griffey then made a cross-country trip to Seattle, where a police escort awaited at the airport.

“I also had a dad that said you’re never going to be the biggest, you’re never going to be the strongest and you’re never going to be the fastest”, he said.