Mike Piazza, the real Mr. Met

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.

–Major League Baseball selected former outfielder Curtis Pride as its new Ambassador for Inclusion.

Griffey was the 51st player elected in his first year on the ballot.

Griffey began Friday at the New York Stock Exchange by joining with Piazza in ringing the opening bell to start the day’s trading.

“I think I did most of my damage as a Mariner”, Griffey said. A few voters figure that since everyone else is voting for Griffey, they’d like to see some other players get some votes.

He was a once-in-a-generation player who could do everything from hitting home runs to making jaw-dropping catches in the outfield.

Piazza made it official Thursday at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan.

Two decades later, with his own sons in tow, Griffey Jr. spoke with admiration about how his father handled his playing career.

Near unanimous choices for the rest of the ballot include Ken Griffey Jr., Tim Raines, and Jeff Bagwell.

After garnering just 20.3 percent of the votes in his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame and only 24.6 percent last year, former Baltimore Oriole and New York Yankee starting pitcher Mike Mussina has been a topic of hot debate.

“I played 13 years in Seattle, which is longer than the other two teams I played for – Chicago (White Sox) and Cincinnati”. From the 62nd round of the Major League Baseball draft all the way to the Hall of Fame’s class of 2016, the star catcher is living the American Dream. Piazza was also instrumental in the Mets run to the 2000 World Series.

Piazza certainly has the credentials of a Hall of Famer as he is generally considered the greatest offensive catcher in baseball history and was a 12-time All-Star during his 16-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, New York Mets, San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics from 1992-2007.

“The Baseball Hall of Fame website’s classification of a primary team is based on the most games played for a franchise, not necessarily for the logo of the cap the player will wear on his plaque”, Horn said. We talked about the frustration of not knowing when to come back after a tragedy like that and all the feelings going into that game were something you can’t describe. It was a Hall of Fame moment from a Hall of Fame player.

The 1,390th player drafted in 1988, Mike Piazza was originally a first baseman until moved by legendary manager Tommy Lasorada behind the plate where he never looked back, changing the way catchers are looked at for the rest of time.

Piazza going in as a Met was a foregone conclusion, but there were still some who thought the Hall of Fame might step in try to prevent that.

Imagine the sweet left-handed swing that produced 630 home runs calling the Stadium home?