Griffey’s Hall of Fame whirlwind came back to where it all started, when he spoke at Safeco Field, the stadium built in part because of him.
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The team also announced Griffey will throw out the first pitch at their home opener on April 8, so the celebration of his career figures to be a year long venture.
“I went, ‘huh?'” Griffey said. 308 with 427 homers, 1,335 RBIs and 2,127 hits (including 344 doubles and eight triples). Playing together with the Mariners, they hit back-to-back home runs at the California Angels against Kirk McCaskill on September 14, 1990.
“It changed all of our lives, not on a baseball level but a personal level”, he reflected Thursday. “I think they should be in the Hall of Fame”. Piazza visited Ground Zero and area hospitals. “You’re attitude dictates a lot”, Piazza said.
At one point, I actually cheered for the majority of the players I just mentioned – as a matter of fact, the home run chase between McGwire and Sosa in 1998 was one of the high points in the history of baseball at the time – but I have no sympathy for players who have cheated the game. He said then, “As far as defining what a true hero is, especially for myself, all you have to do is look on that wall”, gesturing toward a memorial for those lost.
“We’ve got big plans, ” Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said. “Fortunately I was able to get better and work harder and, at least, as I said, improve to where I was able to be a pretty good major league catcher”.
Piazza’s defining NY moment arrived the following year. Ruth was left off of 11 of the 226 writers’ ballots in that glorious first time Hall of Fame election and induction. The Dodgers drafted him in the 62nd round only as a favor to his father’s friend, Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda.
All of these achievements got Piazza the Hall call, yet it took four tries for him to make it-another mystery. He struggled in clutch situations in his first few weeks and was booed.
All he had to do was say, ‘Yes, ‘ and Ken Griffey Jr. would’ve been a Mets teammate of Mike Piazza. Their passion, the blue-collar mentality. “I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Joe Black, who would tell me stories about how Jackie played and what he meant to the guys off the field”.
The Mets have won five pennants and two World Series, but at times the fans have endured a torturous existence.
“I felt I was going to cover 3 square feet in left field and the rest (of the outfield) was his”, Griffey Sr. said with a laugh, recalling that first game together.
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Piazza was the only eligible player who had a career. “I ended up in NY, and I feel like the fans here truly brought me into their family, and every time I’ve come back, I’ve been so incredibly honored from the response”.
