The 12-time all-star catcher admitted to crying when he was not drafted out of Phoenixville High School in Chester County in 1986.
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COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) Ken Griffey Jr. has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“He taught me how to play this game, but more importantly, he taught me how to be a man”, said Griffey, who failed hopelessly and delightfully his pre-speech prediction of coolness.
“The way he played, the hat backwards, the smile”. “You made me your batboy when the Dodgers were in Philadelphia”.
Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday in Cooperstown, New York. “I pray that we never forget their sacrifice”. I got a front-row seat to the greatest team ever assembled, the 1975 and 1976 Big Red Machine.
“But nothing can prepare you for those emotions that you feel, because of everything the Hall encompasses and the history that was behind us on that stage”.
A 13-time All-Star selection and 10-time Gold Glove Award victor, Griffey hit 630 home runs, sixth all-time, and drove in 1,836 runs. And I said “Girl, you can’t teach that swing”. Griffey was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1987 draft, while the Dodgers selected Piazza with the 1,390th overall pick in 1988.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t always the ups and downs of the baseball season that we experienced”, Piazza said, per The Score. “The race is over”. “To witness the darkest evil of the human heart…will forever be burned in my soul”, Piazza said.
“I didn’t get it until after, and I started crying again when I read it”, Griffey said afterward. “He spoke the truth-even when you didn’t want to hear it”. “Tommy, you were always there for me”, Piazza said during his speech. “They say, ‘Don’t look at your kids until you have to, ‘” Griffey said. “Don’t do that?’ And you do it anyway?”
A 13-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove Award victor in center field, Griffey hit 630 home runs, sixth all-time, and drove in 1,836 runs.
“I learned one team will treat you the best and that’s your first team”. “I’m damn proud to be a Seattle Mariner”.
NOTES: A moment of silence was held for Yogi Berra and Monte Irvin, the Hall of Famers who died in September and January, respectively.
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Attendance was estimated at around 50,000 by the Hall of Fame, which ties 1999 for second-most all time. First-timers will include Ivan Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero, Javier Vazquez, Mike Cameron, J.D. Drew, Jorge Posada, Magglio Ordonez, Derrek Lee, Tim Wakefield, Edgar Renteria, Melvin Mora, Carlos Guillen, Jason Varitek, Orlando Cabrera, Aaron Rowand, Pat Burrell, Freddy Sanchez, Arthur Rhodes, Julio Lugo, and Danys Baez. The leading returning candidates are Jeff Bagwell, who garnered 71.6 percent of the vote in 2016, and Tim Raines, who received 69.8 percent of the vote.
