Induction ceremonies will be held in Cooperstown on July 24.
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Piazza made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday. Both players have seen their vote total jump about 10% in the past two years combined.
After the $25 million, eight-year contract was finalized, Maeda, 27, was introduced during a news conference at Dodger Stadium.
Griffey was known simply as “Junior” by many as a contrast to his father, three-time All-Star outfielder Ken Griffey, who played alongside him in Seattle during 1990 and ’91. That, like the Hall of Fame, has turned into something capricious rendering it a guess as to how players will be judged and rewarded or punished as the steroid era disappears further and further into the past. “And Mike Piazza are great choices and, I mean, hopefully people will get really excited about it. I know that we are already looking forward to it”.
Griffey is the first player elected to the Hall of Fame primarily because of his achievements as a Mariner, and his plaque will be the first showing a Mariners cap. But slowed by injuries, he never reached 100 RBIs again after his first season with the Reds, and he moved on to the Chicago White Sox in 2008 before spending his last season-plus with the Mariners.
Ken Griffey Jr. was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on Wednesday with the highest voting percentage ever, and Mike Piazza will join him in Cooperstown this summer. I felt being 19, they gave me an opportunity to play the game that I love. “I spent most of my time in Seattle”.
Griffey was asked a few months ago by the Hall whether he would want his plaque to show a backward cap, the image of him in the minds of many fans. General manger Steve Phillips was searching for a co-star to pair with the 31-year-old catcher, and Griffey was asking out of Seattle.
Initially chosen as an afterthought by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft, Piazza rapidly ascended into the ranks of baseball’s elite. That is not the case for Piazza, who played against Montreal/Washington in his days with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, and Padres. “I’m going to have to leave that to a fan vote”. “To be at the right place and the right time and come through, I can only think it comes from above”.
Piazza said he would enter the Hall as a New York Mets.
The way the process is set up allows for a bona fide star player to eventually get elected, even if he retired at a time when a number of other stars also left the game-thus crowding the number of eligible players.
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Mets owner Jeff Wilpon, general manager Sandy Alderson and deputy John Ricco attended the announcement.
