Piazza made it on his fourth-time chance.
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Until now, the lowest draft pick in the Hall was pitcher John Smoltz, selected on the 22nd round in 1985 and enshrined just past year.
He was traded in 1998, bouncing to the Florida Marlins and then to the New York Mets, where he led the team to the World Series in 2000.
Griffey didn’t want to venture a guess if he thought he was left off the three ballots as those voters’ way of protesting that he played in the Steroids Era, even though he was never linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
In my opinion, had Stan Musial lived to be apart of the induction of Ken Griffey Jr, he would be extremely proud to share the occasion on many levels. Griffey and Piazza got in – with Griffey selected on a record 99.3% of the 440 ballots – yet the players who were elected had their celebrations tainted by having to answer questions about players who were not elected. He retired as one of the greatest all-around players in history after debuting in 1989 at just 19 years old. Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza received enough votes to be included into Cooperstown, the site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The 2014 draft ended after the completion of the 40th round.
“I am really superstitious”, Griffey told MLB Network.
In fact, the only thing that surprised us was to learn that, while Griffey has been to Cooperstown, he’s never actually stepped in the Hall of Fame itself. There are so many opportunities in this game, and you can find a role be an underdog.
Cheers to one of most talented and coolest players in baseball’s history – Cooperstown is waiting for you. That’s a lesson into how special this game can be. “You can say those things”. 300 for nine consecutive seasons and slugged 427 home runs. Griffey’s 630 home runs rank fifth all-time, and his defensive skills earned him 10 Gold Glove Awards in centerfield.
“What an awesome life that I’ve had in baseball”, Piazza said.
Yet Piazza went from 68% to 83%, sailing in easily, and in the end I think it was mostly a matter of fairness. “I was very blessed the fans took me into their family and really embraced me”.
Fans anywhere will also be attracted to production. Tom Seaver received 98.4 percent in 1992, the second most amount.
When Mike Piazza was taken by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the 1,390th pick in the 62nd round, it was merely done as a favor from manager Tommy Lasorda to his good friend, Piazza’s father, Vince. A player needs to be named on 75 percent of the ballots to gain election.
As a youngster, Piazza often served as the Dodgers batboy when they visited Philadelphia.
An aside – it’s probably not worth the headache of trying to figure out why BBWAA members vote the way they do. “Joe DiMaggio had three ballots”, Piazza said. No baseball player – not Babe Ruth (95.1 percent), Willie Mays (94.7), or Hank Aaron (97.8) – has ever been voted in unanimously.
Piazza, meanwhile, was named on 86 percent of the ballot. He passed the test among voters to get into the most exclusive Hall of Fame of any sport, and he deserves to be celebrated for it.
I would argue that we can say it without much doubt. I knew coming to NY, it was not a comfortable place to play. “So for me, that was something that I was able to sort of draw from to just keep patience and just keep optimistic”.
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Support rose for a number of players, including ex-Red Sox starter Curt Schilling, who appeared on 52.3 percent of the ballots, just ahead of Roger Clemens (45.2) and Barry Bonds (44.3).
