Further, Griffey is the first-ever number one overall pick to be enshrined into Cooperstown, which sounds a bit surprising, but the draft didn’t start until 1965.
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Griffey ended his speech by putting on his baseball cap backward, one of his iconic looks taken from his playing days with the Seattle Mariners. When former team president Chuck Armstrong introduced Griffey to the dinner guests, he broke down before speaking a word. “I’m very proud to be a Seattle Mariner”.
The speeches from Griffey and Piazza likely elicited some tears from the Mariners and Mets fans who trekked to upstate NY for a rare opportunity to see one of their own enshrined. You taught me how to share, and I think I’ve eaten more french fries over the years than you. “But fans had come from all over”. “Even to this day, when you call me on the phone, my day’s a little brighter”.
“About the other thing we have in common as ball players are two arms and two legs”, he said. “Don’t do that” and you do it anyway?”
“Absolutely”, said Griffey Jr.
Griffey now belongs to the baseball immortals.
Mike Piazza also has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Piazza ranks third on the Mets’ all-time lists for home runs and RBIs.
Griffey put an emphasis on family anecdotes in his speech.
The retired Major League Baseball stars were added to the shrine Sunday in ceremonies that drew 50,000 people to the small town in upstate NY known as the birthplace of the American pastime.
The latter half of his career – following his demand to be traded and landing with the Cincinnati Reds, his father’s former team – included hamstring tears, knee and ankle tendon ruptures and a dislocated shoulder that limited him to an average of less than 80 games per year from 2001-2004. He gave everything he had in an emotional speech at the Hall of Fame, thanking his family, coaches, managers and teammates, and in a special way, fans. It was Frank Thomas’ idea.
The 2017 Hall of Fame ballot will bring back Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Trevor Hoffman, Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Lee Smith, Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, Larry Walker, Gary Sheffield, Billy Wagner, and Sammy Sosa. Griffey’s wife, Melissa, was furious, even more so with her husband for not being upset too. Although he regarded every aspect of his induction weekend as the thrill of a lifetime, the relief on his face afterward was palpable.
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“From the day I got drafted”, he said, “to my first at-bat at the Kingdome, to the 1995 playoffs, to my first return to Seattle with the Reds, to my return to Seattle, to my retirement in 2010, Seattle, Washington, has been a big part of my life”.
