Ken Griffey Jr. has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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“Thirteen years with the Seattle Mariners, from the day I got drafted, Seattle, Wash., has been a big part of my life”, Griffey said, punctuating the end of his speech by putting a baseball cap on backward as he did throughout his career.
The rest of that list of accomplishments includes 10 All-Star nods, six Silver Slugger awards, an American League Championship Series and World Series MVP and over 500 career home runs, to name a few.
Griffey won 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards for fielding while hitting 417 homers during 13 seasons with Seattle.
Consider this: A total of 1,067 players have been drafted in the 62nd round or later and only 12 of them signed with the team that selected them and went on to become major-league players. “But I made the mistake of looking at my kids”.
Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk. In 22 years, I learned that one team will treat you the best, and that’s your first team. It was fitting that he chose (with a little help from friend and fellow Hall of Famer Frank Thomas) to recall the look on the day that officially made him a baseball immortal.
Piazza became the second NY met to be inducted, and as 62nd round selection, the latest draft choice in history. He became a bona fide hero to the hometown fans with his walk-off homer in the first game at Shea Stadium after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. “To witness the darkest evil of the human heart…will forever be burned in my soul”, Piazza said. “Nope. Not me. You know what they said when you’re a kid?”
The 2016 Baseball Hall of Fame class was enshrined during Sunday’s ceremony in Cooperstown, NY, with what was an incredibly large crowd on hand.
“The only way I ever thought I would ever be here with you is if I bought a ticket”. My guess is the tide ran high in homes who watched on MLB Network, too.
“He taught me how to play, but more importantly how to be a man”, he said of his father, Ken Griffey Sr., who also played professionally.
Both Griffey and Piazza offered heartfelt thanks to their fathers in their speeches.
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“Nobody gets here alone”, Piazza said, who also thanked his former manager Tommy Lasorda, former hitting coach Reggie Smith and former Dodgers teammate Eric Karros, among others. Piazza, of course, went on to become something far more, which is probably why he was so emotional during his induction speech. The 2007 Ceremony drew an estimated 82,000 fans, the 1999 Ceremony crowd was estimated at 50,000 and the 2014 crowd was estimated at 48,000.
