‘HUMBLED AND OVERWHELMED’
Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza inducted into Hall of Fame.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Two players who began their careers at opposite ends of the spectrum nearly three decades ago ended up in the same place Sunday — with their names on plaques at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
For Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, the culmination of their long journeys was tinged with tears.
“I stand up here humbled and overwhelmed,” Griffey said, staring out at his family and tens of thousands of fans. “I can’t describe how it feels.”
Griffey, the first pick of the 1987 amateur draft, became the highest pick ever inducted. Piazza, a 62nd-round pick the next year — No. 1,390 — is the lowest pick to enter the Hall of Fame.
Griffey played 22 bigleague seasons with the Mariners, Reds and White Sox and was selected on a record 99.32 percent of ballots, an affirmation of sorts for his clean performance during baseball’s so-called Steroids Era.
A 13-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove Award winner in center field, Griffey hit 630 home runs, sixth all-time, and drove in 1,836 runs. He was the American League MVP in 1997, drove in at least 100 runs in eight seasons, and won seven Silver Slugger Awards.
Griffey, who fell just three votes shy of being the first unanimous selection, hit 417 of his 630 homers and won all 10 of his Gold Gloves with the Seattle Mariners. He played the first 11 seasons of his career with the Mariners and led them to the playoffs for the first two times in franchise history.
“Thirteen years with the Seattle Mariners, from the day I got drafted, Seattle, Washington, has been a big part of my life,” Griffey said, punctuating the end of his speech by putting a cap on backward as he did
throughout his career.
“I’m going to leave you with one thing. In 22 years I learned that one team will treat you the best, and that’s your first team. I’m damn proud to be a Seattle Mariner.”
Griffey’s mom, Birdie, and his father, former Cincinnati Reds star Ken Sr., both cancer survivors, were in the first row.
“To my dad, who taught me how to play this game and to my mom, the strongest woman I know,” Junior said. “She was our biggest fan and our biggest critic. She’s the only woman I know that lives in one house and runs five others.”
Piazza was drafted by the Dodgers after Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, a close friend of Piazza’s father, Vince, put in a word, Piazza struggled at first but persevered.
“My father’s faith in me, often greater than my own, is the single most important factor of me being inducted into this Hall of Fame,” he said.
Piazza played 16 years with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Padres and Athletics and hit 427 home runs, including a major league record 396 as a catcher. A 12time All-Star, Piazza won 10 Silver Slugger Awards.
Though the Dodgers gave him his start, Piazza found a home when he was traded to the New York Mets in May 1998.
“Looking out today on the incredible sea of blue and orange brings back the greatest time of my life,” Piazza said.
In 2001, he became a hero to hometown fans when his two-run homer in the eighth inning at Shea Stadium lifted the Mets to a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves in the first sporting event in New York after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Piazza paid tribute to that moment.
“Many of you give me praise for the two-run home run in the first game back on Sept. 21 . ... But the true praise belongs to police, firefighters, first responders, who knew they were going to die, but went forward anyway,” he said.