Griffey, Piazza join Hall of Fame
Sluggers can’t hold back tears during induction ceremonies.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. Mike Piazza sat all alone in a back pew Sunday morning at St. Mary’s Our Lady of the Catholic Church, praying for strength, and even receiving a special blessing from Father John Rosson after the 7:30 Mass.
Ken Griffey Jr., who hadn’t even seen his dad since his arrival into town Wednesday, got a telephone call from his father at Otesaga Hotel in the late morning, simply telling him to stay strong, enjoy himself, and he would be right there, if needed.
Griffey and Piazza even gave themselves a pep talk on the stage at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony, trying to convince themselves they could get through their speeches without crying, with Griffey saying, “Let’s go. We got this. We got this.”
Well, Piazza lasted two minutes before his voice started cracking and he had to wipe away tears.
Griffey, who made the mistake of looking into the faces of his three children sitting in the front row, lasted all of 20 seconds.
“Nothing can prepare you,” Piazza said, “for how you feel, and the history sitting behind us on stage.”
A throng of 50,000 people, tied for the second-largest crowd at the Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremony, were captivated by two of the most emotional and touching speeches in induction history.
Piazza, a 62nd-round draft pick, the lowest to ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame, spoke briefly to his dad in Italian,
telling him, “Many thanks to the country of Italy for the gift of my father.”
“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.”
Vince Piazza, who built a batting cage for his son and had him go to sleep using hand grips to strengthen his hands, then was overcome with emotion when his son emphatically said, “We made it, Dad! The race is over. Now is the time to smell the roses.”
Vince Piazza, who nearly wasn’t alive to see this day, suffering a massive stroke three years ago, still couldn’t come up with the words to express his emotion.
“I can’t; I just can’t,” Vince Piazza said. “It doesn’t work to explain how I feel.”
Griffey, the first No. 1 pick in a draft to reach Cooperstown, who played with his father in Seattle and played for his hometown team in Cincinnati where his dad was part of the Big Red Machine, looked at Ken Griffey Sr., a cancer survivor, sitting in front of him. He could barely spit out the words of love for his hero.
“My dad taught me how to play the game,” Griffey Jr. said, “but more importantly, he taught me to be a man.”
This Hall class, with Piazza saying “the only thing we have in common is two arms and two legs,” gave impassioned speeches about love, faith and family values.
“Nobody gets to the Hall of Fame alone,” Piazza said. “Nobody ... got here without teammates, community support and mentors. We all have a responsibility to future generations.”
Piazza, wearing the New York Mets 2015 National League championship ring that was presented to him Saturday by Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon, anticipated he would be emotional, particularly talking about his father. Yet it was Griffey, who always had that famous smile and fun-loving personality, who stunned everyone with the tears that filled his eyes.
“It was probably the first time in a long time,” said Jay Buhner, Griffey’s best friend with the Mariners, “to see Junior basically come out of his security blanket and lose his composure. It was good to see him let his hair down.”
Still, even on baseball’s biggest stage, Griffey reminded everyone he still had a lot of Junior left in him, teasing teammates, cutting jokes and, yes, even ending his speech by grabbing a Hall of Fame baseball cap and putting it on backward, just like old times.
“I’m going to leave you with one thing,” Griffey said, “out of my 22 years, I’ve learned that only one team will treat you the best. And that’s your first team. I’m very proud to be a Seattle Mariner.”
This is the same team, Griffey said, laughing, that when he heard he’d be drafted by the Mariners, walked into the house and said, “Hey, Dad, where’s Seattle?”
Griffey put on his cap, spun it around and said, “I’d like to thank the Mariners, Reds and White Sox for making this kid’s dream come true.”
It was perfect, with nearly half the crowd coming from Seattle, standing and cheering wildly, as if he were sliding across home plate in that magical playoff series against the New York Yankees.
“The good thing was that Junior showed his sense of humor,” Buhner said, “and that helped break the ice. ... But I think I got more choked up listening to Piazza and what he was doing.”
Piazza talked about the perseverance of Jackie Robinson, Pope Benedict XVI and dropped in a quote from Teddy Roosevelt, calling the former president’s words an inspiration during his career.
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or whether the doer of deeds could have done them better,” he said. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marked by dust, sweat and blood.”
Piazza, even 15 years later, still was also emotional talking about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and just what it meant to him to help heal a community with his game-winning homer a week later in the first New York sporting event since the attacks.
“To witness the darkest evil of the human heart,” Piazza said, “and witness that as it tore many loved ones from their families, will forever be burned in my soul. But from tragedy and sorrow came bravery, love, compassion, character and eventual healing.
“Many of you give me praise for the home run on the first game back, but true praise belongs to police, firefighters and first responders, who knew that they were going to die but went forward anyway.
“Jesus said there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for his friends. I consider it an honor and privilege to have witnessed that love. Your families and those left behind are always in my prayers. I pray we never forget their sacrifice and work to always defeat such evil.”
It was that kind of inspirational, emotional and poignant day, and one that Father Rosson will always cherish, telling his parishioners at the 9:30 Mass: “Guess who was here to our early service?”