Dodgers’ Mike Piazza ready for HOF
MLB: Piazza, Mariners’ Ken Griffey, Jr. to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday in N.Y.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — When they were drafted nearly three decades ago, one was on everybody’s baseball radar, the other a blip at best, picked almost as an afterthought in the final round thanks to a recommendation by an important family friend.
That their baseball paths started so differently — the Seattle Mariners made Ken Griffey Jr. the first pick of the 1987 amateur draft and a year later the Dodgers selected Mike Piazza on the 62nd round with the 1,390th pick, ahead of only five other players — in the end didn’t matter one bit. Two players who wore their hats backward a lot — one for fun, the other because he had to — and left indelible imprints on the game will be rewarded Sunday with induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“It’s incredibly powerful,” said Piazza, by far the lowest draft pick in history elected to the Hall. “This whole year for me has been so euphoric. It’s such an honor.”
Dubbed “The Natural” for his effortless excellence at the plate and in center field, Griffey, the first No. 1 pick to be selected for enshrinement, hasn’t followed form since his selection in January. He’s been feted in Seattle, which likely still has a major league team because of his tenure there, served as honorary starter for NASCAR’s biggest race, the Daytona 500, and played a lot of golf to avoid thinking or talking about his induction.
Griffey played 22 big-league seasons with the Mariners, Reds and White Sox and was named on a record 99.32 percent of ballots cast, an affirmation of sorts for his squeaky-clean performance during baseball’s Steroids Era. A 13-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove Award winner, Griffey hit 630 home runs, sixth all-time, and drove in 1,836 runs.
Griffey also was named American League MVP in 1997, drove in at least 100 runs in eight seasons, and won seven Silver Slugger Awards.
For Piazza, selection to the Hall is validation of an awful lot of hard work.
Taken in the draft after Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, a close friend of Piazza’s father, put in a good word, Piazza struggled. He briefly quit the game while in the minor leagues, returned and persevered despite a heavy workload as he switched from first base to catcher and teammates criticized his erratic play.
“When I first signed with the Dodgers, I knew it was going to be a very difficult path,” Piazza said. “At the time I wasn’t having any fun and decided to quit the game. I was just fortunate that I had great coaches and people looking out for me to encourage me to go back. You don’t make it to the Hall of Fame alone, you have a lot of people looking out for you along the way.”
And then it all clicked almost suddenly for Piazza, hitting 52 home runs in the minors before getting called up by the Dodgers in September 1992. He was there to stay after going 3 for 3 in his debut and was named National League Rookie of the Year the following season after hitting .318 with 35 homers and 112 RBIs.
Piazza played 16 years with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Padres and Athletics and hit 427 career home runs, including a major league record 396 as a catcher. A 12time All-Star, Piazza won 10 Silver Slugger Awards and finished in the top five in MVP voting four times. Perhaps even more impressive, Piazza, a .308 career hitter, posted six seasons with at least 30 home runs, 100 RBIs and a .300 batting average. All other catchers in baseball history combined have posted nine such seasons.
Though the Dodgers gave him his start, Piazza found a home in New York when he was traded to the Mets in May 1998. 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 Sept. 11, 2001.
“The New York market was a difficult transition for me,” Piazza said. “But I knew that there was a reason I was there, and I knew there was a reason I had to see it through.”