Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza Elected to MLB Hall of Fame
The 2016 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame class sees two new players entering the Hallowed Halls: Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza.
Cooperstown’s legendary halls will welcome two new players to the legion of the greatest baseball players ever. In his first year on the ballot, former Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. was voted in, joined by former Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, and Oakland Athletics’ catcher Mike Piazza, who is in his fourth year on the ballot.
Griffey Jr., the son of Ken Griffey Sr., a very respectable player in his own day, made his big league debut at the ripe age of 19, and wasted no time establishing himself as one of baseball’s premier players. Over his 22 seasons and 2,671 games, Griffey was an All-Star 13 times, a Gold Glover 10 times, and a Silver Slugger seven times. He was the American League Most Valuable Player in 1997, when he led baseball with 56 home runs, 147 runs batted in, 125 runs scored, and a .646 slugging percentage.
Junior Griffey led the league in home runs four times, including hitting 56 in back-to-back seasons in 1997 and 1998, and hit over 40 seven times. His 630 career home runs ranks him sixth on the all-time home runs list. If not for injuries that limited him to an average of 103 games from the year 2000 on (the year he signed a massive nine-year, $112.5 million contract with Cincinnati), he may have been much higher on that list. He is the first player who primarily played center field to be elected since Kirby Puckett in 2001.
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In his 12 seasons with the Mariners, Griffey Jr. hit 417 home runs, still the most in franchise history. His 341 doubles, 1,216 RBI, and 819 walks are all second to Edgar Martinez (who fell short in his seventh season of Hall of Fame eligibility) in franchise history. Griffey Jr.’s 1,843 hits are third to Ichiro Suzuki and Martinez.
Griffey was elected after being named on 99.3 percent of ballots (437 of 440), breaking Tom Seaver‘s record for highest percentage for election in history (98.84 percent in 1992). He also becomes the first number-one overall draft pick to enter the Hall of Fame.
Piazza, widely considered the best offensive catcher of all-time, cracked the necessary 75 percent to enter the Hall, after falling just short last year at 69.9 percent. In his 16-year big league career, Piazza was Rookie of the Year in 1993 when he hit 35 home runs, the most ever by a rookie catcher and by a Dodger rookie. He was a 12-time All-Star (including All-Star Game MVP in 1996), a 10-time Silver Slugger winner, and finished in the top-10 of MVP voting seven times, including each of his first five full seasons. He hit 427 career home runs, including 396 as a catcher, the most in baseball history.
Piazza, after being drafted in the 62nd round in 1988, played the majority of his career in the two biggest markets in baseball. He spent eight years in New York with the Mets, where he experienced his most success, including a World Series appearance in 2000, and seven years in Los Angeles with the Dodgers. He ranks in both team’s top-10 for home runs, sitting third for the Mets (220), and ninth for the Dodgers (177).
Piazza becomes the latest draft pick ever to enter the Hall of Fame.
Here is the full 2016 Hall of Fame ballot:
[table id=36 /]
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Alan Trammell is in his last year on the ballot, due to the 15-year without election rule. Everyone under five percent (Jim Edmonds, Nomar Garciaparra, Mike Sweeney, David Eckstein, Jason Kendall, Garret Anderson, Brad Ausmus, Luis Castillo, Troy Glaus, Mark Grudzielanek, Mike Hampton, Mike Lowell, and Randy Winn) is off the ballot moving forward.