Baseball might be far from getting back to the field but there was a baseball record set in the first week of January. Mike Piazza, former New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers great, and Ken Griffey Jr, notably a member of the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, were both elected into the Hall of Fame but it was Griffey who set the standard for future voting.
Former AL MVP Ken Griffey Jr set a new mark by receiving 99.3% of the vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Griffey set a record in voting, beating Tom Seaver’s old record by being on 437 of 440 ballots but no inductee has ever received 100 percent of the vote.
The MLB twitter account has the official breakdown of the votes.
Junior on record 437 of 440 #HOF ballots.
Piazza: 83.0%
Bagwell: 71.6
Raines: 69.8
Hoffman: 67.3
Schilling: 52.3
Clemens: 45.2
Bonds: 44.3
— MLB (@MLB) January 6, 2016
For his career, Mike Piazza 427 homeruns, which is the most by any catcher all-time, with a 308 average and 10 Silver Slugger awards. Piazza let the New York Mets to the 2000 World Series and he hit a memorable and historic homerun in Shea Stadium following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Mike Piazza was selected in his fourth year on the ballot which is nothing new for him, he’s used to waiting. Piazza was a 62nd-round pick selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988 as a favor to Piazza’s father who was friends with Tommy Lasorda. Drafted at 1,390th overall Piazza became the 1993 Rookie of the Year for Los Angeles and is the lowest-drafted player to make it to Cooperstown.
In contrast, Ken Griffey Jr is entering the Hall of Fame as the first player ever selected number 1 overall in the MLB Draft to be enshrined in the Hall-of-Fame.
The backwards cap wearing, homerun hitting, wall climbing five-tool outfielder had a meteoric rise to start his career before injuries famously crippled the end of his baseball career. Selected No. 1 overall by the Seattle Mariners in the 1987 draft, Griffey came in as one of the top prospects in MLB history and he didn’t disappoint.
Griffey Jr hit 630 home runs in his career which ranks sixth all time, and his 1,836 RBIs rank 13th. He made 13 All-Star teams and won 10 Gold Gloves, tied for third most among outfielders. He’s one of three players to hit 500 home runs and win 10 Gold Gloves, along with Willie Mays and Mike Schmidt, and is one of seven players to hit 300 home runs and drive in 1,100 runs before turning 30.
Congrats to both Ken Griffey Jr and Mike Piazza.
