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For Griffey and Piazza, both roads led to Cooperstown
- Updated: July 23, 2016
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The Mariners made Ken Griffey Jr. the first overall pick in the 1987 Draft. The following year, the Dodgers selected Mike Piazza with the 1,390th pick, in the 62nd round.
From those vastly different starting points — Griffey as the highest Draft pick and Piazza the lowest to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame — the two have arrived at same place at the same time: in the Class of 2016.
• Watch Baseball Hall of Fame coverage on MLB Network, MLB.com at 11 a.m. ET Sunday
Griffey and Piazza will be inducted Sunday. Coverage begins on MLB Network and MLB.com at 11 a.m. ET with the ceremonies beginning live at 1:30 p.m. The two took what appear to be vastly different routes to get to this juncture.
2016 Hall of Fame Inductions Watch live coverage of Sunday’s Hall of Fame inductions on MLB Network and MLB.com starting at 11 a.m. ET.
• Complete Hall of Fame coverageHall of Fame video • Shop for Hall of Fame gear
• Complete Hall of Fame coverageHall of Fame video • Shop for Hall of Fame gear
“We’ve taken the same path,” countered Griffey on Saturday during the last interview session for both former players prior to the induction. “We worked hard in the Minor League system and we had an opportunity to become big league ballplayers and produce. I grew up when my dad said, ‘If you work hard and you do things right you’re going to be rewarded.’
“For me, it’s work day-in and day-out. You go out there and you do your job and you try to be the best player you can be. For Mike, it was the same thing.”
Eligible voters of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America have elected nine players in the past three years after selecting no one to the Class of 2013. And like the past two, this ceremony is expected to be well attended.
Fans swarmed through the village — population 1,852 — on Saturday, attending the awards ceremony at Doubleday Field and watching the annual parade of Hall of Famers travel in pick-up trucks up Main Street to the glass doors of the red-bricked museum.
According to Hall officials, 50 Hall of Famers and a crowd in excess of 50,000 was anticipated. Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, originally on the roster of attending Hall of Famers, sent their regrets at the last moment.
In comparison, 48,000 flooded the town two years ago when three players and as many managers were inducted. Last year, when Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, Randy Johnson and Craig Biggio were elected, the crowd …
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