#TheNatural #CooperstownBound Not Only did Ken Griffey Jr. make it into the HOF (Hall Of Fame) on his first bid, he received the most votes EVER (99.3%) eclipsing Mets’ legendary pitcher Tom Seaver (98.84%)! Griffey received 437 of the 440 possible votes by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The induction ceremony will take place on July 24. His swing was so natural, and field play so graceful, that when you think of baseball your first picture is Griffey! For both bat and field he notched seven Silver Slugger awards and 10 CONSECUTIVE Gold Glove awards! Griffey also went to 11 CONSECUTIVE All-Star games (13 overall) starting in 1990, and hit 630 home runs with a career .284 batting average and .538 slugging percentage! In the steroid latent era, he defined holiness, and really is only behind Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), and Willie Mays (660) on the all-time home run list (for players without an asterisks *)!
Amazingly, Griffey became the first overall No. 1 pick to make the Hall of Fame; the No. 1 pick in the 1987 amateur draft by the Seattle Mariners! Ironically, on the opposite end the lowest overall pick to make the HOF, Mike Piazza, who was picked in the 62nd round (1,390 pick) in the 1998 draft, was inducted alongside Griffey. Piazza eclipsed former Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who was picked No. 574 in the 22nd round of the 1985 draft. Check out more about Piazza after the break…
#ItsAboutTime Mike Piazza would go down as the best hitting catcher in baseball history! He was a 12-time All-Star hitting over .300 for nine CONSECUTIVE seasons, and finished with a career .308 batting average! Piazza also broke the record for a catcher with 396 home runs behind-the-plate; 427 for his career! It was his fourth ballot, barely missing the cut last year by 28 votes, garnering 365 of 440 votes claiming 83% of the vote! You need 75% of the vote to be inducted. Piazza is underrated and really should be considered the third best catcher of all-time only behind Johnny Bench and Yankees faithful Yogi Berra! Piazza did receive some steroid speculation for his immense stature, but nothing ever surfaced. Steroid representative Mark McGwire did not make the hall for his 10th and final attempt. Check out the vote chart below…
2016 Hall of Fame voting results
Candidates needed 330 (75 percent) of the 440 votes cast to get elected. Those who received less than 5 percent will be dropped from the ballot.
| VOTES | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Ken Griffey Jr. | 437 | 99.3 |
| Mike Piazza | 365 | 83.0 |
| Jeff Bagwell | 315 | 71.6 |
| Tim Raines | 307 | 69.8 |
| Trevor Hoffman | 296 | 67.3 |
| Curt Schilling | 230 | 52.3 |
| Roger Clemens | 199 | 45.2 |
| Barry Bonds | 195 | 44.3 |
| Edgar Martinez | 191 | 43.4 |
| Mike Mussina | 189 | 43.0 |
| Alan Trammell | 180 | 40.9 |
| Lee Smith | 150 | 34.1 |
| Fred McGriff | 92 | 20.9 |
| Jeff Kent | 73 | 16.6 |
| Larry Walker | 68 | 15.5 |
| Mark McGwire | 54 | 12.3 |
| Gary Sheffield | 51 | 11.6 |
| Billy Wagner | 46 | 10.5 |
| Sammy Sosa | 31 | 7.0 |
| Jim Edmonds | 11 | 2.5 |
| Nomar Garciaparra | 8 | 1.8 |
| Mike Sweeney | 3 | 0.7 |
| David Eckstein | 2 | 0.5 |
| Jason Kendall | 2 | 0.5 |
| Garret Anderson | 1 | 0. |
*chart courtesy espn*