Griffey, Piazza arrive in Cooperstown for historic induction
Ken Griffey Jr., the transcendent Seattle Mariners superstar who, along with Mike Piazza, will be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, arrived in Cooperstown on Thursday with an induction speech that, by his own admission, is "still a work in progress."
The resume that got him there, however, is a work of art.
No right-thinking baseball fan can dispute that - even the three BBWAA members who inexplicably left Griffey off their Hall of Fame ballots would surely agree - and with The Kid now poised to be enshrined among the game's most enduring legends, his prolific talents are once again back on everybody's mind.
"He could do anything," Griffey's longtime teammate, Edgar Martinez, told MLB.com's Greg Johns. "Run, hit for average, power, throw. But the one thing about Junior, he not only had all five tools, the instinct was there, too. Which is amazing, having all the tools and also the instinct."
Throughout his 19-year career, Griffey compiled more WAR than all but five center fielders in the game's history, showing off preternatural abilities that never ceased to impress even for those who saw him play every day - including his old man, Ken Griffey Sr., who played 51 games with his son in Seattle toward the end of his career.
"It's been an amazing trip," Senior said. "Watching him grow and get better every year - I really didn't find out how good he was until I ended up playing left field in Seattle and found out how much ground he could cover, what kind of player he was, what kind of offensive player he was."
Griffey, however, isn't the only historically exceptional offensive player being honored this weekend. Piazza, his Hall of Fame cohort, enjoyed an equally phenomenal career at the plate, and might even feel more at home in Cooperstown than Griffey. He did spend eight of his finest years in baseball behind the plate in Queens.
"I truly have a special relationship here with the fans of the Mets," Piazza, who earned six All-Star nominations and smacked 220 homers with a .915 OPS during his tenure with the Mets, told CBS New York. "I feel the fans here (in New York) truly brought me into their family. Every time I've come back, I've been so incredibly honored from the response."