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Watch: Griffey turns cap backward to end induction speech

Alex Trautwig / Major League Baseball / Getty

Was there really any other way for him to end his speech?

In an act that almost served to bring his storied career full circle, Ken Griffey Jr. finished his moving and emotional Hall of Fame induction speech by pulling out a baseball cap and turning it backward, delighting the nearly 50,000 people in attendance at Cooperstown.

Griffey made the backward cap his trademark during his heyday with the Seattle Mariners in the 1990s. It became so synonymous with him that upon his election in January, there were calls for him to wear a backward cap on his plaque. While the Hall of Fame considered the idea, Griffey ultimately chose for his plaque to bear a forward-facing Mariners cap. He's the first player to be inducted as a Mariner.

Griffey also pulled off the backward cap move in January at his introductory press conference.

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