Not too long ago, the Baseball Writers Association of America, more commonly known as the BBWAA, cast their votes to see who deserves a plaque in Cooperstown. Unlike last year’s four inductees, there were only two inductees this year. Ken Griffey Jr., also known as “The Kid” or the “Swingman” is the first round draft pick to ever be elected into the Hall of Fame and set a new record for total vote percentage in 99.3 percent. Mike Piazza, who was drafted in the 62nd round in 1988, could be argued as one of the greatest hitting catchers of all time and received 83 percent of the vote.

Ken Griffey Jr. came onto the scene in 1989 with the Seattle Mariners alongside his father, Ken Griffey Sr. They are arguably the most famous father-son duo in all of baseball, and maybe even all of sports. They made their case when they both hit back-to-back home runs in a game at Yankee Stadium. After his old man retired, Griffey Jr. started making a name for himself with the Mariners. Griffey broke out at the perfect time during the 1990s, when the Mariners were a constant postseason contender. Between 1989-1999, Griffey hit over .300 seven out of eleven seasons. And during the grey area of baseball history known as the “Steroid Era,” Griffey was consistently hitting 25-50 home runs and driving in 90-100+ RBI’s without developing a bad rapport, unlike some other sluggers of the time period like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Griffey then took his talents to the Cincinnati Reds in 2000 where his stats began to be less “Griffey-like” due to multiple injury-plagued seasons. He was then traded to the Chicago White Sox during the 2008 season and returned back home to Seattle for 2009 and part of the 2010 season before retiring. Despite multiple injury-ridden seasons, Griffey still hit 630 home runs in his career, drove in 1,836 RBI’s and tallied up 2,781 hits with a .284 batting average. Griffey also took home the 1997 AL MVP, named to 12 All-Star games, hit his way to seven Silver Slugger Awards and ten Golden Glove Awards. 

Griffey is most commonly known for acting like a kid on the field, wearing his hat backwards and always having a smile on his face. He is also known as baseball’s version of Michael Jordan due to the fact that Nike dubbed the “Swingman” collection inspired by Griffey. With these accolades and a clean slate during the steroid era, Griffey easily won almost the entire vote and has now won a spot in Cooperstown alongside baseball’s best.

The next inductee is power-hitting catcher Mike Piazza. Unlike Ken Griffey, Piazza wasn’t even close to being a first round pick. He was drafted in the 62nd round, 1,390th overall. Although he started his career out with the Dodgers between 1992-1998, Piazza is most commonly known for his days with the New York Mets from 1998-2005. 

Catchers are normally known for being average-to-below average hitters because they have to handle the pitching staff before they can focus on their hitting abilities. However, Piazza was better known for his skills with a bat in his hands than a glove. Piazza had a career batting average of .308, belted 427 home runs while averaging 25+ round-trippers per year and, in his most consistent years, he knocked in 90-120 RBI’s and had a career total of 1,335. Piazza’s most memorable moments include taking the Mets to the 2000 World Series despite their loss to the Yankees and his theatrical performance in the first game after the 9/11 terror attacks in New York where he hit a go-ahead home run late in the game. He won the NL Rookie of the Year in 1993 and was a 12-time All-Star while racking up ten Silver Slugger Awards.
This year’s ballot featured a few players who just missed the cut of the 75 percent vote. Power-hitting first baseman Jeff Bagwell missed out by less than 4 percent but still has four more years to try and improve his vote totals. Tim Raines, who will be entering his last year on the ballot in 2017, will try and make one last push to put his name in the hallowed halls. Trevor Hoffman had a solid first year with 67.3 percent and will most likely be inducted next year. And as for 2017’s first-year ballot players, Jorge Posada, Vladimir Guerrero, Ivan Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez to name a few, will try to be the next batch of hall of famers in 2017. 

As for this year, we will have to wait until the summer for Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza to be officially shrined into the Hall of Fame.