Ken Griffey Sr., Junior rob home runs at Yankee Stadium

The Baseball Hall of Fame has two new members, as the Baseball Writers of America Association voted in former Mets pitcher Mike Piazza and outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. Thursday, Griffey announced he will enter the Hall of Fame, as a Mariner. Should be a busy weekend up in Cooperstown, July 22-24. Known for wearing his cap backwards, Griffey joked about that with Piazza, the top offensive catcher in baseball history.“He wore it backwards more than I did, ” Griffey said.

He’s gotten calls from several hall of famers telling him that it’s only going to get more busy as time passes. Prior to the 2000 season, Griffey was nearly traded to the New York Mets to form a dynamic duo in the middle of the lineup with Piazza, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

There had been speculation Griffey could become the first unanimous selection. Griffey said quietly, while pausing and collecting his thoughts and emotions.

Both Bonds and Clemens gained more than seven percent from last year’s voting.

The honors aren’t yet be over for Griffey, who is scheduled to join Piazza on Friday morning for the opening of trading on Wall Street.

Before Schmidt’s induction ceremony, I visited the museum and was admiring the display of memorabilia from the 1980 World Series, which the Phillies won. For them to say, we don’t want anybody to wear this number, it’s overwhelming and scary. Former Mets’ Assistant GM Jim Duquette told DiComo that he had visualized a lineup where the Mets batted Edgardo Alfonzo second, Griffey third, and Piazza fourth.

After being elected into the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, Mike Piazza announced yesterday that he will be immortalized as a member of the Mets.

“I feel like the fans here truly brought me into their family”, Piazza said. To honor Robinson, the Mariners – like all teams – have the No. 42 inside a baseball displayed prominently on the wall in left-center at Safeco Field.

The first sporting event NY hosted after 9/11 was a Mets home game on September 21 in which Piazza crushed a come-from-behind, game-winning home run in the eighth inning to beat the Braves 3-2. “And, for me, I always enjoyed reconnecting here in NY”.

While such conversations are repeated countless times daily across the country, when Ken Griffey Jr. revealed his career aspirations, it was in Yankee Stadium, where his father was in the midst of his Major League Baseball career.

Griffey Sr. said he recently spent four days in the area – dropping off baseball memorabilia from the Griffeys for the Donora Smog Museum – en route to Columbus, Ohio, to watch his wife’s grandson Khalid Lewis play for IL against Ohio State.

“When you see a basketball guy out there or a football guy, you kind of know it”, he said.

The 31-year-old Span batted.

Griffey’s ascension into this group of elite players is enhanced, not tarnished, by his confirmation.