Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza set to enter Hall of Fame

When they were drafted nearly three decades ago, one was on everybody's baseball radar, the other a blip at best, picked almost as an afterthought in the final round thanks to a recommendation by an important family friend.

That their baseball paths started so differently — the Seattle Mariners made Ken Griffey Jr. the first pick of the 1987 amateur draft and a year later the Los Angeles Dodgers selected Mike Piazza in the 62nd round with the 1,390th pick, ahead of only five other players — in the end didn't matter one bit. Two players who wore their hats backward a lot — one for fun, the other because he had to — and left indelible imprints on the game will be rewarded Sunday with induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Griffey, the first No. 1 pick to be selected for enshrinement, played 22 big-league seasons with the Mariners, Reds and White Sox and was named on a record 99.32 per cent of ballots cast, an affirmation of sorts for his squeaky-clean performance during baseball's Steroids Era. A 13-time all-star and 10-time Gold Glove Award winner, Griffey hit 630 home runs, sixth all-time, and drove in 1,836 runs.

Induction day promises to be an extremely emotional moment for Griffey because his mom, Birdie, and father, former Cincinnati Reds star Ken Sr., both cancer survivors and integral to his rise to stardom, also will be part of the celebration.

Eschewing the customary pre-induction tour of the Hall, Griffey said he wanted his first walk through the front doors of the stately building on Main Street in Cooperstown to be with his kids.

"I wanted to share the moment with them," Griffey said. "It was important for me to be able to do it with them and not just by myself. I just felt that I wanted to be a member of the Hall of Fame to walk in there."

Perseverance pays off for Piazza

For Piazza, selection to the Hall is validation of an awful lot of hard work.

"It's incredibly powerful," said Piazza, by far the lowest draft pick in history elected to the Hall. "This whole year for me has been so euphoric. It's such an honor."

Taken in the draft after Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, a close friend of Piazza's father, put in a good word, Piazza struggled. He briefly quit the game while in the minor leagues, returned and persevered despite a heavy workload as he switched from first base to catcher and teammates criticized his erratic play.

And then it all clicked almost suddenly for Piazza, hitting 52 home runs in the minors before getting called up by the Dodgers in September 1992 and named National League rookie of the year the following season.

Piazza played 16 years in the majors, most famously with the Mets from 1998-2005, and hit 427 career home runs, including a major league record 396 as a catcher. He became a bona fide hero to the New York fans with his walk-off homer in the first game at Shea Stadium after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

A 12-time all-star, Piazza won 10 Silver Slugger Awards and finished in the top five in MVP voting four times. Perhaps even more impressive, Piazza, a .308 career hitter, posted six seasons with at least 30 home runs, 100 RBI and a .300 batting average. All other catchers in baseball history combined have posted nine such seasons.