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One of the best days on the baseball calendar is here, with the annual induction ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. This year two players on extreme ends of the draft get enshrined, with Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey the honorees.
Griffey, picked No. 1 overall by the Mariners in 1987, is the first No. 1 draft pick to make the Hall of Fame, and Piazza, the 62nd-round pick of the Dodgers in 1988, is the lowest draft pick ever inducted into Cooperstown at No. 1390 overall.
Piazza will enter the Hall of Fame as a member of the New York Mets — my feelings about that are on record — but all is not lost from the Dodgers' perspective. Piazza is the 48th Dodgers player elected to the Hall of Fame, and among those who made the Hall of Fame as a player but not a Dodger, Piazza has the most games (726) and plate appearances (3,017) with the franchise.
The induction ceremony starts at 10:30 a.m. PT, with pregame coverage of sorts at 9 a.m., all on MLB Network. The ceremony can be watched online at MLB.com, BaseballHall.org or the MLB AtBat app.
In the meantime, here are some recent relevant stories about Piazza and the Hall of Fame:
- Grant Brisbee at SB Nation says the Dodgers never should have traded Mike Piazza
- Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports remembers Piazza as the Dodgers star, and one who won't go in the Hall of Fame as a Dodger.
- J.P. Hoornstra at the LA Daily News digs deep into Piazza's legacy in Los Angeles, especially notable with the quote from Dodgers chief of marketing Lon Rosen saying, "We’re hoping one day he’ll come to Dodger Stadium and see the love from the fans and the Dodger organization."
- David Schoenfield at ESPN remembers 10 things about Piazza
- Steven Martano at Beyond the Box Score recounted Piazza's unlikely rise from 62nd-round pick to Cooperstown.
- Carl Triano at Beyond the Box Score compares Piazza to other Hall of Fame catchers in several areas