Griffey goes in the Hall

[JustRalph]

Sweetest swing ever.........

I'll never forget this moment. Loved his dad too 👍

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6779425...back-home-runs

[mikesal57]

come on...

its not just Griffey....

Also the best hitting catcher in baseball...Mike Piazza

Dont start with the steroids...he never took it..

[barahona44]

Originally Posted by mikesal57

come on...

its not just Griffey....

Also the best hitting catcher in baseball...Mike Piazza

Dont start with the steroids...he never took it..

I appreciate your unbiased, level headed argument about Piazza and steroids.

BTW, nice Mets logo as your avatar.

[mikesal57]

Originally Posted by barahona44

BTW, nice Mets logo as your avatar.

thxs...It will change when football starts and the Mets fall apart

[kingfin66]

Originally Posted by mikesal57

come on...

its not just Griffey....

Also the best hitting catcher in baseball...Mike Piazza

Dont start with the steroids...he never took it..

I agree with you 100 percent. I umpired minor league baseball from 89-91. Piazza was in the NW League with me (or is it me with him?) in 1989. I next saw him in the Cal League in 1991. He was very skinny in 1989 but still had tremendous power...not a ton of home runs, but did hit 8 in the short season league. In 1991, he had filled out some as would be expected of any player involved in year round conditioning. He was still raw defensively, but his hitting/power was great as he hit 29 home runs. That was in 1991 in A ball in a league where the ball does not fly out of stadiums.

Over time, he refined his skills, improved his strength and hit his physical peak. All players do this! I don't believe that he used PEDs any more than I believe that one of my all time favs, Edgar Martinez, used PEDs. I will tell you who else does not believe that Piazza used PEDs, the Baseball Writers of America who voted him into the HoF.

I am very proud to say that I was on the same field with two HoFs; Mike Piazza and Pedro Martinez. I just wish it would have been an MLB field.

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

Sweetest swing ever.........

I'll never forget this moment. Loved his dad too 👍

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6779425...back-home-runs

My father would always tell me stories about how he played with Ken Griffey Sr. They would walk together to practice and home games. Griffey lived in the Donora equivalent to housing projects, Highland Terrace. Griffey actually wasn't the superstar of team, but he was very fast and a year younger than most of the players. This must have been a pretty good Colt league team, -in addition to Griffey, the young man standing in the row behind was a serious athlete, as were a couple others on the team.

I didn't want go past the margins, so I made the complete team pic a 'clickable thumbnail'. Reading the writeup, I can only assume they beat New Eagle that day. Must have been neat to get a small feature in the local newspaper. Year is 1966

(Ken Griffey Sr. bottom right of photo)

[JustRalph]

Great post. Great pic.

I believe Piazza........never took anything......

A number 62 pick in the draft makes it to the hall all the time.......

[kingfin66]

Believe what you want to believe and I will believe what I want to believe. All I can tell you is that the 62nd pick hit 400+ ft home runs in short season A and high A when I saw him up close and personal.

[Valuist]

Originally Posted by mikesal57

thxs...It will change when football starts and the Mets fall apart

If the next logo is the Jets, how long before it gets changed to the Knicks? And when it changes to the Knicks, by January, it will be back to the Mets.

[Robert Fischer]

Everyone experimented with some juice. Piazza never went science project nuts like Big Mac, or Bonds.

A lot of scouts stick to athletes and speed. Scouting hitting is tough.
Piazza could hit. I'm sure he had to detour first base and force his way to catcher. Was a little unconventional physically for catcher. Defense was his big question. Some say he was poor defensively, some say his 'framing' and rapport w pitchers was excellent.

[kingfin66]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

Everyone experimented with some juice. Piazza never went science project nuts like Big Mac, or Bonds.

A lot of scouts stick to athletes and speed. Scouting hitting is tough.
Piazza could hit. I'm sure he had to detour first base and force his way to catcher. Was a little unconventional physically for catcher. Defense was his big question. Some say he was poor defensively, some say his 'framing' and rapport w pitchers was excellent.

I hope you don't believe this, that everyone experimented with some juice? I do not believe that this is even close to the truth. If you were talking football that would be one thing, but baseball? Everyone? I don't think so and there is no proof. All we have to go by are positive tests. I know, there was not a lot of testing 20, 15, 10 even 5 years ago and the testing was not as sophisticated.

Piazza did not force his way to catching, the Dodgers moved him there. He hated catching in the early days. Catching is hard enough to learn in little league. Imagine learning it when guys are throwing 90 + and snapping off good breaking pitches.

[rastajenk]

As I have mentioned before, I was an usher for the Reds right behind home plate in the 2005-2008 seasons. When Junior came up to bat, it seemed like the whole place stopped to pay attention. Now, don't take that too literally, vendors were still vending, etc, but the movements on the concourses seemed to stop; it was noticeable, if not palpable, and it did not seem to matter what the situation was. Pretty cool. The only other player that created that sensation during that period was Bonds.

One evening, during a rain delay before the start of the game against the Padres, a nice older (older than me) gentleman struck up a conversation with me as we waited it out. He asked the usual stuff about the new stadium, the state of the Reds, and so on, before saying that his son was the starting catcher for the Pads. I looked up at the scoreboard, and it was Piazza, and I said, "I've heard of that guy." For at least 45 minutes he chatted like we were old friends, with lots of stories about Tommy Lasorda and the Dodgers, the Reds-Dodgers rivalry from before the realignment into current divisions, Jeff Ruby and The Precinct, all kinds of stuff. Again, pretty cool, and a great way to spend a rain delay.

When their selections were announced back in the winter with their appearance at Cooperstown, I guess it was, it was hard to imagine more gracious, humble, and appreciative sports stars than these two. One was odds-on, the other was a longshot, which added to the appeal. I don't usually pay much attention to these kinds of things, but this "class" of inductees was especially gratifying to this long-time sports fan. Multiple to these two.

[barahona44]

Originally Posted by rastajenk

As I have mentioned before, I was an usher for the Reds right behind home plate in the 2005-2008 seasons. When Junior came up to bat, it seemed like the whole place stopped to pay attention. Now, don't take that too literally, vendors were still vending, etc, but the movements on the concourses seemed to stop; it was noticeable, if not palpable, and it did not seem to matter what the situation was. Pretty cool. The only other player that created that sensation during that period was Bonds.

One evening, during a rain delay before the start of the game against the Padres, a nice older (older than me) gentleman struck up a conversation with me as we waited it out. He asked the usual stuff about the new stadium, the state of the Reds, and so on, before saying that his son was the starting catcher for the Pads. I looked up at the scoreboard, and it was Piazza, and I said, "I've heard of that guy." For at least 45 minutes he chatted like we were old friends, with lots of stories about Tommy Lasorda and the Dodgers, the Reds-Dodgers rivalry from before the realignment into current divisions, Jeff Ruby and The Precinct, all kinds of stuff. Again, pretty cool, and a great way to spend a rain delay.

When their selections were announced back in the winter with their appearance at Cooperstown, I guess it was, it was hard to imagine more gracious, humble, and appreciative sports stars than these two. One was odds-on, the other was a longshot, which added to the appeal. I don't usually pay much attention to these kinds of things, but this "class" of inductees was especially gratifying to this long-time sports fan. Multiple to these two.

Neat story, Rasta Man Junior is the first overall #1 draft pick to make the Hall of Fame, which.only goes to show how difficult it is to project a baseball player's future development,as opposed to football and basketball.

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by kingfin66

I hope you don't believe this, that everyone experimented with some juice? I do not believe that this is even close to the truth. If you were talking football that would be one thing, but baseball? Everyone? I don't think so and there is no proof. All we have to go by are positive tests. I know, there was not a lot of testing 20, 15, 10 even 5 years ago and the testing was not as sophisticated.

Wasn't meant to be a knock on Piazza.
That's just how it is.
Not 'every' baseball player has ever tried a line of coke(or similar hard drug), but it's not a rarity.
Not every baseball player has done at least a brief cycle of steroids, but it's not a rarity.

The guys like bonds, sosa, mcgwire, etc.... who transformed their bodies into ridiculous superhero/pro-wrestlers made a mockery of the game. That stuff can slide in football, but baseball fans don't necessarily want obvious roid-heads breaking records.

Piazza never made a mockery of the game. Maybe he never even tried steroids. Like you say, he never failed a test.

[Jess Hawsen Arown]

Originally Posted by mikesal57

thxs...It will change when football starts and the Mets fall apart

Quitter. Conforto and Matz are back on track and you want to give up.

For me, it was more obvious that Randy Johnson was a user (based on his inability to keep his face clean) but the greatest hitting catcher in history had to wait.

I will never say categorically that Piazza was not a user. Sadly, we have learned that nobody can be trusted. Some sincere protesters were found to have lied.

Be that as it may, it bugged me that Carlton Fisk got in the HOF before Gary Carter. I have nothing bad to say about Fisk, except there was no time in his career that he was considered the best catcher in baseball. Carter was.

For me, the single highest mark for consideration is if you were considered the best in baseball for more than one two years at your position.