Back to the Baltimore Orioles Newsfeed

Ken Griffey was always going to be a Hall of Famer, but Mike Piazza started out as a Powerball long shot

Obviously, the only question about Ken Griffey Jr's Hall of Fame candidacy was whether he would be elected by a unanimous vote. He was baseball royalty almost from birth. Mike Piazza is a totally different story.

No, I'm not talking about the whispers that followed Piazza through the steroid era. He never tested positive. He was one of the best-hitting catchers of all time. He deserves to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame come July.

I'm talking about the fact that he was drafted so low in 1988 (62nd round) that he was almost baseball's Mr.