Griffey blew into the Hall by being named on a record 99.3 percent of the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballots in his first year of eligibility, while Martinez was drawing encouragement from seeing his support increase to 43.4 percent in his seventh year on the ballot.
Martinez, 53, knows as well as anyone how impressive Griffey was as a player and what a rare feat it was for him to be a near-unanimous selection.
"It's great," said Martinez, now working as the Mariners' hitting coach after taking over that post in midseason last year. "I knew he was going to get in, for sure, with the career he had.