COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — 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 Dodgers selected Mike Piazza on the 62nd round with the 1,390th pick, ahead of only five other players — in the end didn't matter one bit.