Griffey sets the record for the highest voting percentage ever received
Ken Griffey Jr.and Mike Piazza were elected Wednesday into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America cast their ballots for Griffey, the game’s sixth-leading home run hitter in history, and Piazza, a catcher and power-hitter, USA Today reports.
Griffey sets the record for the highest vote percentage in Hall of Fame history by receiving 99.32% of the votes, with 437 of the 440 ballots cast, according to Sports Illustrated. He breaks the record of 98.84% held by pitcher Tom Seaver.
As USA Today notes, the two players will enter the hall of fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. as opposites in some ways. Griffey’s father played 19 seasons in the major leagues, making him baseball royalty, and he was the first overall pick in the 1987 draft. In contrast, Piazza was drafted in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft, becoming the first player ever drafted that late to make it to the Hall of Fame, according to the paper.
Notable players who fell short of election to the Hall this year were Barry Bonds, who leads the league in all-time home runs, and Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young award winning pitcher. Both players have seen their legacies tarnished by allegations of steroid usage during their careers.