A brief departure from Seahawks coverage to acknowledge former Seattle Mariners center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday.
Griffey, in his first year of eligibility, earned more than 99 percent of the possible vote, being left off just three of the 440 ballots. That breaks Tom Seaver’s record of being named on 98.8 percent of the ballots in being elected in 1992.
Griffey is a 13-time All-Star who hit 630 career home runs, which puts him sixth on the all-time list. He was also the Mariners’ first true superstar, changing the way Seattle baseball was perceived and experienced in the northwest.
Griffey was one of just two players to earn election this year, along with catcher Mike Piazza.
Another former Mariners great, Edgar Martinez, received 43.4 percent of the vote in his seventh year on the ballot. That’s up from 27 percent last year. A player must receive 75 percent of the vote to earn election to the Hall of Fame. Martinez has just three more years before he’s removed from the ballot, so taking a substantial step forward this year was important for Martinez’s future hopes.
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