Baseball: Griffey, Piazza Make Tearful Hall Of Fame Entries

COOPERSTOWN, United States, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th july, 2016) - Ken Griffey Jnr and Mike Piazza made tearful speeches Sunday at their induction ceremonies into the Baseball Hall of Fame, recalling family, childhoods and even the September 11, 2001, terrorism tragedy. The retired Major League Baseball stars were added to the shrine Sunday in ceremonies that drew 50,000 people to the small town in upstate New York known as the birthplace of the American pastime. Each received at least 75 percent support from a panel of media voters to merit inclusion among the legends of the game. Catcher Piazza, the second Hall of Famer whose plaque will feature a Mets cap, hit 220 home runs over more than seven seasons in New York starting in May of 1998.

But his most famous homer was the game-winning one he belted in the first New York sports event after the 2001 terrorist attacks. "Many of you give me praise for the two-run home run in the first game back," Piazza said.

"But the true praise belongs to the police, firefighters, first responders, who knew that they were going to die but went forward anyway." Piazza also shed tears when talking about his father, Vince, a boyhood pal of Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda who helped talk Lasorda's Los Angeles Dodgers into drafting Piazza.