I’m not feeling as confident about Mike Piazza getting into Cooperstown this year as I was five days ago. I still believe he’ll squeak in but this latest round of public balloting hasn’t been too kind to Mikey J.
40 more ballots have become public and when you have BBWAA voters like Jon Morosi and Jon Heyman leaving Piazza off but voting for Barry Bonds and Jeff Bagwell it really makes you wonder about their decision making process.
So with 141 ballots now accounted for, or about one-third of the overall electorate, Piazza has dipped below 90 percent and is now represented on 87.2 percent of the ballots according to the most recent update by Baseball HOF Tracker.
The 2016 Hall of Fame class will be announced Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Piazza needs a 75 percent showing for election.
December 29
Here’s the latest update from the Baseball HOF Tracker, as things continue to look very good for Mike Piazza who now appears on 102 of the 112 known public ballots.
With 25 percent of the vote in, Piazza is holding steady with healthy 91.1 percent of BBWAA voters including him on their ballots. That far exceeds the threshold of 75 percent to gain election into the Hall of Fame.
After appearing on just 57.8 percent of ballots during his first year of eligibility, followed by 62.2 percent in 2013 and 69.9 percent last winter, it looks like the BBWAA is finally coming to their senses and will get Piazza enshrined at Cooperstown in 2016.
“I was a little disappointed, I can’t lie about that,” Piazza said after last year’s vote. “I can only say that there’s been a lot of great players throughout history that have had to wait their turn. Joe DiMaggio had three ballots. Yogi Berra had three ballots. And that’s part of the process.”
“For me, it’s not really my place, I feel, to start campaigning. I can only say that I’m proud of my work and I’m proud of my career. I’ll put my numbers against a lot of players in history, and I feel that’s all I can do.’’
Piazza remains one of the greatest offensive catchers of all time, setting the MLB record of 396 home runs as a catcher while with the Mets. Over 16 seasons with the Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Padres and A’s he finished with 427 homers, 1,335 RBI, and a .308 batting average. He retired with a .922 OPS and .545 slugging percentage.
A 12-time All-Star and 10-time Silver Slugger Award winner, he spent eight years with the Mets and helped take them to the postseason in 1999 and all the way to the World Series the following season against the Yankees in 2000.
His Herculean blasts, intensity as a player, and unwavering charisma endeared him to Met and Dodger fans, but it was his uplifting and dramatic home run following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that endeared him to a nation.
Mike has said he would go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Mets cap, becoming the first position player ever to do so.
