A ‘Euphoric’ Hall of Fame Weekend for Mike Piazza

On Sunday afternoon at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York, New York Mets’ catcher Mike Piazza will take the stage on final time.

Arguably the games best offensive catcher, Piazza will join Ken Griffey Jr. as the 2016 Hall of Fame Inductees.

Piazza, 47, hit .308 with 427 home runs in his 19-year MLB career.

“It is always good to be out here,” Piazza said at a golf outing on Saturday. “Especially with the Hall of Famers and a couple of good friends. It’s a euphoric weekend and I am just trying to keep it all together.”

Being selected in the 62nd round, 1,390 overall in the 1988 MLB Draft, Piazza becomes by far the lowest draft pick to ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Although only a day away, Piazza has not quite finished his induction speech, but he is almost there.

“I went over it again last night,” Piazza said. “I don’t want to get where I read it too much but I like and I’m happy with it. There is a lot of cool stories.

“I always say there’s a few paragraphs that if it’s really really hot I can cut out,” Piazza joked.

Being in New York, there is sure to be a large number of Mets’ fans in attendance this weekend.

“It’s really funny, yesterday I was jogging and I saw these kids in Mets hats so I took a picture with them and posted it,” Piazza said. “The kids came up and said hi and then the dad came running out I guess he thought I was, you know he was a little scared but he was a guy from Long Island and realized it was me.

“It’ really special, it’s close to New York so I am really thrilled to share it with them.”

Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is definitely something special, but for Piazza being a part of the group really means a lot.

“It’s a culmination of obviously a lot of work and a lot of people looking out for you. That will be the theme for me. No one goes into the Hall of Fame alone. You have a lot of people that have helped you along the way. To share it with family and friends as well as coaches it’s really special.”