2016 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 2016 proceeded according to rules most recently amended in 2015. As in the past, the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) voted by mail to select from a ballot of recently retired players, with results announced on January 6, 2016; Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza were elected to the Hall of Fame.
Ken Griffey Jr. (left) and Mike Piazza, the two inductees of 2016
George Kenneth Griffey Jr., nicknamed "Junior" and "the Kid", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, along with a short stint with the Chicago White Sox. A member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first overall pick in the 1987 draft, and a 13-time All-Star, Griffey is one of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history; his 630 home runs rank as the seventh-most in MLB history. Griffey was also an exceptional defender and won 10 Gold Glove Awards in center field. He is tied for the record of most consecutive games with a home run.
Griffey with the Seattle Mariners in 2009
A mural of Ken Griffey Jr. in downtown Seattle from the strike-shortened 1994 season. The tick-marks represent his home runs up to the time of the strike, when Griffey Jr. was chasing the single-season home run record set by Roger Maris in 1961.
One of Ken Griffey Jr.'s signature sneakers, the Nike Air Griffey Max.
Griffey bats for the Mariners, 1997