Former Dodgers Catcher Mike Piazza Elected To Hall Of Fame

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Former Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza was elected Wednesday into baseball's Hall of Fame.

Piazza, who was on the ballot for the fourth time, received 365 votes.

He batted .331 with 177 home runs and 563 RBI over his seven seasons with the Dodgers from 1992-98, and he'll be the 48th player in franchise history to be enshrined in Cooperstown and the first since Pedro Martinez last year, team officials announced.

The 12-time All-Star compiled a .308 lifetime batting average with 427 home runs and 1,335 RBI in 16 Major League seasons with the Dodgers, Miami Marlins (1998), New York Mets (1998-2005), San Diego Padres (2006) and Oakland Athletics (2007).

Piazza won 10 Silver Slugger Awards during the course of his career, compiling 2,127 hits, 344 doubles, a .377 on-base percentage and a .545 slugging percentage in 1,912 games.

He leads all Major League catchers (min. 2000 PA) in home runs and slugging percentage, while ranking among the all-time greats at the position in batting average (2nd), RBI (2nd), on-base percentage (3rd) and hits (4th).

"Congratulations to Mike, an outstanding ballplayer and a great man," said Dodger Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda. "I couldn't be prouder of him after seeing his hard work to go from a 62nd round pick and converted catcher to one of the best ever at his position and now, a fellow Hall of Famer."

Piazza, a Norristown, Pennsylvania, native, was selected by the Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft.

Ken Griffey Jr. was also elected with 437 of 440 votes in his first appearance on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot.

A star slugger of the Steroids Era never tainted by accusations of drug use, Griffey's 99.3 percentage topped Tom Seaver's 98.84 in 1992 as the highest voting percentage ever.

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