Congratulations to Mike Piazza, who was voted into the MLB HoF today. (Also, Ken Griffey, Jr., one of the best who ever lived.)

It was July 4, 1992. I was touring around out west and found myself in Albuquerque looking for something to do. I thought hey, what’s better than baseball on the 4th, so I made my way to the stadium. The Dukes were playing the Giants AAA team – the Tucson Toros sound right? Sold out. I got them to take me to the GM and told him I was freelance journalist doing a series (which was sort of true) and he opened the inside door and let me through.

The Dukes won that night, 3-2, powered by two homeruns from a young catcher nobody had heard of yet.

You knew right away that kid had a future, and he did. 

I was also in the house the day today’s other nominee, Ken Griffey, Jr., jacked #400. Which was nice.