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Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza Voted To Baseball Hall Of Fame

BOSTON (CBS) -- Not that there was any doubt, but Ken Griffey Jr. is officially a Hall of Famer.

Griffey headlines this year's Hall of Fame class, after garnering support from 99.3 percent of the 440 votes cast by BBWAA members. It was Griffey's first year of eligibility. With that vote, Griffey earned the highest voting percentage of any player in history, surpassing Tom Seaver's 98.84 percent.

Mike Piazza, in his fourth year on the ballot, also was elected to the Hall of Fame. Last year, Piazza received 69.9 percent of the votes but surpassed the needed 75 percent mark with 83 percent this year.

The closest runner-ups were Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines, who garnered 71.6 percent and 69.8 percent, respectively.

Griffey played for the Mariners, Reds and White Sox in his 22-year career. In total, he batted .284 with a .907 OPS and hit 630 home runs. He was named to 13 All-Star teams, he won 10 Gold Glove Awards and he was the 1997 AL MVP. He hit 56 home runs in the 1997 and the '98 seasons, following them up with a 48-homer campaign in 1999.

Piazza, in his fourth year on the ballot, spent his 16-year career with the Mets, Dodgers, A's, Padres and Marlins. The catcher batted .308 with a .922 OPS and 427 home runs.

Bagwell spent his entire 15-year career with the Houston Astros from 1991-2005. He clubbed 449 home runs while hitting .297 with a .948 OPS. It was Bagwell's sixth year on the ballot.

Raines, on the ballot for the ninth year, spent 23 seasons in the MLB, more than half of which was with the Montreal Expos. He also played for the White Sox, Yankees, A's, Marlins and Orioles, batting .294 with an .810 OPS.

Curt Schilling, in his fourth year on the ballot, once again came up short of making the Hall of Fame, earning just 52.3 percent of the votes. That is up from last year, when Schilling garnered 39.2 percent of the vote.

Roger Clemens received 45.2 percent of the votes, up from 37.5 percent last year, while Barry Bonds got 44.3 percent, up from 36.8 percent.

This year's induction ceremony for Griffey and Piazza will take place Sunday, July 25 in Cooperstown.

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