Baseball legends Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. are headed to Copperstown after they were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday.
Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines fell short in results announced Wednesday with Griffey Jr. earning the highest voting percentage ever.
After Pedro Martinez and Don Drysdale, Piazza becomes the third player inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame who spent time in Bakersfield.
Prior to his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Piazza spent the 1991 season in town with the then Bakersfield Dodgers. That year he had a .277 batting average and hit 27 home runs.
Piazza also played with the New York Mets, Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres and the Oakland A's before he retired from the MLB in 2007.
A star slugger of the Steroids Era never tainted by accusations of drug use, Griffey was on 437 of 440 votes in his first appearance on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot. His 99.3 percentage topped Tom Seaver's 98.84 in 1992.
Piazza, on the ballot for the fourth time, received 365 votes.
A player needs 75 percent to gain election. Bagwell missed by 15 votes and Raines by 23 in totals announced Wednesday.
After about 100 writers who no longer are active lost their votes under new rules, there were significant increases for a pair of stars accused of steroids use. Roger Clemens rose to 45 percent and Barry Bonds to 44 percent, both up from about 37 percent last year.
The induction ceremonies at Cooperstown are on July 24.
