On Wednesday night, Ken Griffey Jr. became the newest member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He and Mike Piazza were both voted into Cooperstown by the BBWAA this year.
Griffey, believe it or not, is the first player selected with the No. 1 overall draft pick to be voted into the Hall of Fame. The Mariners selected Junior first overall in the 1987 First Year Player Draft out of Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati.
Prior to Griffey, the highest drafted player in the Hall of Fame was Reggie Jackson. Jackson was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1966 draft. The Athletics selected him out of Arizona State. Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor were the No. 3 picks in the 1973 and 1977 drafts, respectively.
Griffey's reign as the only No. 1 pick in the Hall of Fame doesn't figure to last very long. Chipper Jones, the first overall selection in the 1990 draft, will appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2017. He's as close to a first ballot lock as it gets.
Aside from Griffey and Jones, the only other No. 1 overall pick who has Hall of Fame credentials right now is Alex Rodriguez, who went first overall in 1993. It's unlikely A-Rod will even be voted into Cooperstown due to his PED history, however.
The draft was implemented in 1965, so we have 50 years worth of No. 1 overall picks. Only about 40 of them have played long enough to really have a chance to build a Hall of Fame case, however. Here are the top 10 No. 1 overall picks by WAR:
- Alex Rodriguez (1993) - 118.8
- Chipper Jones (1990) - 85.0
- Ken Griffey Jr. (1987) - 83.6
- Joe Mauer (2001) - 47.8
- Darryl Strawberry (1980) - 42.0
- Adrian Gonzalez (2000) - 41.8
- Harold Baines (1977) - 38.5
- B.J. Surhoff (1985) - 34.3
- Rick Monday (1965) - 33.1
- Darin Erstad (1995) - 32.3
Bryce Harper, the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft, looks to be building a Hall of Fame caliber career, though he has a very, very long way to go. The early returns are promising, however. Other active No. 1 overall picks include Carlos Correa, Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, David Price, Luke Hochevar, Justin Upton, and Josh Hamilton.
Piazza, on the other hand, was drafted in the 62nd round (1,390th overall) of the 1988 draft by the Dodgers. As the story goes, the Dodgers drafted Piazza as a favor to then-manager Tommy Lasorda, who is a childhood friend of Piazza's father Vince and the godfather of Piazza's youngest bother Tommy.
Piazza is by far the lowest drafted player in the Hall of Fame. The previous record belonged to John Smoltz, a 22nd round pick (574th overall) of the Tigers in 1985.
