Mike Piazza elected into Baseball Hall of Fame

The wait is over for Mike Piazza. On Wednesday night, the Baseball Writers Association of America elected the Mets great into the Hall of Fame. In his fourth year on the ballot, the catcher received 83%of the votes, surpassing the 75% threshold required for induction.

Considered the greatest offensive catcher of all time, Piazza retired a career .308/.377/.545 hitter with 427 home runs and 62.5 fWAR. Nobody else offered as many home runs or a higher OPS (.922) from the demanding position, and his 140 wRC+ ranks second behind Buster Posey.

Those numbers should have made Piazza's candidacy an open-and-shut case, but an overstated knock on his defense hurt his cause. While a poor thrower behind the plate, he wasn't a bad defender. FiveThirtyEight's Ben Lindbergh recently highlighted the misconception, noting Piazza's above-average abilities blocking and framing pitches.

Along with Piazza, Ken Griffey Jr.—who appeared on 99.32% of ballots—will get enshrined into Cooperstown on Sunday, July 24.