Braves 1st baseman Fred McGriff inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - The Braves have a new player in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Former first baseman Fred McGriff hit a home run in his first game with the team all the way back in 1993, and those big hits kept coming.
Saturday, McGriff was one of the four men who will have their historic baseball careers at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
"This is baseball's biggest honor," McGriff said during Saturday's ceremony. "This is like icing on the cake. You see, my goal was simply to make it to the big leagues."
Fred McGriff poses for a photograph with his plaque during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center on July 23, 2023 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
The lanky McGriff, known by his nickname Crime Dog, hit .284 with 493 homers and 1,550 RBIs over 19 seasons with six major league teams. The five-time All-Star helped Atlanta win the 1995 World Series.
His 493 home runs were tied for tenth in major league history among left-handed hitters when he retired, but McGriff wondered what his numbers would have looked like had he played his entire career with the New York Yankees, the team that drafted him.
"That little, short porch in right field? That would’ve been a beautiful thing for me," McGriff said. "And the stadium they have now? That is a real bandbox they have now. That place is unbelievable."
But he has no regrets, especially concerning his time with Atlanta.
"My time with the Braves was awesome. At the time we didn’t have the Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins," McGriff said. "Atlanta was closest to my home (in Florida). For my parents to have a better opportunity to see me play was great for me.
"And of course, winning."
Fred McGriff #29 of the Atlanta Braves bats against the Montreal Expos during an Major League Baseball game circa 1994 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. McGriff played for the Braves from 1993-97. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Im
The careers of McGriff and fellow inductee Scott Rolen overlapped, and they spoke glowingly of each other.
"I was always enamored of him; just how strong he was. How he flew the bat head," Rolen said. "I always looked up to Fred and his career for sure."
"He played the game the right way," McGriff countered. "If you hit the ball to third base you were going to be out. He was going to make all the plays and he came up with big hits. He was a professional all the way and played the game the way it should be played."
Two others honored Saturday were Pat Hughes, winner of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting and John Lowe, who received the BBWAA Career Excellence Award.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.