by Maria Guardado

In an election that some would view as overdue, former Mets catcher Mike Piazza was voted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Wednesday. Piazza, who was in his fourth year on the ballot, earned 83 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America electorate, surpassing the 75 percent barrier required for induction. Piazza will be joined in Cooperstown later this summer by Ken Griffey Jr., who beat Tom Seaver's all-time voting percentage record of 98.84 by collecting 99.3 of the vote.

"Words can't describe this honor," Piazza said in an interview with MLB Network. "Truly, truly humbled, truly blessed. I truly want to thank the writers for recognizing my career. What a tribute to what this country is all about, as far as the opportunity. You can work hard and really focus and try to do the right thing. You can do amazing things. This is just icing on the cake."

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Source: http://www.nj.com/