Mariners bullpen coach Mike Hampton recalls playing with and against Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza

Mariners bullpen coach Mike Hampton is taking a special interest in the Hall of Fame ceremonies that will take place on Sunday.

In addition to being players he faced, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza are also former teammates. Griffey was there when Hampton broke into the big leagues as a 20-year-old starter with the Mariners in 1993. With the Mets in 2000, Hampton had the second-best year of his career while throwing to Piazza.

Audio: Mariners roundtable shares favorite Ken Griffey Jr. memories

Hampton played alongside a number of future Hall of Famers in his 17-year career but said there was one thing in particular that set Griffey apart from the rest.

“Griffey was the one guy that I think just carried Little League from the time he was 12 all the way through the end of his career,” Hampton said. “Always smiling, always happy and he put up the numbers like he was playing Little League as well.”

As a rookie trying to establish himself in the big leagues in 1993, Hampton was also able to take in the show that was Griffey and appreciate what he was seeing from his teammate, who, among other accomplishments that year, homered in an MLB recorded eight straight games.

“Every day, it was, ‘Oh my gosh. That’s a big leaguer. That’s what all the video games are made out of right there,'” Hampton remembered. “How easy he made the game look, it almost seemed unfair sometimes. That smile, how he was always having a good time and cutting up laughing. I think as professional athletes we sometimes forget to have fun, but I think he was able to have fun for a long time.”

It wasn’t just the Griffey show on the field, however. There are many stories about Griffey the great teammate. Hampton, who spent less than a season with the Mariners at the big-league level, had one of his own.

“Besides being an incredible player, an incredible talent, he was also very generous,” Hampton said. “I got sent down and called back a couple of times and he shipped my car down for me and paid for it. Just a really solid person that deserved all he gets.”

As for Piazza, Hampton had an appreciation for what he brought to his teams as well and felt that at times he was sold short when it came to his defense.

“He could catch, he could block with just about anybody I have ever thrown to. But his bat just put him above everyone else,” Hampton said. “There are only a few guys where I have seen the ball come off the bat like it did with him; Dave Winfield was the other. You just sit back and you are kind of in awe. He was just one of those rare talents that you gotta sit back and just enjoy.”

Even when he faced him. Hampton and Piazza were teammates for just one year but faced each other 56 times. Of Piazza’s 427 career home runs, four of them came off Hampton.

“Piazza, if you hang one, you might not find the ball,” Hampton said, noting that he once put on a Mark McGwire-style power display in the Astrodome. “Just the raw power, the pure strength he had. Griffey, it was just so fluid it seemed so easy … With Piazza, he really got on it. Griffey, it seemed like he was just swinging in waist-deep water and he was like, ‘Oh, there’s another one.’ It just seemed so simple.”

Simple yet deadly. While Hampton emerged relatively unscathed from the handful of at-bats Griffey had against him, they were never comfortable encounters.

“Just the threat,” Hampton said. “He was always a threat. You made a mistake and there was a chance it was going to go a long way and you were going to be on the wrong side of the highlight reel. You knew you had to pitch careful. Down and in, you have very limited places you could go. As most great hitters, you hoped they got themselves out quite a few times.”

While he won’t be able to watch the induction ceremonies live, Hampton is thrilled for Griffey and Piazza. As a fan of the game and the history of the game, he’s visited the Hall of Fame a number of times. He has a deep appreciation for the honor those two have achieved and the company they will join.

“Once you step in the Hall of Fame, the history of the game, that’s where you have that awe moment of like, ‘Man, I’ve walked where these guys walked. I’ve stepped in the same places where they have stepped.’ You just kind of take yourself back. Every time I go to Cooperstown, it’s like, ‘Man, this is special. The history, everything really monumental that happened in the history of the game is pretty much here.'”

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