When Ken Griffey Jr. is inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame on Sunday, he probably won’t mention the first home run he hit as a professional. It came June 18, 1987, against Gil Heredia, a Nogales, Arizona, pitcher who probably had the most remarkable two-year run in Tucson pitching history. Griffey homered off Heredia in the second game of the 1987 Northwest League season; Heredia pitched for the Everett Giants and Griffey, then 17, played for the rival Bellingham Mariners. When they were in the major leagues, Heredia and Griffey faced one another 12 times; Griffey got a single and a double and struck out three times. No homers. Heredia, now the pitching coach for the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A franchise in Reno, went 18-3 at Pima College, pitching the Aztecs to the NJCAA championship game, and 16-3 for Arizona, pitching the Wildcats to the 1986 College World Series title. …
New Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., ex-Cat Gil Heredia share strange connection
Gil Heredia warms up during a work out with the Oakland Athletics in 2000.
