Ken Griffey Jr., Ron Oester and Dave Parker Join Jake Beckley In Hall of Fame

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The Reds inducted its 2014 class into the team Hall of Fame before the game with the Miami Marlins.  Ken Griffey Jr.. Ron Oester, Dave Parker and Jake Beckley are the new members.

Jake Beckley from Hannibal, Missouri is the only member of the group that did not grow up in the Cincinnati area.  He played firstbase for the Reds from 1897-1903 and hit .325 as a Red.  He is a member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

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Griffey attended Moeller High School although he was born in his father's hometown of Donora, Pennsylvania on November 21, 1969, the same day in the same hometown as Hall of Famer Stan Musial.  Griffey came to Cincinnati as a child while his father played for the Reds during the Big Red Machine era.  Griffey Sr. is also a member of the Reds' Hall of Fame.  Griffey returned to the Reds in 2000, hitting his 400th, 500th and 600th career home runs with his hometown team.

Ron Oester was born on May 5, 1956 in Cincinnati and attended Withrow High School.  He was drafted by the Reds in the ninth round of the 1974 draft.  Oester broke into the majors in the 1978 season and played his entire career with the Reds.  In his last season, 1990, the Reds went wire-to-wire, were in first place from the first day of the season.  Oester played in 64 games and hit .289.  Oester became a coach and was on the staff when Griffey Jr. returned to Cincinnati as a player.

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Dave Parker was born on June 9, 1951 in Grenada, Mississippi.  He moved with his family to Cincinnait, growing up a block away from historic Crosley Field.  Parker was drafted in the 14th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Parker broke in with the Pirates in 1973 and was a member of their "We Are Family" team that won the 1979 World Series.  Parker came to the Reds in 1983 as a free agent.  He was second in the Most Valuable Player Award balloting in 1985 when he hit .312 with 34 home runs and 125 RBI.  He led the league with 42 doubles.

"I;m excited," Griffey said.  "It is exciting to be in the Hall of Fame with my dad and Lee May and the rest.  I was with my son Trey (a wide receiver at the University of Arizona) when they called me. I didn't even know I was nominated.  It is a great honor."

"I can't decide how I feel," Oester said.  "I need to be pinched. I never dreamed I would be a member of this Hall of Fame. It is an honor to be sitting in between these two (Griffey and Parker)."

"It is the greatest honor I've ever had so far," Parker said.  "To be in the Hall of Fame of the team I grew up with.  I lived a block over from Crosley Field.  We used to play ball against the wall of Crosley Field."