Pedro Grifol will be honored by his alma mater later this fall.
On Tuesday morning, the White Sox manager was revealed to be one of the nine new members set for induction into Florida State University’s Athletics Hall of Fame this coming September. Grifol joins other Seminole greats including Ricardo Chambers, Rodney Hudson, Leslie Malerich, Tiffany McCarty, Eduardo Perez, Kelly Rowland, Sue Semrau, and Dr. Frances Cannon to receive the distinction.
Grifol, 53, had quite the career at Florida State to warrant his Hall of Fame honors. The university’s release says he was a three-year letterman as a starting catcher, earning second-team Freshman All-America honors after hitting .256 with 20 extra-base hits in his freshman campaign. He was then named to the All-Metro Conference Team after hitting .279 with 25 doubles, a triple, and five home runs in the following season.
The recognition only continued during his junior year in 1991, as Grifol was again named to the All-Metro Team and was a first-team All-American by Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association. He started all 71 of his games at catcher that season, hitting .344 with 16 home runs, 18 doubles, and 80 RBI.
Behind the plate, Grifol committed just one error in 653 chances for a .998 fielding percentage. The press release tabs him as one of the best defensive catchers in college history as Grifol threw out more than 40 percent of runners attempting to steal. His “quick release” and “accurate arm” were listed as prime reasons for his sixth-round selection by the Minnesota Twins in the 1991 MLB Draft.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set to take place at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, September 8th. The school says a limited number of tickets for the dinner and induction ceremony are now available for $75.00 at this link.
Congratulations on this great honor, Pedro!
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Featured Photo: © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The above shows that he is a good man, and that the mess known as the Chicago White Sox is not all his fault! In retrospect, while he was the wrong choice for manager, problems went beyond Tony La Russa! I doubt that any manager could succeed with the White Sox! Pedro, congratulations on the above recognition!