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JOHNFROSCHAUER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Former Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first try Wednesday with a record vote of close to 100percent. ByRonaldBlum TheAssociatedPress NEW YORK Ken Griffey Jr. was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame on Wednesday with the highest voting percentage ever, and Mike Piazza will join him in Cooperstown this sum- mer. A star slugger of the Steroids Era never tainted by accusations of drug use, Griffey was on 437 of 440 votes in his first appearance on the Base- ball Writers' Association of America ballot. His 99.3 percentage topped the previous mark of 98.84, set when Tom Seaver appeared on 425 of 430 bal- lots in 1992. There had been speculation Griffey could become the first unanimous selection. "I can't be upset. It's just an honor to be elected and to have the highest percentage is definitely a shock," Griffey said on a con- ference call. After falling 28 shy last year, Pi- azza received 365 votes in his fourth time on the ballot and will be in- ducted along with Griffey on July 24. "Incredibly special. Wow," Piazza said on a call with MLB Network. "I sat here with my mouth on the floor," he said. A player needs 75 percent to gain election, and Jeff Bagwell missed by 15 votes and Tim Raines by 23. Trevor Hoffman, on the ballot for the first time, was 34 short. The vote total dropped by 109 from last year because writers who have not been active for 10 years lost their votes under new rules. There were significant increases for a pair of stars accused of steroids use. Roger Clemens rose to 45 percent and Barry Bonds to 44 percent, both up from about 37 percent last year. Mark McGwire, who admitted us- ing steroids, received 12 percent in his 10th and final ballot appearance. "They were Hall of Famers before all this stuff started," Griffey said on MLB Network. Half of baseball's top 10 home run hitters are not in the Hall: Bonds (762), Alex Rodriguez (654), Jim Thome (612), Sosa (609) and McG- wire (583). Rodriguez, who served a yearlong drug suspension in 2014, re- BASEBALL HALL OF FAME Griffey,Piazzabothselected Bonds,Clemensseean increase in votes but not enough for induction By Stephen Whyno The Associated Press The Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals each have three players and a coach going to the new All-Star 3-on-3 tour- nament this month in Nashville, Tennessee. Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins was not among the final 40 All-Stars an- nounced Wednesday. Crosby is ranked 36th in the league in points after a slow start. The Penguins' captain has 22 points in his past 20 games. Under the NHL's new All-Star format, only six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders can make it from each of the four divisions and every team had to be represented. The Metropolitan Division- leading Capitals will have cap- tain Alex Ovechkin, center Nick- las Backstrom, goaltender Braden Holtby and coach Barry Trotz in Nashville. Backstrom's bid drew the most praise. "He deserves it," Ovechkin said after practice at Boston Univer- sity. "He's one of the top players in the league. Finally, it's not only one guy who goes from Washing- ton. It's going to be three guys." The 3-on-3 tournament will pit conference's division teams against each other on Jan. 31 at NHL Capitals, Panthers get due for All-Stars Sunday: Green Bay Packers at Washington Redskins, 1:40p.m., TV on FOX. TUNEIN By Genaro C. Armas The Associated Press GREEN BAY, WIS. Two straight losses to finish the regular sea- son sapped the Green Bay Pack- ers of momentum going into the playoffs. They do have at least one dis- tinct advantage in their wild-card matchup this weekend against Washington. Been there, done that. Green Bay is making its fran- chise-record seventh straight postseason appearance. The New England Patriots are the only other NFL team that has been to the playoffs seven straight years. "I think that you can harness the feelings and the things that worked in the wins and also think back on the feeling when you lost and your season's over and you try to use that as motivation," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Wednesday. "It can really give you the inspi- ration to work a little bit harder during the week and try to exe- NFL PLAYOFFS Packers edge Redskins in experience Staff Reports REDDING The Red Bluff Lady Spartans basketball team made a strong comeback in the sec- ond half of Tuesday night's road game against the Shasta Wolves, but fell short at the final buzzer 50-44. Going down 30-18 at the half, the Spartans put up 13 in the third and held the Wolves to just seven to go into the final frame down by just six. "Had we not shot 18 percent in the first half, we might have won," coach Kathy Brandt said. "We were down 37-43 with 2:06 to go and Julia Brandt hit back to back threes to tie it at 43. They went down, scored, got fouled, missed the free throw, and (Shasta's Sophie) Wood got the rebound and put it in. We had to foul and lost by six. It was a great comeback, just a little short." Allyson Drury led the Spar- tans with 11 points, eight re- bounds, an assist and a steal. Other standouts for the Spar- tans were freshman Jesse Miller with 10 points, four rebounds, a steal and two blocks; Julia Brandt with eight points, two rebounds and two assists and Kylee Kitchell with six points, seven rebounds and a steal. The Spartans (5-5) are sched- uled to tip off against the Uni- versity Prep Panthers (9-2) at 5 p.m. today at the West Valley tournament in Cottonwood. The tournament continues through Saturday. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday there was no score posted in Tuesday's home match between the Spar- tans boys' team and the visiting Shasta Wolves. CORNING 64, ORLAND 58 The Lady Cardinals came out ahead Tuesday night in a back-and- forth battle with the rival Or- land Trojans, 64-58. The Cardinals took a one- point lead at the end of the first only to give up the margin and go into the half down by two, 29-27. The second half was a differ- ent story, with the Cardinals pulling ahead by three at the end of the third and padding the lead with another three in the fi- nal frame for the win. Whitney Armstrong was named player of the game for the Cardinals. No stats had been posted for the Cardinals as of 4 p.m. Wednesday. The Lady Cardinals (6-6) are scheduled to play the Yreka Min- ers (6-6) at 5:30 p.m. today and the Durham Trojans (6-3) at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Enter- prise tournament in Redding. Boys LAS PLUMAS 51, CORNING 34 Af- ter jumping out to an early lead Tuesday night, the Cardinals fell flat in the second half to lose 51- 34 to the Las Plumas Thunder- birds. The Cardinals put up 14 in the first period to go up by eight, but gave up all but one of that mar- gin in the second period to go into the half up 24-23. In the second half the Thun- derbirds held the Cardinals to four in the third and six in the fourth, while putting up 11 and 17, respectively, to take the win. Brendan Hoag led the scoring for the Cardinals with 10 points, 12 rebounds and two assists. Other standouts for the Car- dinals were Austin Mishoe with seven points, three rebounds and an assist; Corey Busta with five points, six rebounds and an assist; Jake Traylor with four points, five rebounds, two as- sists and a steal and Calvin Ware with four points. The Cardinals (7-5) are sched- uled to face the Willows Honk- ers (2-9) at 7 p.m. today at the 15th annual Corning Shootout. The Cardinals beat the Honkers 65-29 in a Dec. 1 meeting. BASKETBALL LADY SPARTANS' RALLY JUST SHORT Corning girls beat Orland on the road, play in tourney next LARRY LONG — CONTRIBUTED The Red Bluff Spartans' Jesse Miller (24) drives past a Shasta defender Tuesday in Red Bluff. Piazza BASEBALL PAGE 2 ALL-STARS PAGE 2 PACKERS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, January 7, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1