Ken Griffey Jr. should go into Cooperstown with his hat backward

We didn't need a Hall of Fame vote to tell us that Ken Griffey Jr. is an icon. He was an icon before the results became official Wednesday, before 437 of the 440 Hall of Fame voters checked his name and put him in the express-lane to Cooperstown. First ballot, a record 99.3 percent, remembered forever.

We memorized that beautiful swing of his and tried to copy it in our backyards. We easily recognized him as the coolest player of a generation — the closest thing baseball had to Michael Jordan. And it wouldn't have happened without his hat.

Jordan had his tongue, Griffey had his hat. He turned it around, wearing it backward during batting practice and perhaps most famously during the Home Run Derby. It shocked people, because some fans swore wearing your cap backward was disrespectful to the game, akin to baseball treason. Some of those naysayers still probably haven't forgiven Griffey, even after all those fantastic seasons and all those homers (630 of them, to be exact).

[Related: Ken Griffey Jr. sets Hall of Fame record with 99 percent of votes]

Griffey was one of the game's greats based on his talent and his production. He could hit for average and power, plus he played Gold-Glove defense in centerfield. But he became an icon because he could do all that with so much style. Ranked No. 1 on his style list? His backward cap.

That's why when Griffey is enshrined in Cooperstown come July with Mike Piazza, that backward hat should be too. It should be right there, on his plaque, as the perfect way to remember the player that ushered in a new generation of the game.

Yes, this is a radical idea. No, it probably won't happen (for a number of reasons and we'll get to those). But there are two indelible images of Ken Griffey Jr. One is that home-run follow-through. Majestic to this day. The other is The Kid with the backward cap.

If you think traditionalists didn't like Griffey wearing his cap backward in BP, you can be sure they'd fume at the idea of it on his Cooperstown plaque. The Hall of Fame isn't the most progressive institution in this land, so it's hard to imagine the decision-makers there even entertaining such a notion.

There's another reason even Griffey might say the backward cap is a bad idea: He stands to be the first player inducted into Cooperstown in a Seattle Mariners cap. Other Mariners have made it — Randy Johnson last year, for instance — but they've worn other caps. All parties involved will be happy to see the Mariners finally get on a Hall of Fame plaque.

[Related: Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza elected to Baseball Hall of Fame]

Still, the memory that many of us will have of Griffey involves that cap turned to the back. Heck, it's why some fans who grew up in the '90s started wearing their caps backward to begin with. It's a part of his legacy that — like his dash home in the 1995 playoffs or slamming into the Kingdome wall to make a catch — we won't forget.

Even if it's not on his Hall of Fame plaque, Griffey should stand up on the stage on induction weekend and turn his cap around for us one more time. If some people don't like it, so what. To Griffey's fans, it would be a reminder that we'd never seen a player like him before.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz