Hall of Fame Profile: Mike Piazza
Teams Played With:
Los Angeles Dodgers (1992-1998)
Florida Marlins (1998)
New York Mets (1998-2005)
San Diego Padres (2006)
Oakland Athletics (2007)
MLB Awards: NL
Rookie of the Year (1993)
All-Star Game MVP (1996)
Silver Slugger (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002)
All-Star Game
Selection: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005
Stats: Games Played 1912 Batting
Average .308
Base Hits 2127 Runs
Scored 1048
Home Runs 427 RBIs 1335
Doubles
344 Triples 8
Stolen Bases 17 Walks 759
When most teams look for a
starting catcher, they look for a player who can handle a pitching staff, has a
strong arm to throw out base runners and whatever offensive production he
produces is a bonus. Mike Piazza was the exact opposite of those requirements.
He was an average fielding catcher, with a decent arm, but was perhaps one of
the most productive hitting catchers in MLB history.
He was drafted by the Dodgers in
the—get this—62nd round of the 1988 Amateur Draft. After a few years
in the minors, he made his debut in the Bigs in 1992 appearing in 21 games with
LA. He became the Dodgers’ full-time catcher in 1993 and displayed the
offensive skills that would make him a perennial All-Star for the next dozen
years.
In 149 games, he had an average
of .318, smashed 35 home runs and added 112 RBIs, easily winning the National
League’s Rookie of the Year Award. He also won the first of ten consecutive
Silver Slugger Awards and appeared in his first of ten straight All-Star Games.
He set a Dodgers’ team record of 18 home runs by a rookie before the All-Star
Break (the record was broken in 2015 by Joc Pederson).
Piazza would consistently hit 30
or more home runs every year he was with the Dodgers except for the strike-shortened
year of 1994 when he hit 24. His best offensive years with LA were 1996 and
1997 when he finished second in NL MVP voting both seasons. In 1996, he batted
.336 with 36 home runs and 105 RBIs. The following year, he out-did himself
with a .362 batting average, 40 homers and 124 RBIs. Surprisingly, the .362
average was not good enough to lead the league as San Diego’s Tony Gwynn hit
.372.
However, despite all his
success, the Dodgers traded him to the Florida Marlins mid-way through the 1998
season. But he didn’t stay in Miami very long—one week to be exact—before the
Marlins traded him to the New York Mets.
Piazza’s career would continue
to thrive in the Big Apple and he would get more opportunities to play in the
post-season than he had with the Dodgers. In his first full season with the
Mets—1999—he would hit 40 home runs for the second time in his career, while
batting .303 and adding 124 RBIs in leading the Mets to the National League’s
Wild Card spot after defeating the Cincinnati Reds in the one-game playoff
after the two teams finished with the same record.
After upsetting the
bought-and-paid-for Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS, the Mets lost the NLCS to
the Atlanta Braves in six games. Piazza struggled against the Braves’ pitchers,
batting only .167 in the series, but the Mets had much to look forward to in
2000.
Piazza’s numbers in the first
year of the new millennium were impressive (.324, 38, 113) but the Mets failed
to win the NL East, finishing one game behind Atlanta, but qualifying for the
Wild Card spot for the second year in a row.
The Mets swept the Giants in the
NLDS (Piazza only hit .214) and then knocked off the St. Louis Cardinals in
five games to win the National League Pennant for the first time since 1986.
Against the Cards, Piazza batted .412 with two home runs, four RBIs and seven
runs scored.
The Mets would lose the World
Series to the Yankees but the most memorable moment of the Series involved
Piazza and Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens in the second game. Earlier in the
season, Piazza had been hit in the head by a Clemens’ pitch and suffered a
concussion. While Clemens maintained it wasn’t intentional, baseball fans and
media were expecting fireworks when the two met in Game 2 of the World Series.
Most times, anticipated
confrontations never happen as expected, but it did happen in Yankee Stadium in
the first inning of the game. Piazza’s bat was broken by Clemens’s pitch and
the barrel bounced in between the mound and first base. Piazza, as is instinct,
started towards first base at contact but stopped when he realized the ball was
foul.
Clemens, however, picked up the
broken bat and fired it into the ground close to where Piazza would have been
running had he not stopped. The two exchanged glares and then started yapping
at each other. The benches emptied but no fisticuffs happened.
Piazza would play for the Mets
for five more seasons but his skills started to erode, most likely due to the
stress on his body after catching for so many years. While it was attempted to
help ease the wear and tear by getting him into the game at first base, his
defensive deficiencies were obvious and the experiment was abandoned.
He would play one season for the
Padres in 2006 and one for the Athletics in 2007 before retiring at the age of
39, having played 16 seasons in the Major Leagues. Despite the criticisms of
his defense, Piazza caught two no-hitters with the Dodgers (Ramon Martinez and
Hideo Nomo) and he led all NL catchers with a .997 fielding percentage in 2000.
While he was considered a
first-ballot Hall of Famer, Piazza failed to get enough percentage of the votes
in his first three years of eligibility (2013-15). It could possibly be because
of the steroid and PED allegations that he has been linked to since his retirement,
although no proof of Piazza’s use of illegal drugs has ever surfaced.
This year, he finally got the
necessary votes to be inducted and it is well deserved for the greatest
power-hitting catcher in baseball history.
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