Mike Piazza

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Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968) is a retired professional baseball catcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1992 to 2007.

He appeared for the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as brief stints with the Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, and Oakland Athletics, among other notables.

Piazza, a 12-time All-Star and 10-time Silver Slugger Award winner at catcher, had strong offensive numbers at his position throughout his career; he hit 427 home runs, including two in catcher, out of a record 396 of which were batting average and 1,335 runs batted in (RBIs).

Piazza has been named as the head of Italy's National Baseball Team since the 1988 MLB draft as a thank-you from Tommy Lasorda to Piazza's father.

Piazza converted from catcher in the minor leagues at Lasorda's request to boost his odds of being promoted.

He made his major league debut in 1992 and was named National League (NL) Rookie of the Year in the following year, and was an All-Star for the first time in ten seasons.

Piazza was immediately impressed by his power and average.

In 1997, he batted.362, hit 40 home runs, and had 124 RBIs, resulting in a runner-up finish in voting for the NL Most Valuable Player Award.

He was traded to the Marlins in 1998 and then to the Mets a week later, where he spent the bulk of his career.

He was a member of the Mets in the 2000 World Series for the first time in his career.

Piazza played for the Padres and Athletics for one season each in 2005 until retiring in 2007. Piazza is regarded as one of baseball's best offensive catchers.

In 2000, he had at least one RBI in 15 straight games for the Mets, his second-longest RBI streak ever.

Piazza was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2013.

Piazza was elected as a Met by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016, receiving 83% of the vote.

Reggiana 1919, who competed in Serie C for two seasons (2017–2018) during his reign, before he ceased operations due to continuing financial difficulties.

Personal life

Brande Roderick, Lisa Dergan, Anjelica Bridges, Al Leiter, John Franco, Iván Rodrón, and his closest friend Eric Karros married Alicia Rickter at St. Jude's Catholic Church in Miami, Florida, on January 29, 2005.

Nicoletta, Piazza's wife, gave birth to the couple's first child on February 3, 2007. They were born on August 3, 2009, their second child, Paulina, was born. Marco, the couple's third child and first son, was born in July 2013.

Piazza is known to be a fan of heavy metal music and is included in the Black Label Society's album Stronger than Death. Hendrix, Zakk Wylde's son, is also a godfather. On WAXQ ("Q-104.3 FM") in New York City, Eddie Trunk's Friday Night Rocks show is often cohosts Eddie Trunk's Saturday Night Rocks show, and he was often featured as the primary guest on an episode of That Metal Show. He has performed with a number of bands as a natural drummer and has appeared on stage.

Piazza is a devout Roman Catholic. His faith was instilled in him by his Catholic mother and was featured in Champions of Faith, a DVD film about the intersection of Catholic religious faith and sports. He appeared in the follow-up video Champions of Faith: Bases of Life.

Piazza is also a member of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago.

Piazza was a resident of Cresskill, New Jersey, while playing with the Mets. He also owned a penthouse apartment on 18th Street in New York City.

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Major league career

In the 62nd round of the 1988 MLB amateur draft, the Miami-Dade Community College student was drafted overall by his father after his father begged Lasorda to pick Piazza as a favor. Lasorda asked Piazza to give up his first base position and learn how to catch to increase his odds of advancing to the big leagues, as well as enrolling him in a special training camp for catchers in the Dominican Republic. Piazza was an excellent hitter, particularly as a catcher. He made his MLB debut against the Chicago Cubs on September 1, 1992. In his first official at-bat against the Cubs' Mike Harkey, he drew a walk in his first plate appearance and then doubled to deep center field. He had his first home run against the San Francisco Giants' Steve Reed on September 12, 1992. He only appeared in 21 games this season, averaging.232.

After appearing in 149 games, winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1993, hitting.318, slugging 35 home runs, and driving in 112 RBI, Piazza claimed the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1993. He was also selected to the 1993 Major League All-Star Game, his first appearance in ten straight (and 12 total) All-Star appearances. Piazza's 18 home runs before the All-Star break were a Dodgers' rookie record until Joc Pederson passed him in 2015.

Piazza finished second in NL MVP voting in 1996, behind Ken Caminiti.

Piazza's best season with the Dodgers was 1997, when he hit.362, had 40 home runs, 124 RBI, and an on-base percentage of.431, with a slugging percentage of.638. For the second year in a row, he came in second second place in NL MVP voting, behind Larry Walker.

Piazza spent seven seasons with the Dodgers before being traded to the Florida Marlins on May 15, 1998, after an offseason in which Piazza wanted a new deal before being eligible for arbitration; the Dodgers offered six years for $76 million. When fans and the media mocked him, Piazza blasted the Dodgers, chastising Vin Scully in particular. In return for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla, Manuel Barrios, and Jim Eisenreich, Piazza and Todd Zeile returned to the Marlins. He only played in five games with the Marlins, where he reached.278.

Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz were traded from the Marlins to the New York Mets on May 22, just a week later. Despite a superb showing from Piazza, the Mets skipped 1998 by a single game. In 1999 and 2000, Piazza helped the Mets win their second straight playoff appearance. Piazza hit career highs of 40 home runs and 124 RBIs in the former season. He also set the record for most home runs in a season without ever hitting more than one in a game, a record set by Rogers Hornsby in 1929.

Piazza led the Mets to a NL pennant and a World Series appearance in the 2000 Subway Series over the next year. Notably, all five games were decided by two runs or fewer, something that hadn't been seen in a World Series in nearly 70 years. Since coach John Stearns was caught on tape during the 2000 National League Championship Series, he became known as the Monster.

Piazza was involved in a bizarre occurrence during the 2000 World Series. During interleague play, Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens struck Piazza in the head with a fastball. Piazza sustained a concussion and was forced to miss the 2000 MLB All-Star Game. Mets fans chastised the Clemens, but Clemens denied that the pitch was deliberate. In the first inning of World Series Game 2, the Clemens and Piazza will meet again. Clemens threw a pitch that broke Piazza's bat as he fouled it off, throwing the barrel and a sharp edge of the broken bat at Clemens on the mound right as he finished his delivery. The barrel came right back to him at the start, but when realizing it wasn't the baseball, he toss it over the first base line and into the Yankees' dugout, right past Piazza, who was running down to first. Piazza spent a long stare at Clemens and then started walking toward Clemens to confront him, and Clemens demanded a new ball as if nothing had occurred. During replays, Clemens can be seen screaming, "I thought it was the ball." As the two benches cleared and met at the same time, the umpire asked for a new ball multiple times. Words were exchanged between the two players, but no punches were fired from either team or no one was ejected, and no one was suspended. Piazza was on the NL team later caught Clemens when they were on the NL team in the 2004 All-Star Game. In the first inning, the Clemens gave up six runs.

Piazza's game-winning 8th-inning home run in the first professional baseball game played in New York following the 9/11 attacks has been dubbed both legendary, therapeutic, and symbolic. The jersey he wore in the September 21, 2001 game was sold in April 2016 for $365,000, the highest price paid for a modern-day jersey, and is on display in the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Citi Field, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame on a rotating basis.

Piazza began splitting his time between catching and playing first base during the 2004 season, an experiment that was scrapped before the season because of Piazza's defensive inability. Piazza has had some notable defensive accomplishments despite being praised as a great hitter. Piazza was one of them when playing for the Dodgers, throwing two no-hitters from Ramón Martez and Hideo Nomo. Nomo's game was particularly thrilling because it was played at Coors Field, which is well-known for being a hitter-friendly ballpark. In addition, Piazza's 99.7 fielding rate was the highest among NL catchers in 2000.

Piazza's 352nd home runs on May 5, 2004, defeating Carlton Fisk for the most home runs by a catcher.

Piazza's last game in a Mets uniform was on October 2, 2005. Willie Randolph, the Mets boss, expected that Piazza would leave for free agency right away shortly, advised him not to do so in the eighth inning. Piazza bowed to the stands and waved greetings to the adoring followers as the Shea Stadium crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Piazza signed the San Diego Padres' one-year deal at the start of 2005.

Piazza, the Padres' starting catcher and clean-up hitter, saw some of the Padres' revitalization in 2006, batting.283 with 22 home runs and helping the Padres win a division championship. Mike Piazza reached his 2,000th appearance in the major leagues on July 21, 2006.

Piazza's first game at Shea Stadium after leaving the Mets on August 8, 2006. Piazza drew frequent standing ovations from New York viewers during the three-game series. On his return to pitch at Shea Stadium in 1977 and 1978, it was on par with that of Tom Seaver on his return to pitch at Shea Stadium. And more telling occurred during the series, Pedro Martez, a former Dodgers and Mets teammate, drew a rare curtain call in the opposing park on August 9, the Mets pitcher's home run off the Mets pitcher (and former Dodgers and Mets teammate) Pedro Martez in the 4th inning. Piazza went deep off Martinez again in the 6th and was not done for the day. Piazza hit one to the wall in center, nearly breaking his third homer of the day and bringing the Padres ahead, with the Mets up 4–2 in the 8th and two runners aboard.

Piazza was signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics on December 8, 2006.

A fan of the Angels and Athletics at Angel Stadium threw a water bottle into Piazza, who had homered earlier in the game. Piazza yelled the water bottle in the stands to anger the fan, who then yelled at the security arm to get the attention of security. Roland Flores, a fan of La Puente, California, was arrested by ballpark security. Piazza has lodged charges against Flores. On March 27, 2008, Flores was sentenced to 30 days in prison and three years of probation. Piazza, a rookie pitcher, made his 427th appearance in the Boston Red Sox's final major league home run of his career on September 26 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Piazza said on May 20, 2008, after not being attached to any MLB team for the 2008 season, "I felt it is time to start a new chapter in my life." It has been an amazing ride."

Piazza made his return to Shea Stadium on September 28, 2008, where he received the final pitch in the stadium's history from Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. After waving goodbye to the capacity crowd, Piazza and Seaver officially "closed" Shea as they stepped off together into the center field exit and closed the door on the park. Piazza made his first appearance in Seaver's latest Citi Field before the Mets' opening game against the Padres on April 13, 2009.

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