User:GhostRiver/piazza

Professional career

Draft and minor leagues (1988–1992)

Piazza's father was a close friend of Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB), and Lasorda asked the team to select Piazza in the 1988 MLB Draft as a favor to the family. He was one of the final selections of that year's draft, taken in the 62nd round, 1,390th ovearll. Piazza told reporters that he would wait to sign with the team until receiving their offer, and that if he was unimpressed, he would attend St. Thomas University to continue his college baseball career. The organization, meanwhile, was reluctant to sign Piazza as a first baseman, but changed their minds when Lasorda suggested that Piazza become a catcher. After signing with the Dodgers for $15,000, Piazza attended the team's Dominican Republic baseball academy in secret so that he could learn to catch. He made his professional baseball debut in 1989 with the Class A Short Season Salem Dodgers of the Northwest League. He received more playing time as the season progressed, finishing with eight home runs, 25 RBI, and a .268 batting average in 57 games.

Following his year in Salem, Piazza started the 1990 baseball season with the Class A-Advanced Vero Beach Dodgers of the Florida State League.

• 1990 Vero Beach Dodgers
• 1991 Bakersfield Dodgers
• 1992 San Antonio Missions
• 1992 Albuquerque Dukes

Los Angeles Dodgers (1992–1998)

Piazza was a September call-up for the Dodgers in 1992, joining Rafael Bournigal and Kip Gross out of Albuquerque on September 1. He made his MLB debut that day, reaching base safely in all four plate appearances and throwing out his only attempted baserunner of the night, Dwight Smith of the Chicago Cubs. The Dodgers defeated the Cubs 5–4 in extra innings. His first major league home run came on September 12, a three-run blast against Steve Reed of the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers took that game 7–0 as Pedro Astacio, Piazza's batterymate, pitched a complete game shutout in his own MLB debut. Piazza appeared in 21 games for the Dodgers after his call-up in 1992, during which he batted .232 with one home run and seven RBI in 69 at bats.

With the offseason departure of Mike Scioscia, Piazza entered spring training in 1993 in competition with Lance Parrish and Carlos Hernández for the starting catcher role. After batting .500 with three home runs, a triple, four doubles, and 10 RBI in 19 spring training games, Piazza was named the Dodgers' starter, with Hernández as his backup.

• 1993
• 1994
• 1995
• 1996
• 1997
• 1998

Piazza told the Dodgers, prior to the 1998 MLB season, that they had until February 15 to sign him to a long-term contract extension or he would enter the free agent market after the season. Contract negotiations were further complicated by the fact that Rupert Murdoch was simultaneously attempting to purchase the Dodgers, with MLB unlikely to finalize the deal before Piazza's ultimatum. By February 15, the Dodgers had not begun communications with Piazza's agent, leaving him in the final year of his contract with the team.

Florida Marlins (1998)

Piazza with the Florida Marlins in 1998

On May 15, 1998, Piazza and Todd Zeile were traded to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson, Jim Eisenreich, and Manuel Barrios, a trade which was, at the time, the largest financial move in MLB history. Florida intended to use Piazza as a cleanup hitter while looking to flip him to another team before the July 31 trading deadline. He appeared in only five games for Florida, during which he went 5-for-18 at the plate with no home runs and five RBI.

New York Mets (1998–2005)

• 1998
• 1999
• 2000
• 2001
• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005

San Diego Padres (2006)

Piazza with the San Diego Padres in 2006

Although Piazza had previously said after the 2005 season that he was interested in pursuing a contract with an American League team in order to become a designated hitter, he later changed his mind and sought out opportunities to catch. After dismissing the New York Yankees, who never made him an offer, and the Philadelphia Phillies, who had an established starting catcher in Mike Lieberthal, Piazza signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the San Diego Padres on January 30, 2006. The Padres' former catcher, Ramón Hernández, had departed the team in free agency, leaving them without a starter for Doug Mirabelli.

• 2006

Oakland Athletics (2007)

On December 8, 2006, Piazza signed a one-year, $8.5 million contract with the Oakland Athletics, with whom he would serve primarily as a designated hitter and would occasionally catch when neither starter Jason Kendall nor backup Adam Melhuse were available. After recording one home run and eight RBI in the first month of the 2007 season, Piazza suffered a right shoulder strain on May 3 when he collided with Boston Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell in an attempt to outrun a tag out. With Piazza expected to miss upwards of a month, the Athletics acquired outfielder Jack Cust from the San Diego Padres to replace him as a designated hitter. Cust impressed Oakland with eight home runs in his first 13 games with the team, and team officials informed Piazza that when he returned from the disabled list, Cust would continue to serve as the designated hitter and Piazza would catch again.

As Piazza's rehab assignments dragged on, the A's decided against making him a backup catcher, preferring instead to keep him as a designated hitter and thus speeding up his rehabilitation and return to the majors. With Cust still a successful designated hitter in Oakland, this also made Piazza a midseason trade target. Piazza returned to the lineup on July 20, and manager Bob Geren told reporters that he planned to think of ways to utilize both Piazza and Cust effectively. Three days after being activated from the disabled list, Piazza hit his second home run of the season, a three-run blast off of Bartolo Colón in a 12-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

He finished the season with a .275/.313/.414 slash line, eight home runs, 17 doubles, and 44 RBI in 83 games for Oakland. The Athletics, meanwhile, finished with a 76-86 record, taking third place in the AL West.

• 2007

Player profile

Defense

During his MLB career, Piazza's defensive abilities were often criticized by sports journalists and contrasted with his offensive metrics. In 1998, The New York Times referred to him as "a hard-hitting, poor-catching star", while in 2000, Sports Illustrated referred to him as "not a smooth receiver". Most of the criticism against his catching was levied at his inability to prevent stolen bases: for 10 seasons, he led MLB with stolen bases allowed, with more than 100 baserunners advancing on him in eight separate seasons and a career 23 percent caught stealing rate. He also led the NL in catching errors every year between 1993 and 2003 and led twice in passed balls. He told Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated that many of his defensive troubles came from his comparatively small hands, which prevented him from getting a solid enough grip on the ball to make Piazza feel comfortable with a pickoff.

Sportswriters and sabermetrics analysts have reappraised Piazza's defensive abilities since his retirement.

Personal life

In 2001, a number of publications, including Out and the New York Post, invited rumors that Piazza was a gay man, leading to a press conference in May 2002 where the catcher affirmed his heterosexuality. Both the tabloid accusations and Piazza's response led to backlash from baseball fans with regards to the focus on Piazza's sexuality, which reporters like Harvey Araton of the New York Times believed should be a non-issue.

Appearances outside of baseball

Other appearances

In 2003, the indie rock band Belle and Sebastian released the album Dear Catastrophe Waitress, which featured a song inspired by Piazza titled "Piazza, New York Catcher". Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch was inspired to write a song based on Piazza after seeing him play for the Mets at Shea Stadium.

Career highlights

Honors

Mike Piazza's number 31 was retired by the New York Mets in 2016.

Piazza's name first appeared on the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2013, a year in which balloting was hindered by the presence of players such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who had been embroiled in controversy for their use of performance-enhancing drugs. Although Piazza had never been accused of using anabolic steroids or human growth hormone, he received only 57.8 percent of the 2013 Hall of Fame vote, below the 75 percent threshold required for induction. He fell short of the 75 percent threshold again in 2014 and 2015, with 62.2 and 69.9 percent of the vote in those ballots, respectively. In 2016, Piazza's fourth year on the ballot, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame with 83 percent of the vote, becoming the lowest-drafted player ever honored in the Hall. When asked what team his Hall of Fame likeness would bear, Piazza chose the new York Mets, just as he had promised in 2010.

On September 29, 2013, the last Mets game of the season at Citi Field, Piazza became the 27th player inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame. Three years later, shortly after his formal induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Mets also retired Piazza's No. 31 jersey. He was only the second Mets player to have his jersey number retired by the team, following Tom Seaver's No. 41 in 1988. Two other numbers, Casey Stengel's No. 37 and Gil Hodges's No. 14, were retired for their managerial service, not for their time as players.

Awards

Award / Honor	Time(s)	Date(s)
NL All-Star	12	1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005
NL Silver Slugger Award	10	1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Home Run Derby participant	2	1993, 1994
NL Rookie of the Year	1	1993
Baseball America Rookie of the Year Award	1	1993
All-Star Game MVP	1	1996