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If any of you are Mets fans, then you probably know that Mike Piazza is coming back home for a 3 game series against his former team. I grew up with Mike being the one of the faces of the franchise. He will be greeted with a standing ovation longer than any in memory for a returning player. New York loved him. i feel compelled to give you all a history lesson.
Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA) is a U.S. Major League Baseball player who currently plays for the San Diego Padres. He is generally recognized as the top-hitting catcher of all time. He is a 12-time All-Star. On May 5, 2004, Piazza surpassed Carlton Fisk for most home runs by a catcher with his 352nd as a catcher.
Mike grew up for the first few years of his life in a small house in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The house was hardly big enough to hold Mike's family which consisted of his parents, Vince and Veronica, and his brothers Vince Jr., Danny, Tony and Tommy. The backyard was where Mike made his earliest baseball memories. His father had made a batting cage made of wood with a net inside. On one side of the cage was a pitching machine. Mike would load this with some tattered baseballs and then hit them. It was Mike's second home; he spent every bit of his spare time here. Even during the cold Pennsylvania winters, Mike was a constant presence in the cage, having shoveled snow out of it and then heated the baseballs on the stove in his house. To protect from the vibration of the bat on the hard baseballs in the cold, he would also wear gloves while hitting.
Vince Piazza was childhood friends with Dodgers manager, Tommy Lasorda. When the Dodgers came to Philly, Mike had the opportunity to spend time in the Dodger clubhouse and dugout. When he turned nine, he joined his first little league team, the A's. Mike's coach, Abdul Ford-Bey taught him and his teammates the fundamentals of the game. The next year, Mike was on a team called the Cardinals where Mike played catcher. Mike did not like catching, ironically. He wanted to be a pitcher. However, a few years later, when he was thirteen, Mike led his team to the semi-finals of their play-off and hit a game winning home run. At age 13, Mike was also allowed to serve as a batboy for the Dodgers which allowed him to spend even more time with major-leaguers and become friends with some of them.
Vince Piazza sold and bought land and cars until Mike was 13. However, at that time, he struck it rich after buying a computer company and was able to build a house several miles away which Vince's father had Mike help to build in order that he understand the value of hard work. The house was abutted on one side by a golf course and Mike's father had a batting cage built in the basement. With this brand new pitching machine, Mike could practice hitting not only fastballs, but curveballs and even knuckleballs. As a kid, Mike even hit in front of the legendary Ted Williams, who complimented his swing. Mike became interested in heavy metal music, and played electric guitar and drums. The high school team had a baseball team called the Phantoms. Their coach, John "Doc" Kennedy knew he would try out for the team, remembering him from little league. He asked Mike if he would consider playing catcher, as the team needed one. Piazza told the coach that he would prefer playing first base for then, but the team had a first-baseman and so he ended up spending his tenth grade year playing for the junior varsity team. When Mike was a junior he made the varsity team, he finished that year with 12 home runs, breaking a record, and led the team in every hitting category. He was voted most valuable player. As a senior, Mike batted almost .600 for the Phantoms, but the team's season ended with a loss in the district semifinals.
Piazza was the last player the Dodgers drafted of the 1988 draft. He was their selection in the 62nd round, and the 1390th pick overall. It is believed that the pick was partly a favor on the part of Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who is godfather to one of Piazza's brothers and, like Piazza, grew up in Norristown. Piazza swore he'd learn to catch if he was drafted. Piazza's major league debut came with the Dodgers in 1992, when he appeared in 21 games. He then won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1993.
Piazza's best season was 1997, a year when he finished second in MVP voting. He hit .362, with 40 home runs and 124 runs batted in, an on base percentage of .431 and a slugging percentage of .638.
He played for the Dodgers until he was traded to the Florida Marlins on May 14, 1998. Piazza and Todd Zeile went to the Marlins in return for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla, Manuel Barrios, and Jim Eisenreich. The trade, precipitated by a contract dispute, is regarded by many as one of the worst moves in Dodgers history. One week later, on May 22, Piazza was traded from the Marlins to the New York Mets for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz.
Piazza helped the Mets to two consecutive playoff appearances for the only time in Mets history in 1999 and 2000; the second resulting in a National League Pennant and World Series appearance resulting in an unfortunate 5 game loss to a Yankee team winning their fourth World Series in five years. Of note, all 5 games were decided by 2 runs or less, something that had not occurred in a World Series in almost 70 years.
One of the most emotional moments of Piazza's career came when he belted a dramatic two-run home run in the eighth inning against Steve Karsay on September 21, 2001 in New York City to lift the Mets to a 3-2 triumph over the Braves in the first regular season professional sporting event in New York City since the September 11 tragedy.
To ease the stress on his deteriorating knees, Piazza began to split his time between catching and playing first base during the 2004 season, an experiment which was abandoned before the end of the season because of Piazza's defensive deficiencies. Although recognized as a great hitter, Piazza does not get enough credit for his handling of pitchers, having caught two no hitters thrown by Ramón Martínez and Hideo Nomo. Nomo's was particularly impressive because it happened at Coors Field. In his 14-year career (through 2005), Piazza's career batting average is .311 with 397 home runs, 1,223 RBI, and 308 doubles in 1,702 games.
On October 2, 2005, Piazza filed for free agency, effectively ending his career with the Mets. He signed with the San Diego Padres on (January 29), 2006 and is their starting catcher and clean-up hitter. Through July 27,2006, Piazza was experiencing somewhat of a rejuvination, batting .304 with 16 homers. Piazza is proving critics wrong yet again, this time over a decade later. On July 21, 2006, Mike Piazza collected his 2,000th career hit in the major leagues. He represented Italy in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
He will be remembered always as a Met. I hope the HoF allows him to go in with his Orange and Blue on under an NY logo.
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