Mike Piazza

Mike Piazza
Birthdate 09/04/1968
Death Date
Debut Year 1992
Year of Induction 2016
Teams Athletics, Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Padres
Positions Catcher, Designated Hitter

Mike Piazza caught the last pitch at NY’s Shea Stadium from pitcher Tom Seaver; the pair teamed up again for CiTi Field’s first pitch.

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Mike Piazza was a 62nd-round pick in the 1988 draft

Mike Piazza was a 62nd-round pick in the 1988 draft

Mike Piazza was not considered a big league prospect when he was drafted out of Miami-Dade College in 1988. Selected by the Dodgers as a favor to his father by Dodger skipper Tom Lasorda, Piazza reported to the Salem Dodgers in low-A ball. He hit .268 in his first pro season and .250 in his second.
Piazza's best seasons came in Los Angeles from 1993-1998

Piazza's best seasons came in Los Angeles from 1993-1998

Mike Piazza had an outstanding rookie season in 1993. The catcher hit 35 homers and drove in 118 runs. He hit .318, earned a Silver Slugger and was named the Rookie of the Year. From 1993-1998 in LA, Piazza hit .335 averaging 33 homers and 106 RBI per season. He was an All Star and Silver Slugger wi
Piazza is one of the greatest hitting catchers in big league history

Piazza is one of the greatest hitting catchers in big league history

Only nine other players have ever had over 400 home runs with over a .300 lifetime average while never strikeout out more than 110 times in a season. Mike Piazza’s name is on that list next to the likes of Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Mell Ott, Hank Aaron,

A Story about Mike Piazza

Judgment of Steroid Era comes every year at Hall of Fame

June 18th, 2014 Leave a comment

(Editors’ note: Mike Piazza was inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 24, 2016.) Can the game’s story be complete without a plaque of the baseball’s all-time home run leader? Doesn’t the man with the most Cy Young Awards deserve induction? How about the catcher with the most career homers? All have been on the ballot, yet none is enshrined. The allegations pointed toward Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are well-documented. The case for Mike Piazza remains less clear. Certainly his numbers are certainly Cooperstown-worthy. Amassed in any other era, his 427 homers and .308 lifetime average would be enough to garner the catcher a bronze plaque. Piazza’s six seasons with at least 100 runs batted in, 12 all-star appearances, and ten Silver Slugger awards certainly seem Cooperstown-worthy. In today’s Hall of Fame voting process, however, numbers aren’t enough. That’s where hypocrisy begins to creep in. During the steroid era, the Baseball Writers concerned themselves only with on-field performance. Seven times they voted prickly Barry Bonds the MVP; seven times they cast enough votes for Roger Clemens to receive the Cy Young Award. No one cared then that the players’ statistics might have been aided by performance enhancing drugs. When those same two players were on the Hall of Fame […]

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