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Mike Piazza

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Mike Piazza
Oakland Athletics – No. 31
Designated Hitter
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
debut
September 1, 1992, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics
(through 2006)
AVG.309
HR419
RBI1291
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Former teams

Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA) is a U.S. Major League Baseball player for the Oakland Athletics. He began his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played for the Florida Marlins, New York Mets, and San Diego Padres. He is a 12-time All-Star. Piazza is often regarded as the best-hitting catcher of all time, and holds the career record for home runs hit by a catcher.

Childhood

Mike grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania with his parents, Vince and Veronica, and his brothers Vince Jr., Danny, Tony and Tommy. When Piazza was 12, he received personal instruction from the late Hall of Famer Ted Williams in his backyard batting cage.

Vince Piazza was childhood friends with former Dodgers manager, Tommy Lasorda. When the Dodgers came to Philadelphia, Mike had the opportunity to spend time in the Dodger clubhouse and dugout.

Major League career

File:Mike Piazza 003.jpg
Mike Piazza featured on the cover of Athlon Baseball after winning the 1993 NL Rookie of the Year award.

Piazza was the last player the Dodgers drafted of the 1988 draft. He was their selection in the 62nd round, and baseball magazines such as the 1994 edition of Athlon Baseball mentioned how rare such a feat is of a low draft pick becoming such a prominent player. 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 28 games. He then won the National League MLB 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 six full seasons for the Dodgers until he was traded to the Florida Marlins on May 15, 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 latter of the two resulted in a National League Pennant and World Series appearance, where the Mets lost in five games to a Yankee team winning their fourth World Series in five years. Of note, all five games were decided by two runs or less, something that had not occurred in a World Series in almost 70 years. He became known as The Monster after coach John Stearns was caught on tape during the 2000 NLCS after a Piazza hit saying "The Monster is out of the Cage!"

Piazza was involved in a bizarre incident in Game 2 of the 2000 World Series. In the first inning, Piazza was facing Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens and broke his bat fouling off a pitch. The barrel of his bat flew towards Clemens's feet at the pitcher's mound. Clemens picked up the broken barrel and heaved it in the direction of Piazza running up the first base line sparking both benches to clear, but no ejections. The reason this incident sparked this reaction was because earlier in the season, during Interleague play when the Mets played the Yankees, Mike Piazza was drilled in the head by a Roger Clemens pitch. Mike Piazza suffered a concussion and was forced to miss the 2000 MLB All-Star Game as a result of this and it created tension between the two since it was speculated by some that Clemens had hit Piazza on purpose. Words were exchanged after the bat incident but no further altercations resulted from this.

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. The game was the first regular season professional sporting event held in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

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 2006), Piazza's career batting average is .309 with 419 home runs, 1,288 RBI, and 308 doubles in 1,702 games.

On May 5, 2004, Piazza surpassed Carlton Fisk for most home runs by a catcher with his 352nd as a catcher.

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 was their starting catcher and clean-up hitter. Piazza experienced somewhat of a rejuvenation in 2006, batting .283 with 22 homers and leading the Padres to a division title. On July 21, 2006, Mike Piazza collected his 2,000th career hit in the major leagues.

On August 8, 2006, Piazza played his first game at Shea Stadium since leaving the Mets. During the three-game series, Piazza drew frequent, repeated standing ovations indicative of the high level of regard New York's fans still hold for him. It was on par with that of Tom Seaver in 1978 and Eddie Giacomin of the New York Rangers in 1975. Even more telling was an event on August 9 during that series in which he drew a rare curtain call in an opposing park following a home run off Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez.

He represented Italy in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

Only 5 other players have ever had over 400 home runs with over a .300 life time average while never striking out more than 100 times in a season.

Salary

During the 2005 season, Piazza was the ninth highest paid MLB player at $16,071,429. On January 29, 2006, Mike Piazza accepted a one-year deal with the San Diego Padres worth up to $2 million. On December 6, 2006, Piazza signed a 1-year, $8.5 million deal with the Oakland Athletics. He is expected to replace Frank Thomas as the A's designated hitter.

Career Salaries:

  • 1993 - $126,000
  • 1994 - $900,000
  • 1995 - $900,000
  • 1996 - $2,700,000
  • 1997 - $7,000,000
  • 1998 - $8,000,000
  • 1999 - $7,171,428
  • 2000 - $12,071,429
  • 2001 - $13,571,429
  • 2002 - $10,571,429
  • 2003 - $15,571,429
  • 2004 - $16,071,429
  • 2005 - $16,071,429
  • 2006 - $1,250,000
  • 2007 - $8,500,000

Personal life

On January 29, 2005, he married Playboy Playmate Alicia Rickter at St. Jude's Catholic Church in Miami, Florida, before 120 guests, including Brande Roderick, Lisa Dergan, Anjelica Bridges, Al Leiter and Detroit Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez.

On February 5, 2007, Piazza's wife gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter. Nicoletta Veronica Piazza was born at 4:07 a.m. in New York City. She weighed in at 5 lbs., 8 oz. and measured 19 inches long. [1]

Career highlights and milestones

  • In 1993, his 35 home runs set the record for most home runs by a rookie catcher, surpassing Detroit's Matt Nokes with 32 in 1987. Plus, it is the most home runs by any Dodger rookie.
  • His .362 average in 1997 was the highest ever by a catcher (110 games) in the National League, tying the Major League record Bill Dickey who also batted .362 for the New York Yankees in 1936.
  • He won the Ted Williams Award, presented by CNN/SI and Total Baseball in 1997.
  • His 201 hits in 1997 were the most in major league history by a player used as a catcher in 130 or more games
  • On Sept. 21, 1997 Mike Piazza became just the third player and the only Dodger ever to hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium with a blast over the left-field pavilion.
  • Hit his 200th home run on September 16, 1998, at Houston. The home run, a three-run shot with two outs in the ninth inning against Billy Wagner, gave the Mets a 3-2 lead in a game they would win, 4-3, in 11 innings.
  • His 72 RBI prior to the All-Star Break in 2000 were, at the time, the most in club history. Dave Kingman had 69 in 1976.
  • He finished second in the NL Most Valuable Player voting behind San Diego's Ken Caminiti after batting .336 with 36 home runs, 105 RBI, 87 runs and 16 doubles in 148 games in 1996. (Sadly, Caminiti later admitted to taking steroids during his MVP Award-winning season.)
  • He has the 2nd-highest slugging percentage in Dodgers history with .572, trailing Gary Sheffield by only .001.
  • His .331 batting average as a Dodger is the fourth highest in franchise history.
  • He hit more than 30 home runs in eight consecutive seasons (from 1995 to 2002). He has nine career 30-homer seasons.
  • He hit .300 in nine consecutive seasons, dating from 1993 to 2001.
  • His 250th home run was a grand slam on May 14 vs. Florida's Brad Penny.
  • He hit a double off of the San Francisco Giants' Matt Cain for his 2,000th career hit on July 21, 2006.
  • On August 8, 2006, Piazza returned to Shea Stadium in a Padres uniform for the first time since signing with them in January. Piazza received constant cheers, ovations and chanting of his name from the second he stepped foot on the field for batting practice until leaving the field after his final at-bat in the 8th inning. In his first at-bat in the second inning, Piazza received a two-minute standing ovation as Shea Stadium played Voodoo Child, by Jimi Hendrix. It was considered by Mets fans the biggest welcome back since Tom Seaver returned in 1978 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. New York would win the game 3-2.
  • In his second game at Shea Stadium returning as a visiting player, he hit two solo home runs against Pedro Martinez. This performance led to the very rare curtain call for an opposing player.
  • He has hit six home runs against Pedro Martinez. No one else has hit more than four.
  • Became the first former Met to have a multi-home run game against the Mets since Tony Clark, who did it in 2004 as a Yankee.

Trivia

  • During the 1994 strike he and Joe Morgan appeared on Married... with Children. Mike played a cameraman; when asked what he was doing there, he answered, "Just trying to make an honest buck."
  • Piazza appeared in a 1995 episode of "Baywatch".
  • Mike was responsible for leaking a demo of "I.R.S." by Guns N' Roses, also on the Eddie Trunk Radio Show.
  • He was interviewed in June 2003 magazine issue of Playboy.
  • He was referenced in a song by Scottish twee-pop group Belle & Sebastian entitled "Piazza, New York Catcher." At one point, the singer asks, "Piazza, New York Catcher, are you straight or are you gay?". This plays off the rumor, denied by Piazza, that he is gay. The rumor apparently began when a major sports magazine reported that a MLB player on the East Coast was gay.
  • Mike was the subject—and source—of a hoax involving Teen Wolf starring Michael J. Fox. Mike alleged in an interview with New York Sports Express that he had played the boyfriend of the beautiful blonde (whom Fox sleeps with).
  • First child was born in New York City, his former team city
  • In the 2002 film Kung Pow, when Betty eneters the Evil Concil's chamber, he starts talking into space for the echo, one of the phrases he says is "Now Batting, Mike Piazza!"

See also

Preceded by National League Rookie of the Year
1993 		Succeeded by
Preceded by National League Player of the Month
May, 1994 (with Lenny Dykstra) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by National League Player of the Month
August, 1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Most Valuable Player
1996 		Succeeded by
Preceded by National League Player of the Month
June, 1997 		Succeeded by
Preceded by National League Player of the Month
August, 1997 		Succeeded by
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