Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Piazza - No Matter How You Slice It, He Was the Best On The Dish



So, we all heard that Mike Piazza has officially hung up his catcher's mitt (NOT first baseman's mitt as the Mets tried to migrate him 90 feet from his preferred domicile) forever.

I, personally am saddened. Piazza was the sparkler that lit up the Mets when he came here after a week on the beach with the Florida Marlins in '98. I always admired him when he was a Dodger and he really made a big impression with the fans. Back when he first came on the scene in '92, his rookie baseball card was in the high stratosphere of price. Now, you judge a ballplayer by what % he is owned in fantasy leagues.
Piazza was everything Mets.

He brought that level of confidence to the plate and that in turn made all of us cynical Mets fans who endured the 80s, 90s and hot dogs like Bonilla, optimistic.


See article from MLB.com: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080520&content_id=2737852&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb



The kids admired him. The teens admired him and the adults admired him. He was a player that looked good and always gave it his all.

A very good friend of mine in my former field knew Mike Piazza's dad back in Norristown, PA and told me years ago he knew Mike as a supernice kid.

It's funny, we all know how he was drafted by Tommy Lasorda as a favor to Mike's dad. He went 62 rounds, the 1390th pick overall - and what happens? A Hall of Fame Career. This shows you anything is possible in baseball. Summary of Draft: http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?year_ID=1988&round=62&draft_type=junreg

Mike, we miss you. Note to Mets - Retire # 31

No comments: