Mike Piazza enters the Hall

Former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza entered the baseball Hall of Fame yesterday. Piazza was the lowest round draft pick (62nd round) in the 50 plus years of the amateur draft to ever enter the Hall of Fame. He spent his first six plus seasons with the Dodgers, was traded to the Florida Marlins for five games when a long term contract could not be reached during the Dodgers "cheap" years, and then spent seven plus seasons with the New York Mets. He was a career .308 hitter with 427 homeruns and 1335 runs batted in.

I was disappointed to see that Mike Piazza chose a New York Mets hat to be on his Hall of Fame plaque. Piazza identified himself more with the Mets than he did the Dodgers. His biggest Mets moment came when he hit the homerun against the Atlanta Braves to win the first game at Shea Stadium after 9/11. That moment was seen as a great homerun for baseball and for the city of New York. His battles against New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens were legendary. There was the beaning, the throwing of the bat, and the grand slam. Piazza faired well against Clemens, going 8 for 22 with four homeruns. Piazza only made it to one World Series, that being in 2000 when the Mets lost to the New York Yankees, but Piazza did hit two homeruns in the five games.