Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968) is a former professional American baseball captain who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1992 to 2007. He played primarily for the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, while also having brief assignments with Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, and Oakland Athletics. The 12-time All-Star winner and 10-time Silver Slugger Award at the catcher, Piazza yields a strong offensive figure in his position; in his career, he recorded 427 home runs - a 396 record hit as a catcher - along with an average of 0.308 batting and 1,335 runs hit in (RBIs).
Piazza was designed by Dodgers in the 1988 MLB draft as an aid from Tommy Lasorda to Piazza's father. Initially the first baseman, the Piazza converted into a catcher in the minor league at Lasorda's suggestion to increase his chances of being promoted. He made his major league debut in 1992 and the following year was crowned National League (NL) Rookie of the Year and is an All-Star for the first of 10 consecutive seasons. Piazza was immediately impressed with his ability to gain power and average. His best year as Dodger came in 1997 when he fought 0.362, hit 40 home runs, and had 124 RBI, leading to a runner-up finish in a vote for the NL Most Valuable Player Award. In 1998, he traded to Marlins and then a week later to the Mets, with whom he spent most of the rest of his career. He helped Mets reach the 2000 World Series, the only World Series appearance in his career. After the 2005 season, Piazza left the Mets to play one season each for Padres and Athletics before retiring after the 2007 season.
Piazza is considered one of the best offensive catchers in baseball history. He had at least one RBI in 15 consecutive matches for the Mets in 2000, the longest RBI barrel ever. In 2013, Mets swooped Piazza into the New York Mets Hall of Fame. In 2016, Piazza was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Met, receiving 83% of the vote.
Mike Piazza is the owner of the Italian football team, A.C. Reggiana 1919.
Video Mike Piazza
Little
Piazza was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and attended the Phoenixville High School Area. He is of Italian and Jewish origin (Slovak), and is the second eldest son of Vince and Veronica, with Vince Jr., Danny, Tony, and Tommy's brothers. Mike grew up a fan of Philadelphia Phillies, and admired the Third Hall of Fame baseman Mike Schmidt.
Vince Piazza earned more than $ 100 million in used cars and real estate, and tried several times to buy MLB franchises. When Dodgers - run by childhood friend Vince Piazza, Tommy Lasorda, the youngest sister godfather Mike Piazza, Tommy - visited Philadelphia, Piazza visited Dodger's clubhouse and served as a bat boy in the dugout.
Vince Piazza's own hopes of playing baseball had ended at the age of 16 when he left school to support his family. He saw that Mike Piazza had potential in sports, and began pushing his son to build up his arm strength by the age of five. When he was 12 years old, Piazza received personal instruction at home batting back home of Ted Williams. The Hall of Fame praised his talent, advising him not to let anyone change his swing, and signing a copy of Williams from Piazza ' The Science of Hitting . Vince Piazza threw hundreds of nightly pitches to his son, who shared his father's focus on baseball, cleared snow if necessary to practice hitting and, after reaching the major leagues, practiced on Christmas Eve. He studied at Phoenixville Regional College and graduated in 1986.
Maps Mike Piazza
Leaguer's career
Los Angeles Dodgers
After his father asked Lasorda to choose Piazza as an aid, the Miami-Dade Community College student was designed by Dodgers in the 62nd round of the MLB amateur draft of 1988 as an entirely chosen 1,390 player. Lasorda asked Piazza to relinquish his first base position and learn how to capture to increase his chances of reaching the major leagues, and to help him attend special training camps for catchers in the Dominican Republic. Piazza became a remarkable hitter, especially for catchers. His MLB debut came with Dodgers on September 1, 1992, against the Chicago Cubs. He strolled in the appearance of his first plate and then doubled himself into the deep midfield on his first official baton, against Mike Harkey of the Cubs. He hit his first home run on 12 September 1992, against Steve Reed of the San Francisco Giants. He only appeared in 21 matches that season, hitting.232.
He won the NL MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1993 after appearing in 149 matches, hitting 0.318, trimming 35 home runs, and driving at 112 RBI. He was also selected for the 1993 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the first of 10 consecutive All-Star appearances (and 12 total). Until Joc Pederson passed it by 2015, 18 home run Piazza before the All Star break was a record rookie Dodgers.
In 1996, the Piazza reached.336 with 36 home runs and 105 RBI, which finished second in the MVP vote, behind Ken Caminiti.
Piazza's best season with Dodgers was 1997, when he hit 0.362, with 40 home runs, 124 RBI, 0.431 on-base percentages, and 0.638 slugging percentages. He finished second in the MVP voting for the second season in a row, behind Larry Walker.
Florida Marlins
He played seven seasons for Dodgers until he traded to the Florida Marlins on May 15, 1998. Piazza and Todd Zeile went to Marlins in return for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla, Manuel Barrios, and Jim Eisenreich. He only appeared in five games with Marlins, where he hit.278.
New York Mets
One week later, on May 22, Piazza traded from Marlins to New York Mets to Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz. Despite the number of stars from the Piazza, Mets missed the postseason 1998 by one game. Piazza assisted the Mets for two consecutive playoff appearances in 1999 and 2000. The latter of which both resulted in the NL marking and World Series appearances in the Subway Series 2000. Of note, all five games were decided by two or fewer times, something that never occurred in the World Series in nearly 70 years. He was known as Monster after coach John Stearns was caught on record for the 2000 National League Championship Series after the Piazza hit said "The Monster is out of the Cage".
Piazza was involved in a strange incident during the 2000 World Series. Earlier in the season during interleague play, Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens hit Piazza at the head with a fastball. Piazza suffered a concussion and was forced to miss the All-Star 2000 MLB Game. Clemens was widely criticized by Mets fans over the incident, but Clemens stated that the pitch was unintentional. Clemens and Piazza will face each other again in the first inning of the World Series Game 2. During the at-bat, Clemens throws a pitch that broke Piazza's wand as he fouled, sending the barrel and sharp edges of a broken bats directly at Clemens over the mound as he completed his delivery. Clemens caught the barrel, initially thinking it was a ball that returned to him, but when he realized it was not baseball, he threw it across the first base line into the Yankees break room and just past the Piazza who ran to first. Piazza gave Clemens a long glance and slowly started walking toward Clemens to face him, and Clemens asked the referee for a new ball as if nothing had happened. During the replay, Clemens can be seen yelling, "I think it's a ball!" and asked the referee for a new ball several times when two benches were cleared and met on the mound. Words are exchanged between two players, but no blows are thrown from both teams and nothing is released. Piazza was later caught for Clemens when both were on the NL team in the 2004 All-Star Game. Clemens surrendered six times in the first innings.
The 8th game in a home-run made by Piazza in the first professional baseball game played in New York after the 9/11 attacks has been called iconic, therapeutic, and symbolic. The Jersey he wore in the September 21, 2001, game was purchased in April 2016 for $ 365,000, the highest price ever paid for a modern jersey, and featured rotatingly between the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Citi Field, and National Baseball Hall of Fame.
To ease the stress on his worsening knee, Piazza began dividing his time between capturing and playing first base during the 2004 season, an experiment left before the end of the season due to defensive defensive Piazza. Despite being recognized as a great bat, Piazza has some important defensive feats. Among them, Piazza captured two free throwers thrown by RamÃÆ'³n MartÃÆ'nez and Hideo Nomo while playing with Dodgers. Nomo was very impressive because it happened at Coors Field, famous at the time to be a ballpark-friendly ballpark. In addition, the Fielding percentage of 0.997 Piazza was the peak among NL catchers in 2000.
On May 5, 2004, Piazza surpassed Carlton Fisk for most home runs by its 352 catchers.
On October 2, 2005, Piazza played her last match in a Mets uniform, as it was reported that All-Star catchers and teams will split up after the season, as the Piazza's seven-year Mets contract expires. During the game against the Colorado Rockies, Mets manager Willie Randolph replaces Piazza after the eighth inning, when the Shea 47,717 Stagger crowd stabbed him with a standing ovation, and Piazza humbly bowed to the stands and blew a kiss for the adoring fans. The game was delayed for eight minutes while fans were shouting and clapping rhythmically, with a ballpark video screen featuring memories of 972 Mets Piazza's career for almost eight years in New York, as players from Mets and Rockies stood on their Dugouts ladder and applauded in tribute over the possession of the legendary Piazza Piazza.
San Diego Padres
After the 2005 season, Piazza proposed a free agent and he signed a one-year contract with San Diego Padres on January 29, 2006. Before the start of the 2006 season, Piazza represented Italy in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Serving as an early catcher for Padre and a clean hitter, Piazza underwent a bit of rejuvenation in 2006, hitting.283 with 22 homers and helping Padres win the division title. On July 21, 2006, Mike Piazza collected his 2,000th career hit in major leagues.
On August 8, 2006, Piazza played her first match at Shea Stadium since leaving Mets. During the three-game series, Piazza often drew, recurring applause which is indicative of the high level held by New York fans. It was the equivalent of Tom Seaver on his return to the field at Shea Stadium in 1977 and 1978. Even more telling was during the series, on August 9, he drew a rare curtain call in the opposing park after a home run off Mets pitcher (and former teammate Dodgers) Pedro MartÃÆ'nez on the 4th inning. Not done for the day, Piazza goes away from Martinez again in the 6th. And with the front Mets 4-2 at 8, and two runners up, Piazza hit one to the wall in the middle, almost bashing the third homer of the day and placing Padres ahead.
Oakland Athletics
Piazza was signed as a free agent with Oakland Athletics on December 8, 2006.
On July 25, 2007, above the ninth inning in a match between Angel and Athletics at Angel Stadium, a fan threw a water bottle that crashed into Piazza, who had already been inside the game. Piazza then pointed his wand at the stands in a fan that he believed threw bottles of water for safety attention. The fans, identified as Roland Flores from La Puente, California, were caught by her rough security. Piazza pressed charges against Flores. Flores was sentenced to 30 days in prison and three years probation on March 27, 2008. On September 26 against Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Piazza crashed into 427 and what would be his last major league of career from rookie thrower Jon Lester.
After not entering any MLB team for the 2008 season, Piazza announced his resignation on May 20, 2008, saying, "After discussing my choice with my wife, family and agent, I feel it's time to start a new chapter in life. extraordinary. "
Retirement
Piazza returned to Shea Stadium during the closing ceremony of "Shea Goodbye" on September 28, 2008, where she received the last throw in the history of the stadium from the Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. Piazza and Seaver were also given a great honor to officially "close" the Shea as they went together to the central field exit and closed the door in the park after waving to the capacity crowd. On April 13, 2009, Piazza received the first throw in the history of Citi Field from Seaver before the opening game of the Mets against Padres.
Associazione Calcio Reggiana 1919
In 2016, Piazza decided to become the majority owner of Italian third division club A.C. Reggiana di Reggio Emilia, with an estimated investment of $ 3 million. His interest grew from his friendship with former Italian football player Mauricio Franzone. Piazza has confirmed that his involvement in the team brought international recollection and tourism to the city, and he complained that his team was not being treated with respect.
Legacy
Mets teammate Tom Glavine called Piazza "the first ballot hall, certainly the best catcher of our era and arguably the best catcher of all time". On May 8, 2010, upon receiving the award, Piazza told reporters that if she entered the Hall of Fame, she wanted to be sworn in as a Met, for whom she played seven plus seasons.
Piazza manages a USA team in the 2011 futures game that wears a Mets cap to the event.
On January 9, 2013, Piazza failed to be elected at the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving only 57.8% of the vote and failing to reach 75% of the qualifying vote. He stated that he will discuss drugs that improve performance and steroid rumors in his book Long Shot . In their second appearance on the ballot, the percentage of Piazza is indeed up (62.2%), but not up to 75% needs to be sworn in. Piazza again failed to make Hall of Fame in 2015, receiving 69.9% of the votes required (28 shy votes from the target). On January 6, 2016, Piazza was elected at the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 83% of the vote.
Piazza was elected into the New York Mets Hall of Fame on September 29, 2013.
Piazza's autobiography, titled Long Shot , was released in February 2013.
Piazza is known as one of the best catchers of all time, hitting 427 career home runs and owning OPS 0.922. Only nine other players have ever had more than 400 home runs with more than a lifetime of.300 while never attacking more than 100 times in a single season (Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols, and Chipper Jones).
In addition to his striking, the Piazza defense has undergone a more positive reassessment keeping in mind the new defense metrics. The field pillar, in particular, ranked seventh best among all catchers who returned to the first data in 1988. Another report published in 2008 placed him third among all catchers since 1948 in improving his pitcher performance.
The New York Mets retired his uniform number, 31, in a ceremony on July 30, 2016 before the Mets game against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field.
Acting
Piazza has appeared in the movie Two Weeks Notice and has been acting on various TV shows and commercials.
On May 3, 2013, Piazza made his debut with Miami City Ballet, saying a few lines in the role of a hitman in the production of the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue group . Piazza wants to enhance the ballet reputation among sports fans as a result of her daughter's presence at the ballet school.
Personal life
On January 29, 2005, Piazza married Playmate Playmate Alicia Rickter at St. Catholic Church. Jude in Miami, Florida, before 120 guests, including Brande Roderick, Lisa Dergan, Anjelica Bridges, Al Leiter, John Franco, IvÃÆ'¡n RodrÃÆ'guez, Eddie Trunk, and his friend Eric Karros.
On February 3, 2007, Piazza's wife gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Nicoletta. On August 3, 2009, their second child, daughter Paulina, was born. The third child and the first son, Marco, was born in July 2013.
Piazza is known as a fan of heavy metal music, and is featured on the Black Label Society's CD Stronger Than Death . He is also godfather of Zakk Wylde's son, Hendrix. He often sings Eddie Trunk on Friday Night Rocks in WAXQ ("Q-104.3 FM") in New York City and is featured as a featured guest on the episode of That Metal Show. He is also a master drummer and has performed on stage with various bands.
Piazza is a devout Roman Catholic. His faith was instilled in him by his Catholic father, and featured in the Champions of Faith , a DVD documentary exploring the crossroads of faith and Catholic sports. She also appeared in the follow-up video of Champions of Faith: Basis of Life .
Piazza is also deeply involved in the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago.
While playing with Mets, Piazza is a resident of Cresskill, New Jersey.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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