Piazza, "Mike" (Michael J.)
Baseball
b. Sept. 4, 1968, Norristown, PA
When Piazza joined the NL's Los Angeles Dodgers near the end of the 1992 season after having been a 62nd-round choice in the 1988 free agent draft, there was considerable joking in the media about the fact that he was the godson of Dodger manager Tommy LaSorda and was with the Dodgers only because of the friendship between the two families.
He hit only .232 in 21 games that season. However, in 1993 the 6-foot-3, 197-pound Piazza became the team's starting catcher and ended the joking by winning the league's rookie of the year award. He had a .318 average with 35 home runs and 118 RBI. Piazza was the first rookie of the year to drive in more than 100 runs and his home run total was a record for a rookie catcher.
Piazza hit .319 with 24 home runs in 1994, when the Dodgers played only 114 games because of the players' strike, and in 1995 he batted .346 to finish second to Tony Gwynn in National League hitting. He had 32 homers that season and he hit 36 in 1996, when he batted .336 and had 105 RBI to finish second in MVP voting.
Piazza's best overall offensive season was 1997, when he hit .362 with 40 home runs and 124 RBI. He was only the third catcher to hit 40 home runs in a season, after Roy Campanella and Todd Hundley. Again, he was second in the MVP vote.
As he approached free agency, Piazza was talking big salary numbers. On May 15, 1998, the Dodgers sent him to the Florida Marlins with Todd Zeile for four players. The Marlins almost immediately traded Piazza to the New York Mets.
After a slow start in New York, he hit .348 for the Mets to finish at .328 for the season. Piazza then signed a seven-year contract with the team. He hit 40 home runs again in 1999 and followed that with totals of 38, 36, and 33 the next three season. However, his batting average dropped below .300 for the first time in 2002, as Piazza was obviously worn down by his heavy workload.
He missed much of the 2003 season with a groin injury. In 2004, the Mets began playing him at first base a good deal of the time, but he again missed considerable playing time, this time to wrist and knee injuries.