Who is mike piazza

His two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning on May 10th gave the Mets a victory over the Padres It was his sixth career walk-off home run and first since July 29, , when he touched up Philadelphiabs Rheal Cormier in a win. His three-run home run in the first inning on August 26th propelled the Mets to a victory at Atlanta.

Won his 10th consecutive Louisville Silver Slugger Award. Was also sixth in the NL with a home run once every Moved into third place on the All-Time List after hitting his th home run as a catcher, his first of , on April 5th at Atlanta Spooneybarger. Collected his 28th career multiple-home run game on April 15th vs. Atlanta with two solo shots, both off Damian Moss. Hit two home runs off the Diamondbacks' Rick Helling for the 29th multiple-home run game of his career on April 30th.

Also knocked in six runs, on April 30th at Arizona, a Mets' career-high The last time he knocked in six runs was for the Dodgers vs. Arizona on April 9, Had a season-high and team-high game hitting streak, April 14th-May 2nd Collected the 13th grand slam of his career Boyd May 17th at San Diego The slam gave him 1, RBI for his career Became the ninth player in Major League Baseball history, whose primary position is catcher, to reach the 1, RBI plateau. Had a game hitting streak from June 5th to June 15th Belted two home runs, for his 30th career multiple-home run game on July 3rd at Philadelphia Also tied his season-high driving in six runs.

Collected his 1,th career hit, a single off Kirk Saarloos, on July 30th vs. On July 31st vs. Houston, he collected his th career hit as a Met, a double in the second inning, which came in his 2,rd at-bat Reached that milestone quicker than anyone else in club history Keith Hernandez held the previous mark, accomplishing the feat in 2, at-bats. Belted the fourth pinch-hit home run of his career on September 3rd Game Two vs.

Florida Almanza. Hit his second grand slam of the season Santiago and the 14th of his career September 9th at Philadelphia The grand slam rallied the Mets from a deficit to a victory Had four home runs and 10 RBI in his last six games of the year. Has 14 career grand slams, which is currently tied for second with Ken Griffey, Jr. Ventura leads all active players with Collected the 31st multiple-home run game of his career and his fourth of the season Armas, Day , September 14th at Montreal Has one, three-home run game and 30 games with two home runs.

On September 18th, drove in his th RBI, making him the sixth player in club history to accomplish the feat. Had 36 multi-hit games this season: 33, two-hit contests and three, three-hit games. Finished the season by hitting. Ranks 12th among active major league players in home runs. Is the active career leader among players with at least 1, at-bats with a. He is also the active career leader among players with at least at-bats with a.

Ranks fourth with a. Todd Helton is first with a. Was named to the Sporting News' All-Star team. Hit his th career double in the second inning of the April 12th game vs. Drove in his th RBI on May 1st vs. His home run in the fourth inning Dempster at Florida on May 31st was the th hit of his career. Suffered a fractured distal thalanx of the left big toe after fouling a pitch off his toe on June 29th at Atlanta.

Was the starting catcher and went in the contest. Hit his th career home run on July 13th vs. Boston's Derek Lowe He became the 90th player in major league history to reach that plateau Belted his th home run as a Met, July 27th vs. Has hit 20 or more home runs as a catcher for the past nine seasons to set a major league record Piazza had been tied with Yogi Berra who hit 20 or more home runs in 10 straight years, but all of Berra's home runs were not hit as a catcher.

Collected his fourth multiple-home run game of the season Park and Carrera and the 27th of his career on August 19th at Los Angeles His other two-home run games were: July 27th vs. Philadelphia, April 26th at Milwaukee and April 9th vs. Collected his th home run as a catcher on August 21st vs. Colorado Hampton It was also his 30th home run of the season, making him one of four active players to reach the 30 home run plateau for seven straight years Jimmie Foxx has 12 consecutive 30 or more home run seasons, the most in major league history Piazza embraced the game; he spent hours hitting in a backyard batting cage, even impressing Ted Williams.

Once he headed to college, however, he hit a snag. At the University of Miami, Piazza failed to hit his stride. After only getting nine at-bats during his entire freshman year, the first baseman left the program. He found some success at Miami-Dade North Community College, but hardly seemed destined for greatness. But her heart began to warm as the first pitch approached because the boys started to join the chants.

The game was just minutes away. After Marc Anthony sang the national anthem, players poured into the middle of the diamond from the base lines. The cops and firefighters walked back out the center field gate. In the background, still planted on the first blades of outfield grass, the bagpipers began to play "Amazing Grace.

When they were done, the bagpipers pivoted and followed the cops and firefighters out beyond the stadium walls. The Braves headed for their dugout and the Mets took the field.

McDonough went directly to his car and changed into uniform right there in the parking lot. He put his bagpipes in the backseat and drove to a landfill on Long Island.

His job that night was to sift through debris that dump trucks drove out from the World Trade Center site. Detectives like him would spread everything out on the ground and go through, by hand, looking for clothing, wallets, anything that might provide DNA.

As he pulled out of Flushing, the game began. The Mets had improbably won nine of 10 games before Sept. In normal circumstances that year, a Mets vs.

Braves game pitting Bruce Chen vs. Jason Marquis would have smelled like a runfest. The Mets had hammered Marquis all four times they'd seen him that year, and the Braves had scored seven runs in two innings against Chen earlier that season. But on Sept. The game was heading into the bottom of the seventh before the Braves went to their bullpen.

Piazza was due up the next frame. By that point, Gies was exhausted in the stands. She doesn't remember eating or drinking or talking, or if the boys even had dinner. She had moments where her emotions overwhelmed her, but she also felt uplifted for the first time in 10 days. The outcome of the game didn't matter to her as much as the outcome of the evening. But the kids cared. They screamed for the Mets the whole night. They used to come to games with their dad, and they never went for the Flushing scenery -- they wanted the Mets to win.

The Braves went early to closer Steve Karsay. He'd had two doubles earlier in the night and caught the whole game. But he still felt I didn't really know if I could finish the game. Fortunately, as everything unfolded, I did receive emotional strength from everyone, and the old feelings of competitiveness kicked in. Karsay threw hard, and opened with a fastball down the middle for a called strike. Piazza barely moved the bat off his shoulder, and as he stepped out of the batter's box for a moment, he thought, "S--t, I think I missed my best pitch.

He expected a curveball on the next pitch but was surprised when he spotted a fastball coming out of Karsay's hand. The ball was up and out over the plate, and Piazza took his long, loping swing, fully extending his arms as he connected.

Karsay never turned around to look at it as the ball soared out and over the left-center field wall, a most necessary shot that went about feet. He doesn't remember anything after the swing. He rounded the bases a step or two faster than most of his home runs, chomping on his gum, still numb even as the stadium lost its mind.

Atlanta players were solemn as the crowd erupted for 30 seconds, enough to lure Piazza out for a curtain call. But deep down, even the Braves were cheering. Gies leapt up and down with her sons.

They all felt a jolt surge through them. I will forever be grateful to him -- that was the first time I saw my children smile since their dad was gone, and it was then that I realized we were going to be OK. Benitez closed out the game in the ninth. Piazza jogged to the mound, still working over that piece of gum, then he went back to the dugout and collapsed in a heap for a few minutes.

Debut: September 1, Age d, 16,th in major league history vs. Last Game: September 30, Age d vs. Hall of Fame : Inducted as Player in Rookie Status: Exceeded rookie limits during season. Twitter: mikepiazza Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Are you a Stathead, too? Subscribe to our Free Newsletter. This Month in Sports Reference Find out when we add a feature or make a change.

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