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| Birth Name(s) : Michael Joseph Piazza |
Date of Birth: September 4, 1968 |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
N/A |
| Profession:
Athlete |
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Full Mike Piazza Biography
Mike Piazza is a catcher for the NY Mets. He was born in Norristown, PA and has 4 brothers. He graduated from Phoenixville Area High School and Miami-Dade North Community College.
His favorite food is italian and he plays the drums, with a secret ambition to be a rock star. |
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Additional Mike Piazza Biography
Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968 in Norristown, Pennsylvania) is an American Major League Baseball player who currently plays for the Oakland Athletics. He began his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played for the Florida Marlins, New York Mets, San Diego Padres prior to joining the A's. He is a 12-time All-Star. Piazza is often regarded as the best catcher of all time, and holds the career record for home runs hit by a catcher. He had at least one RBI (run batted in) in 15 consecutive games for the New York Mets in 2000, the second longest RBI streak ever (Ray Grimes of the 1922 Chicago Cubs had 17 in 1922).
Mike grew up in Norristown, Pennsylvania with his parents, Vince and Veronica, and his brothers Vince Jr., Danny, Tony and Tommy. When Piazza was 12, he received personal instruction from the late Hall of Famer Ted Williams in his backyard batting cage.
Piazza was the last player the Dodgers drafted in the 1988 draft. He was their selection in the 62nd round. It is believed that the pick was partly a favor on the part of Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who is godfather to one of Piazza's brothers and, like Piazza, grew up in Norristown. Piazza swore he'd learn to catch if he was drafted. Piazza's Major League debut came with the Dodgers in 1992, when he appeared in 28 games. He then won the National League MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1993.
Piazza helped the Mets to two consecutive playoff appearances for the only time in Mets history in 1999 and 2000. The latter of the two resulted in a National League Pennant and World Series appearance, where the Mets lost in five games to a Yankee team winning their fourth World Series in five years. Of note, all five games were decided by two runs or less, something that had not occurred in a World Series in almost 70 years. He became known as The Monster after coach John Stearns was caught on tape during the 2000 NLCS after a Piazza hit saying "The Monster is out of the cage!"
Piazza was involved in a bizarre incident in Game 2 of the 2000 World Series. In the first inning, Piazza was facing Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens and broke his bat fouling off a pitch. The barrel of his bat flew towards Clemens's feet at the pitcher's mound. Clemens picked up the broken barrel and heaved it in the direction of Piazza running up the first base line sparking both benches to clear, but with no ejections. The reason this incident sparked this reaction was because earlier in the season, during Interleague play when the Mets played the Yankees, Mike Piazza was drilled in the head by a Roger Clemens pitch. Mike Piazza suffered a concussion and was forced to miss the 2000 MLB All-Star Game as a result. Piazza would later catch for Roger Clemens in the 2004 All-Star Game.
One of the most emotional moments of Piazza's career came when he belted a dramatic two-run home run in the eighth inning against Steve Karsay on September 21, 2001 in New York City to lift the Mets to a 3-2 triumph over the Braves. The game was the first regular season professional sporting event held in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks and has since been hailed as the defining moment in Piazza's career and one of the single greatest moments in New York sports history.
To ease the stress on his deteriorating knees, Piazza began to split his time between catching and playing first base during the 2004 season, an experiment which was abandoned before the end of the season because of Piazza's defensive deficiencies. Although recognized as a great hitter, Piazza has also caught two no hitters, thrown by Ramón Martínez and Hideo Nomo.
In his 14-year career (through 2006), Piazza's career batting average is .309 with 419 home runs, 1,288 RBI, and 308 doubles in 1,702 games.
On August 8, 2006, Piazza played his first game at Shea Stadium since leaving the Mets. During the three-game series, Piazza drew frequent, repeated standing ovations indicative of the high level of regard New York's fans still hold for him. It was on par with that of Tom Seaver in 1978. Even more telling was an event on August 9 during that series in which he drew a rare curtain call in an opposing park following a home run off Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez.
On June 23, 2007, he received a standing ovation when he brought out the lineup card for the Oakland A's at Shea Stadium. He was unable to play in the series because he was on the disabled list.
On July 25, 2007, in the top of the ninth inning in a game between the Angels and the A's at Angel Stadium, a fan threw a water bottle that hit Piazza, who had homered earlier in the game. Piazza then pointed his bat in the stands at the fan he believed threw the water bottle to get the attention of security. The fan, who was identified as Ronald Flores from La Puente, California, was arrested by the ballpark security. Piazza is pressing charges against Flores.
Only five other players have ever had over 400 home runs with over a .300 life time average while never striking out more than 100 times in a season.
On January 29, 2005, he married Playboy Playmate Alicia Rickter at St. Jude's Catholic Church in Miami, Florida, before 120 guests, including Brande Roderick, Lisa Dergan, Anjelica Bridges, Al Leiter and Detroit Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez. |
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Mike Piazza Quote(s)
| I have gone from a player who thought he would spend his whole career with one organization to a player who's been with three organizations in a week. It's like rotisserie baseball. |
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