Piazza returns to Southern California with Padres
Mike Piazza redefined offense for catchers in his first five full big league seasons with the Dodgers before a brief stop in Miami and a historic stretch in New York.
On Feb. 3, 2006, Piazza returned to Southern California – this time with the Padres – when he signed a one-year, $2 million contract with San Diego.
Entering his 15th season in the majors, Piazza was already widely acclaimed as the best hitting catcher in AL or NL history. He held the career home run record for catchers at 374 – a mark he would extend to 396 by the time his career ended after the 2007 season.
“I’ve been so blessed,” Piazza told the Associated Press in Spring Training of 2006. “I’ve caught a lot of All-Star Games, Hall of Fame pitchers.
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“I try to keep it very simple. I found out less is more and there’s just sort of bylaws I’ve learned – certain rules of pitching and catching that have worked pretty well.”
A 62nd round draft choice by the Dodgers in 1988, Piazza burst on the scene as a regular in 1993 with a .318 batting average, 35 homers and 112 RBI en route to the National League Rookie of the Year Award and the first of 10 Silver Slugger Awards. In 1997, he became the first player to record 200 hits while catching at least 100 games in that season, hitting .362 with 40 home runs and 124 RBI while tying Johnny Bench’s record for catchers with 355 total bases.
But the Dodgers and Piazza were unable to agree on a long-term contract, and in 1998 Los Angeles traded Piazza to the Marlins – who then shipped Piazza to the Mets eight days later. Piazza and his new team agreed to a seven-year, $91 million contract following the 1998 season – making Piazza the owner of the highest average annual value deal ($13 million) in baseball.
“I’m not one guy who is going to carry this team to a championship,” Piazza told the Journal News after signing with the Mets. “(But) everybody knows I am going to have to play a significant role in it.
“That’s the sort of challenge I made for myself when things didn’t work out in Los Angeles.”
In New York, Piazza powered the Mets to the NLCS in 1999 and the World Series a year later. He remained one of the game’s most dangerous hitters until injuries began to hamper him in 2003 – the result of what became more than 1,600 career games behind the plate by the end of his career.
Piazza played for Team Italy at the 2006 World Baseball Classic before embarking on his one Padres season that saw him hit .283 with 22 homers and 68 RBI while handling the majority of the team’s catching duties.
He spent his final big league season with the Athletics in 2007 as a designated hitter, finishing his 16 seasons with a .308 batting average, 427 home runs, 1,335 RBI and 12 All-Star Game selections.
Piazza was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2016.
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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