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Mike Piazza Elected To Hall Of Fame

By Jamaal Artis

Oct 30, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets former catcher Mike Piazza waves to the crowd before throwing the ceremonial first pitch before game three of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 30, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets former catcher Mike Piazza waves to the crowd before throwing the ceremonial first pitch before game three of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 30, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets former catcher Mike Piazza waves to the crowd before throwing the ceremonial first pitch before game three of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 30, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets former catcher Mike Piazza waves to the crowd before throwing the ceremonial first pitch before game three of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /

Former Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame receiving 83% — significantly enough to garner election.

Piazza will be inducted with former overall number one pick Ken Griffey Jr. — Piazza and Griffey Jr. will be the earliest and latest draftees inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Piazza holds a distinct place in Los Angeles Dodgers history, drafted in the 62nd round number 1,390 in the 1988 draft.  The narrative that has been told was that Piazza was drafted because Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda was his godfather.

A good story but not true, Lasorda was a good friend of the family and was actually Piazza’s little brothers godfather.  Pizza did get to serve as a Dodgers bat boy when they played against his hometown Philadelphia Phillies.

Piazza rewarded the Dodgers favor to his father by becoming possibly the greatest hitting catcher in baseball history, starting with his rookie year in 1993 when he hit .318, slugging 35 home runs and driving in 112 RBI.

Piazza would win that year’s Rookie of the Year setting new Los Angeles Dodgers records for all three categories for rookies.

Piazza’s best season as a Dodger came in 1997 when he set a record for batting average for catchers hitting .362, slugging 40 home runs (the first LA Dodger to do that), and drove in 124 runs batted in, this would lead to a second consecutive runner up for the league MVP.

Unfortunately, 1997 would be Piazza’s last full year with the Dodgers, as a contract dispute in 1998 with brand new owner Fox Corp. led to a surprise trade to the Florida Marlins, along with Dodgers third baseman Todd Zeile in return for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla, Manuel Barrios, and Jim Eisenreich.

The end of Piazza’s time with Dodgers proved to be a poison pill, as Piazza hardly acknowledges his time with the team, even stating that he preferred representing his tenure with the New York Mets if he made the Hall of Fame.

Since his retirement Piazza has yet to set foot in Dodger Stadium, and he endeared himself to no one by disparaging beloved Dodgers announcer Vin Scully in his 2013 autobiography, blaming Scully for turning fans against him and stating that Scully was “…crushing me,” during his contentious contract dispute.

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Scully has denied this and to any Dodgers fan this rang absurdly untrue as Vin Scully notoriously doesn’t comment on the day-to-day business of the Dodgers organization.

Now that Piazza is in the Hall of Fame it will be interesting to what extent he will acknowledge the role the Dodgers played in his career and if he would accept any overtures by Dodgers management to be recognized for his career accomplishments.

It would also be interesting to see if Dodgers fans would be willing to accept Piazza once again after so many years of neglect on his part and his disparaging of Vin Scully.

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