Mike Piazza: Met or Dodger?

The other day, I was arguing with a friend about Mike Piazza's impending 2013 Hall of Fame enshrinement, and whether or not the his plaque will depict Piazza wearing a Mets hat, or a Dodgers hat (the three other teams he's played for, the Florida Marlins, the San Diego Padres, and the Oakland A's, are negligible in this debate). I could have sworn, in the past, that I made a big list compiling his accomplishments with both Los Angeles and New York, but apparently it was in a normal comment that has long since vanished into the ethereal archives of AA somewhere. No matter, though, since making a Fanpost gives me the opportunity to combine the topic with some great MS Paintz work.

Until 2001, the Baseball Hall of Fame deferred to the wishes of each player, in selecting the team that their cap represented on their plaque. This is why Frank Robinson is enshrined wearing an Orioles cap, despite having played on the Cincinnati Reds for longer, and having accomplished more personal and team accomplishments there, why Carlton Fisk is enshrined wearing a Red Sox cap, despite having a longer tenure with the White Sox, and having better numbers with the White Sox, and why Dave Winfield is enshrined wearing a Padres cap, because of the very public problems between himself and Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. The courtesy was changed when, as some media reports claimed, teams were offering former players compensation in some way for choosing to represent their team in Cooperstown. Wade Boggs, though he has denied the reports, supposedly was requested by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to represent them in the Hall of Fame, in exchange for compensation. Now, though the Hall of Fame considers the wishes of the player, they alone determine what cap a player wears, based on the statistics the player put up with each team, their length of tenure with each team, any championships or awards won by the player with each team, their roles on each team, and other related factors. This is why, though Gary Carter requested to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame as a Met, he was enshrined as a Montreal Expo, and why Andre Dawson was enshrined as an Expo, despite publicly making it known that he wanted to be enshrined as a Chicago Cub.

After the jump, we'll analyze Piazza's career with the Mets and the Dodgers...

Case for Being Enshrined as a Dodger

Mike Piazza broke into the Major Leagues with the Dodgers, and won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1993, hitting a remarkable .318/.370/.561, slugging 35 home runs, throwing out a career high 35% of baserunners who attempted to steal against him, and amassing a phenomenal 7.6 WAR (Fangraphs), the second highest total of his 16-year career. Including 1993, the next five years would Mike Piazza elected to the All-Star Game, as well as winning the Silver Slugger Award at the catcher position. From 1995 to 1997, Piazza finished within the Top 5 in MVP ballots all three years, and was considered the second best player in the National League twice (1996 and 1997). Piazza's 1997 was his most valuable, as he hit .362/.431/.638, with 40 home runs and a 28% success percentage in throwing baserunners out.

Case for Being Enshrined as a Met

While with New York, Piazza was elected to seven All-Star games, and was a perennial MVP candidate, with him placing third for his 2000 stats, a year where he hit a gaudy .324/.398/.614, with 38 home runs. Piazza won five consecutive Silver Slugger Awards at the catcher position while with the Mets between 1998 and 2002. In 1999 and 2000, Piazza led the Mets, as the ‘heart and soul' of the team, to the playoffs (and in 2000, the World Series), and in 1998 and 2001, the Mets were contenders until the end of the season because of Piazza's presence in the Mets batting order- a line-up fairly devoid of "big bats" of the caliber of Piazza.

Looking at the Numbers and the Extraneous Stuff

            Mike Piazza played for the Mets for eight seasons, as opposed to playing with the Dodgers for seven. While he had his best individual seasons with the Dodgers, he ultimately put up better numbers with the Mets in terms of total accumulation:

While with the Dodgers, Piazza didn't particularly accomplish much asides for individual awards. The Dodgers made the playoffs in 1995 and 1996 (and probably would have in the strike-shortened 1994 season), but were swept in three games both times. Piazza himself didn't particularly stand out, batting .257/.274/.400, with 1 HR and 3 RBI in the postseason. While with the Mets, Piazza made the postseason two times as well, in 1999 and 2000, but hit .242/.301/.458, with 5 HR and 12 RBI, with most of those home runs and runs batted in coming in his titanic 2000 playoff, the one in which he was "let out of the cage", as John Sterns put so eloquently.

In terms of iconic images, I think Piazza's moustache with the Dodgers was the biggest thing he had going. With the Mets, it was a different story. While I might be tempted to say him being the monster that was "let out of the cage" was his defining image as a Met, the events of September 2001 change that. On September 21st, at Shea Stadium, with the Mets trailing behind the Atlanta Braves in a series that had possible playoff implications, Mike Piazza hit a home run off of Steve Karsey while the Mets were trailing by a run in the bottom of the 8th inning that put New York ahead (a game that it would eventually win). More important than the actual runs that it scored, the moment symbolized a grieving New York pulling itself up, dusting off the literal and metaphorical ashes it was covered with, and getting back to business- I still get chills every time I see the clip, and it's been almost ten years now. According to various countdowns and polls as much as ten years later, the moment is cited as one of the most iconic moments in baseball history- indeed, it is on the list of MLB.com's "Baseball's Best Moments.

According to the news reports I could gather, when Piazza returned to Los Angeles for the first time after being traded to the Marlins, and then to the Mets days later, he received a warm welcome back by the 52,154 Dodger fans (of which, some percentage actually arrived at the game in time to see Piazza's first at-bat). Mike Piazza's return to Shea Stadium defies words, however. I had the honor of attending that game live, and it was something to behold. Never have I seen such an outpouring of support and love for a player, let alone a player who was on the opposing team. The second game of that series, where Piazza hit two home runs off of Pedro Martinez, he got a curtain call, something I've never seen before in my years (admittedly, not too long) of watching baseball, a player on the opposing team getting a curtain call after hitting home runs. If you weren't there, I do not think any words, pictures, or videos really capture the raw emotion that emanated from the stands towards Piazza.

According to Mike himself, "The bulk of my career was with the Mets, and after going through the trade, then the drama of 9/11...I'll never forget my Dodger days. But my time with the Mets is what I'll remember most about my career." While his individual numbers and value was higher during his time with the Dodgers, Mike spent the majority of time as a Major League baseball player as a Met. He accomplished numerous things, and tied numerous records while wearing a Mets jersey. His name has come to be associated with the Mets organization. While many Mets fans are seemingly on the fence, as to whether or not Mike Piazza will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Met or a Dodger, I think it is fairly clear: