Mike Piazza

Mike Piazza is a former Major League Baseball player who is considered by many to be the best hitting catcher in history. Piazza hit more home runs than any other player at the position.

After starting his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Piazza played for the Florida Marlins, New York Mets and San Diego Padres.

Piazza was drafted by the Dodgers in 1988, making his Major League debut in 1992. He went on to win Rookie of the Year honors in 1993. After six full seasons with the Dodgers, he was traded to the Florida Marlins in what was considered to be one of the worst deals in Dodgers history. Piazza was traded a week later to the Mets, where he helped lead the team to the World Series in 2000.

Piazza remained a free agent at the start of the 2008 season. Rumors swirled that the Cincinnati Reds could be interested in signing the former All-Star catcher but he went unsigned for the 2008 season.

On May 20, 2008, Piazza announced his retirement via an email sent to media mailboxes.

Mike Piazza spent 16 years in the major leagues. While he is widely recognized as one of the best offensive catchers in Los Angeles Dodgers history, he actually spent more seasons with the New York Mets (eight) than he did with the Dodgers (seven).

Piazza finished with 427 home runs and 1,335 runs batted in. He had 2,127 career hits to go along with a lifetime .308 batting average.

The Dodgers made one of the most unpopular trades in the organization's historyhttp://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080520&content_id=2737852&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb when they shipped him to the Florida Marlins along with Todd Zeile for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla, and Tourettes-inflicted Jim Eisenreich.http://www.dodgerblues.com/content/features_trades.html#piazza The Marlins shipped him to the Mets eight days later for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnell and Geof Getz.http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/piazzmi01.php. Piazza went on to hit 250 home runs for the Mets.http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/piazzmi01.shtml

On Tuesday, May 20, 2008, Mike Piazza retired with no fanfare and no public appearances. Piazza merely penned an email and sent it to various media outlets.

"After discussing my options with my wife, family and agent, I felt it was time to start a new chapter in my life."

"I walk away with no regrets. I knew this day was coming and, over the last two years, I started to make my peace with it."

"I gave it my all, and left everything on the field."

As charmed as an athlete's life can be, few athletes have ever had the privilege of resuscitating an entire city and indirectly letting a nation besieged by a tragedy know that its inhabitants could be sports fans again.

Piazza hit the first home run in New York On September 21, 2001, 10 days after the 9/11 attacks, Piazza hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning against Atlanta Braves starter Tom Glavine that lifted the New York Mets to a 3-2 victory.

"As far as drama goes, that was like a Hollywood script," said longtime Mets radio personality Ed Coleman told MLB.com. "You could write it up and people wouldn't believe it."http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070721&content_id=2101546&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

• September 4, 1968 Born

• 1993: MLB Rookie of the Year

• 1998: Traded to the Florida Marlins, then to the New York Mets

• 2001: Hit dramatic home run to win first sporting event in New York following the September 11th attacks

• 2004: Establishes all-time record for most home runs by a catcher

• 2006: Signs with the San Diego Padres

• 2007: Signs with the Oakland Athletics