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New York Mets: The best moments of Mike Piazza’s Mets career

By Michael Carballeira

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 30: Mike Piazza waves to the fans before his number retirement ceremony before the start of a game between the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets at Citi Field on July 30, 2016 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 30: Mike Piazza waves to the fans before his number retirement ceremony before the start of a game between the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets at Citi Field on July 30, 2016 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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24 May 1998: Mike Piazza #31 of the New York Mets in action during a agme against the Milwaukee Brewers at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. The Mets defeated the Brewers 8-3. Mandatory Credit: David Seelig /Allsport
24 May 1998: Mike Piazza #31 of the New York Mets in action during a agme against the Milwaukee Brewers at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. The Mets defeated the Brewers 8-3. Mandatory Credit: David Seelig /Allsport /

Mike Piazza’s Amazin’ debut

After the Mets acquired all-atar catcher Mike Piazza on May 22nd, 1998 he donned the orange and blue for the first time the very next day when they hosted the Milwaukee Brewers at Shea Stadium.

It was a Saturday afternoon and the Mets had their ace, Al Leiter, on the mound and the stadium was already buzzing just for the introduction of their new catcher. The Mets came into the game with a 24-20 record and winners of two in a row so adding this kind of bat to the lineup got fans excited.

It was the fifth inning where Piazza made his mark with the Mets. The team was already leading 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth with a man on first and Piazza was 0-2 already in the game with a strikeout. Jeff Juden was on the mound for the Brewers and Piazza took advantage when he laced a double into the right-center field gap and scored the runner from first to extend the lead to 2-0. The crowd was electric for the first RBI for Piazza in a Mets jersey and only the best was yet to come.

The Mets went on to win the game 3-0 and the addition of Piazza continued a hot streak where the team went on to win nine straight. Piazza struggled a little after this in the early stages of his Mets career but he won the fans over by finishing the season with a .348 batting average and twenty-three home runs in his 109 games with the team.

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