Babe Ruth League graduate Mike Piazza (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania BRL) was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in a blockbuster vote by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.  A 12-time All-Star, Piazza has been described as the best defensive catcher of all time, and holds the career record for home runs hit by a catcher, with a total of 427. 

Piazza, who played in New York from 1998 to 2005, would be the second player, after Seaver, to go in as a Met.  He came to the team in a trade from the Marlins, with whom he played five games after spending six and a half seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and at first did not know how long he would stay.

“The Mets fans were so gracious to me, and even in my post-career as well,” Piazza said.  “Every time I go back, I can’t tell you how much I feel embraced.  It’s very special, and it’s a relationship that I can’t describe how emotional it is for me.”

Piazza was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania and attended Phoenixville High School.  He is the second oldest son of Vince and Veronica, with brothers Vince, Jr., Danny, Tony and Tommy.

A lot of hard work helped Piazza during his long career that first started back in the Phoenixville Little League and continued at the Phoenixville Youth Babe Ruth League.  He then played first base in high school but shifted to catcher in his later years to accelerate his ascent up the ladder to the big leagues and then allowed him to have such a long, successful career. 

Dad, Vince Piazza, earned a fortune in used cars and real estate, and attempted several times to purchase a Major League Baseball franchise.  When the Dodgers – managed by Vince’s childhood friend Tommy Lasorda, also a native of Norristown, visited Philadelphia, Piazza visited the Dodger clubhouse and served as a bat boy in the dugout. 

Vince saw that Mike had potential in the sport, and began encouraging his son to build his arm strength at the age of five.  When he was 12, Piazza received personal instruction in his backyard batting cage from Ted Williams.  The Hall of Famer praised his talent, advised him not to let anyone change his swing, and autographed Piazza’s copy of Williams’ The Science of Hitting.  Vince Piazza threw hundreds of pitches nightly to his son, who shared his father’s focus on baseball, clearing snow if necessary to practice his hitting and, after reaching the major leagues, practicing on Christmas Eve.

Piazza rose to stardom from an unlikely spot:  the 62^nd round of the draft, which now lasts only 40 rounds.  Piazza was selected by the Dodgers in 1988 as a favor to family friend Tommy Lasorda.  He was the 1,390^th player selected in that draft, the lowest spot a team has ever found a Hall of Famer.

Piazza played 7 seasons for the Dodgers until he was traded to the Florida Marlins on May 15, `998.  He only appeared in 5 games with the Marlins and on May 22, 1998, was traded to the New York Mets.  Piazza played his final game with the Mets on October 2, 2005.  His career ended with a stay in San Diego in 2006  and then finally one year with the Oakland Athletics before he officially retired.

“There are so many opportunities in this game that you can sort of find a role and be an underdog,” Piazza said.  “If you do one thing exceptionally well and you refine that and you improve your weaknesses that are acceptable, you can definitely make a living at this game.  That, to me, is a lesson about how special the game is.”

A few years ago, men and women, boys and girls, young and old, all came to see Mike Piazza, at “Doc” Kennedy Field in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.  Piazza returned home to have his jersey number 13 officially retired.  Representatives from Phoenixville Babe Ruth League and Phoenixville High School were on hand to join in on the festivities, including Piazza’s youth coach John “Doc” Kennedy, who also had his number 18 retired. 

Kennedy talked about his former player who made it big.  “Sometimes you search for a word to describe a career a man like Mike had,” said Kennedy.  “It is so special for those who knew him as a teenager.  He excelled through the kind of dedication and decision-making and achieve what he did.  That makes it so special.  He had the desire to start out with a plan, have a goal, build a plan and achieve the goal.  Different guys have talent, but never make it.  There are reasons why.  When you achieve that, it shows how he stuck to his plan.”

Mike Piazza career highlights and awards:

• 12x All-Star
• 10x Silver Slugger Award
• NL Rookie of the Year
• MLB All-Star Game MVP
• New York Mets Hall of Fame
• Election into Baseball Hall of Fame

Mike Piazza joins Ken Griffey, Jr. as members of the Hall of Fame, Class of 2016.