I'm pretty sure that no subject has received more attention in the several incarnations of my blog than Mike Piazza. Well, Mike officially announced his retirement yesterday, ending his career as the greatest hitting catcher in baseball history and the face of the Mets franchise from the day he was traded there in 1998 to the last day of the 2005 season when it was clear that he wouldn't be re-signed.
Believe it or not, I was not always obsessed with baseball. I loved the Mets as a very little kid, but lost a lot of interest when the strike came and I moved to Yankee/Red Sox territory in fourth grade. That remained the case for a while, I actually mocked peoples' passion for sports and thought they were stupid. Man, how things change. Around 1997, I was in search for a passion, an identity, something to follow and get excited about. The Mets were an adequate team at that point, just starting to get things together, but they still were missing that star, a face for their franchise.
Enter Piazza, several playoff appearances, a World Series loss, and Joe Budd as an insane Mets fan. Piazza's bat, his class and his leadership defined the Mets and was the defining figure in my first passion as a self-conscious adult. I've been watching this tribute video on a loop since yesterday, adding to my overall melancholy mood, but in the end, I'm happy to have had been able to come of age with the Mets during the Piazza years.
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