Piazza returns to Shea Stadium tonight

My twin, Mike Piazza, and the greatest hitting catcher of all-time will return to Shea Stadium as a member of the Padres as San Diego visits the Mets. I remember I was a junior in high school when the Mets traded Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz to get him. I thought I was dreaming. I was never one to root for opposing players, but Piazza was easy to root for. He was quiet, tough, Italian, and he was a catcher like I once was. As the saying goes, I felt it was the dawning of a new era.

By the way, the Mets made the trade May 23, 1998. On May 22, the day before Piazza’s first game with the Mets, this was the Mets starting lineup.

1. Brian McRae
2. Bernard Gilkey
3. John Olerud
4. Butch Huskey
5. Carlos Baerga
6. Jim Tatum
7. Alberto Castillo
8. Rey Ordonez
9. Rick Reed

Yikes. And even if you're a baseball fan, I'm sure you have one question. Who the hell is Jim Tatum? It really says something about the Mets in the 90's that he had to bat 6th!

Piazza added a mystique to the Mets they hadn't had in 10 years. We'd had plenty of superstars pass through (Bonilla, Coleman, Murray, Baerga to name a few), but there was something different about this. He was on the rise and he had that quiet charisma. More than that, he had this leadership that a direction-less franchise sorely lacked. Not a vocal Mark Messier or Keith Hernandez, but I beleive his teammates did their jobs better because they were more confident with Piazza in the lineup.

I'll make it more simple. He was the face of the franchise that was needed in Flushing. He was our Michael Jordan, he was our Barry Sanders, he was our Walter Payton. He breathed life into the Mets organization. And when his contract ended after 1998, he re-signed a 7-year deal that helped make the Mets a believable team. People started to believe they could win. And we did initially with 3 playoff series wins and an NL pennant in the 2 following years. The 5 years after that were mostly disappointing, but that blame goes primarily to GM Steve Phillips for acquiring stiffs like Mo Vaughn, Roger Cedeno, Robby Alomar, Jeromy Burnitz, and trading away Jason Bay and Melvin Mora.

So I will be tuned into WFAN radio tonight and even from my basement dungeon in St. Charles, IL, or 1500 miles west, I will heartily applaud Piazza when he comes to bat for the first time against Steve Trachsel. And if he hits a home run, well, it better not be in a close game!