Mets Announce They Will Finally Retire Mike Piazza's Number 31
Mets.com- Mike Piazza, who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this month, will have his No. 31 retired by the Mets in a July 30 ceremony. Piazza will be just the second player to have his number retired by the Mets. Tom Seaver’s No. 41 was retired in 1988. The Mets have also retired the numbers of managers Casey Stengel (No. 37) and Gil Hodges (No. 14). Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 is retired by all Major League clubs.
Well it’s about time. The Mets finally decided that the best position player in franchise history was worthy of having his number retired because of bunch of old writers said he was good enough to get a plaque in Cooperstown. What a world. Are the Wilpons slowly reverting from Peter Banning to Peter Pan in Hook? Once concerned with just the bottom line and now having some fun by signing Yo and retiring Piazza’s number? Probably not. They knew if Yo had signed with the Yankees or Nationals, the fans would have burnt Citi Field to the ground on principle alone. And even the Wilpons aren’t dumb enough to not realize that a number retiring ceremony could lead to ticket sales which then leads to money to lose in another future Ponzi scheme. The fact that the Mets somehow, some way have the number retirement standards of Leo DiCaprio while having a franchise history like Danny DeVito will never stop confusing me. But being able to squeeze an entire weekend out of this number retirement ceremony is so Wilpon it hurts. But if ANY of the extra money made by this weekend goes back into the team, the wait will have been worth it (even though I’m not holding my breath)
Piazza’s number retirement is just as overdue as his Hall of Fame induction. He was the best offensive catcher of all-time. Again, THE BEST OFFENSIVE CATCHER OF ALL-TIME. And people that want to bring up his defense are just being lazy. He wasn’t as bad as everyone says he was. I feel like the defensive critiques were more just nitpicking a great player during the 90s and 00s that have somehow stuck around until today. If Bill James says the statistics bear out that Piazza was an above-average defender, can we at least agree to no long say he was a bad defender. And the steroids thing is a lot harder to lean on when it is just stories and no positive tests.
Lastly nobody can forget the best moment in Piazza’s career and one of the best moments in Mets and MLB history. The post 9/11 home run against the Braves. That could have put him into Cooperstown by itself.
Goosebumps. Every. Single. Time.