Below are several memorable moments during Mike Piazza’s Mets tenure.
May 22, 1998 – Acquired by the Mets from the Florida Marlins in exchange for minor leaguers Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and Geoff Goetz.
May 23, 1998 – Makes his Mets debut at Shea Stadium, going 1-4 with an RBI double in a 3-0 win over Milwaukee.
June 1, 1998 – Belts his first home run in a Mets uniform at Pittsburgh off Jason Schmidt.
September 14, 1998 – Hit what is believed to be the longest home run in Astrodome history, an estimated 480-foot blast off Houston’s Jose Lima.
April 28, 1999 – Hits his first walk-off home run as a member of the Mets taking San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman deep, a two-run shot, in a 4-3 win.
October 2, 1999 – Blasted his 40th home run of the season off Pittsburgh’s Mike Williams.
October 19, 1999 – Crushed a two-run home run in the seventh inning off John Smoltz in Game Six of the NLCS at Atlanta to tie the game, 7-7.
June 14-July 2, 2000 – Had an RBI in 15 consecutive games to set a franchise record…It was the second-longest streak in major league history …Ray Grimes of the 1922 Chicago Cubs had an RBI in 17 straight games.
June 30, 2000 – Hit a laser line drive home run to left, a three-run shot, capping a 10-run inning in an 11-8 comeback win over Atlanta.
September 21, 2001 – Hit an eighth-inning home run off Atlanta’s Steve Karsay in the first New York City sporting event since the 9-11 attacks as an emotional Shea Stadium erupted…The Mets would go on to beat the Braves 3-2.
May 17, 2002 – Reached the 1,000 career RBI plateau when he launched a grand slam off San Diego’s Jason Boyd in a 13-4 win…He became the ninth player in ML history whose primary position was catcher to collect 1,000 RBI.
May 5, 2004 – Hit a 3-1 pitch off San Francisco’s Jerome Williams in the first inning for his 352nd home run as a catcher to become the all-time leader, passing Carlton Fisk.
June 18, 2004 – The four living Hall of Fame catchers: Yogi Berra, Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter and Johnny Bench are on hand at Shea Stadium on “Mike Piazza Night.”
September 29, 2005 – Hits a solo home run at Shea Stadium, his final blast as a Met, and his 220th in a Mets uniform, in an 11-0 win over Colorado.
Mike Piazza hit 220 of his 427 career home runs with the Mets, ranking third in franchise history.
He ranks first in team history with a .542 slugging percentage and is third in RBI (655).
Piazza was a seven-time All-Star with Mets and set a team-record with 124 RBI and hit 40 home runs in 1999 and then finished with 38 home runs and drove in 113 runs in 2000.
Piazza’s 396 home runs as a catcher are the most in baseball history.
