Editing Mike Piazza (section)

===New York Mets===
<!-- {{MLBBioRet
|Image  = Mets31.png
|Name   = Mike Piazza
|Number = 31
|Team   = New York Mets
|Year   = 2016
|}} -->
On May 22, the Marlins traded Piazza to the New York Mets for [[Preston Wilson]], [[Ed Yarnall]], and Geoff Goetz.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mlb.com/news/who-won-mike-piazza-trade-mets-marlins | title=24 years ago, Mets got Piazza. But did they win the trade? | website=[[MLB.com]] }}</ref> Piazza finished the 1998 season batting .328 with 32 home runs and 111 RBI, becoming the first player in MLB history to hit more than 30 home runs in a season while playing at least one game for three different franchises.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Players with 30 or more home runs in a season, minimum 1 game played for 3 or more franchises |url=https://stathead.com/baseball/player-batting-season-finder.cgi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240724042046/https://stathead.com/tiny/7WdzM |archive-date=July 24, 2024 |access-date=July 24, 2024 |website=[[Sports Reference|Stathead]] |language=en}}</ref>

Piazza helped the Mets to two consecutive playoff appearances in 1999 and 2000. In the former season, Piazza tied his career highs of 40 home runs and 124 RBI. He also set the record for most home runs in a season without ever hitting more than one in a game, passing a mark previously set by [[Rogers Hornsby]] in 1929.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://stathead.com/baseball/game_finder.cgi?request=1&match=gmatchPYr&order_by=HR&class=player&type=b&ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&cval%5B1%5D=1&cstat%5B1%5D=HR&exactness=anymarked&GF=anyGF&location=pob&locationMatch=is&temperature_max=120&wind_speed_max=90|title=Player Batting Game Finder|website=Stathead.com|access-date=May 29, 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Mike Piazza (1999) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|Piazza with the Mets in May 1999]]
The following year, Piazza led the Mets to an NL pennant and a [[2000 World Series|World Series]] appearance in the 2000 [[Subway Series]]. He became known as "The Monster" after coach [[John Stearns]] was caught on tape during the [[2000 National League Championship Series]] after a Piazza [[Hit (baseball)|hit]] saying "The Monster is out of the Cage".<ref name=noble>{{cite web |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080927&content_id=3559400&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym |title=Piazza's post-9/11 shot became iconic Slugger's dramatic game-winning homer added to legacy |access-date=March 4, 2009|last=Noble |first=Marty|date=September 27, 2008|work=[[MLB.com]]}}</ref>

Piazza was involved in a bizarre incident during the [[2000 World Series]]. Earlier in the season during interleague play, Yankees [[pitcher]] [[Roger Clemens]] hit Piazza in the head with a fastball. Piazza suffered a [[concussion]] and was forced to miss the [[2000 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|2000 MLB All-Star Game]]. Clemens was widely criticized by Mets fans for the incident, but Clemens maintained that the pitch was not intentional. Clemens and Piazza would go on to face each other again in the first inning of World Series Game 2. During the at-bat, Clemens threw a pitch that broke Piazza's bat as he fouled it off, sending the barrel and a sharp edge of the broken bat directly at Clemens on the mound just as he finished his delivery. Clemens caught the barrel and threw it across the first base line towards the Yankees' dugout and just past Piazza who was running down to first. Piazza gave a long stare at Clemens and slowly started walking towards Clemens to confront him, and Clemens asked the umpire for a new ball as if nothing had happened. [http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=20053773 During replays], Clemens can be seen shouting "I thought it was the ball!" and asking the umpire for a new ball multiple times as the two benches cleared and met at the mound. Words were exchanged between the two players, but no punches were thrown from either team and nobody was ejected. Piazza later caught for Clemens when both were on the NL team in the [[2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|2004 All-Star Game]]. Clemens gave up six runs in the first inning.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/07132004.shtml |title=2004 All-Star Game Box Score |access-date=October 5, 2008 |archive-date=October 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007201122/http://www.baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/07132004.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Mike Piazza spring of 2004.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Piazza in 2004]]
Piazza's game-winning 8th-inning home run in the first professional baseball game played in New York following the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 attacks]] has been called iconic, therapeutic, and symbolic.<ref name=noble /> The jersey he wore in that September 21, 2001 game was purchased in April 2016 for $365,000, the highest price ever paid for a modern-day jersey, and is displayed on a rotating basis among the [[9/11 Memorial Museum]], [[Citi Field]], and the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://nypost.com/2016/04/14/mets-fans-spend-big-to-rescue-piazza-911-jersey-as-museum-piece/ | title=Mets fans spend big to rescue Piazza 9/11 jersey as museum piece | newspaper=New York Post | date=April 14, 2016 | author=Kernan, Kevin | access-date=July 21, 2017 | archive-date=July 28, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728141940/http://nypost.com/2016/04/14/mets-fans-spend-big-to-rescue-piazza-911-jersey-as-museum-piece/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://nypost.com/2016/04/05/mike-piazza-just-cant-believe-mets-sold-his-famed-911-jersey/ |title=Frustrated Mike Piazza speaks out on Mets' 9/11 jersey shocker |newspaper=New York Post |date=April 5, 2016 |last=Kernan |first=Kevin |access-date=July 21, 2017 |archive-date=July 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728145804/http://nypost.com/2016/04/05/mike-piazza-just-cant-believe-mets-sold-his-famed-911-jersey/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

To ease the stress on his deteriorating knees, Piazza began to split his time between catching and playing first base during the 2004 season, an experiment which was abandoned before the end of the season because of Piazza's defensive deficiencies. {{citation needed|date=April 2012}} Although recognized as a great hitter, Piazza has had some notable defensive accomplishments. Among them, Piazza caught two [[no-hitter]]s thrown by [[Ramón Martínez (pitcher)|Ramón Martínez]] and [[Hideo Nomo]] while playing with the Dodgers. Nomo's was particularly impressive because it happened at [[Coors Field]], notorious for being a hitter-friendly ballpark. Additionally, Piazza's .997 fielding percentage was the highest among NL catchers in 2000.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/piazzmi01-field.shtml#advanced_fielding_c::0 Mike Piazza Fielding Stats]</ref>

On May 5, 2004, Piazza surpassed [[Carlton Fisk]] for most home runs by a catcher with his 352nd.