Wednesday, April 28, 2004
The New York catcher hit his 351st home run.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Mike Piazza matched Carlton Fisk's record for homers by a catcher in a fitting ballpark.
The former Los Angeles star hit his 351st home run as a catcher Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, a tiebreaking shot off former batterymate Hideo Nomo in the New York Mets' 9-5 victory.
"It's special to do it here, no question about it," said Piazza, who hit his first 177 homers with the Dodgers.
"I came up through this organization and they gave me a chance when no one else did. It means a lot. It really does. It's a little emotional for me."
Snaps streak
Piazza snapped a 16-game homerless streak with the solo shot in the sixth inning that put the Mets -- swept in a three-game set last weekend in Chicago -- ahead to stay in the series opener.
In addition to catching Fisk, Piazza passed Joe DiMaggio for 58th place on the overall list with 362 homers.
"Once you start achieving goals, you just want to keep getting better. That's what still drives me today," Piazza said. "I just love competition, the battle between pitcher and hitter. I still get a rush out of that."
Piazza shied away from the suggestion that it punched his ticket to Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame.
"It's not really for me to say. I mean, I think my record speaks for itself," Piazza said. "I've never really been a great self-promotor because it's a little bit of a turnoff for me. But I believe I've consistently come to the ballpark every day, played hard and put up some good numbers."
The Dodgers made Piazza the 1,390th pick in the June 1988 draft as a favor to then-manager Tommy Lasorda, longtime friends with Piazza's father and godfather to Mike's brother.
Abilities
He displayed raw power during his 1993 rookie season, hitting 35 home runs, driving in 112 runs and batting .318 to become the second of five consecutive Dodgers to win the NL rookie of the year award.
"Obviously, coming up with Tommy as your manager is a great experience," Piazza said. "But the important thing is just to let the game be the fuel. That's the way I looked at it. I just enjoyed getting better."
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