Searching the web, like I usually do, to get ideas or stories to post, I came across something I couldn't believe: Five years ago today, Mike Piazza set the all time home run record for a catcher.
Five years ago? No way. Wasn't it just, I don't know, two years ago? Hard to believe. I remember my two boys, Metsfan97 and Metsfan99 being so excited. We were fortunate enough to go to Cooperstown, NY and visit the National Baseball Hall Of Fame, in July of 2004 - with two other father's and their son(s). It was a great Fathers-Sons get away weekend. My boys, being the only Mets fans of the group - the three other boys were all Yankee fans - were really excited when they saw the bat Mike Piazza used to set the record. Right there! In the Hall Of Fame! They actually saw the actual bat that he hit the actual record setting HR! Actually!
My boys really love Piazza. At a down time for the Mets, he was the ray of hope. Much the same way Tom Seaver was in the early 1970's.
Five years...can't be. Seems like yesterday. Wasn't it just a couple of years ago? Aren't my boys still 9 and 7?
Mike Piazza brought to many Mets fans that credibility. I will never forget the Mets traded for him on our 5th wedding anniversary. We became 10/5 players on the same date five years later. The Mets couldn't trade Piazza without his approval because he had 10 years in the Majors, and five with the same team. I told my wife she couldn't kick me out because I had 10 years in the marriage, and we had been in the same house for over five years. The parallels between my life and Piazza's...
This home run record might be surpassed some day, but I do believe that it will always live in hearts of Mets fans. Gary Sheffield hit his 500th HR as a Met, a game Jobu, Long Island Met Fan, and I were fortunate to be at, but it will never be held in the regard as Piazza's record setting hit. Piazza had been with the Mets for six years by then, and he was a Met.
Five years? Where has the time gone?
1 comment:
time goes way to quick. Wonder when we see the monster coaching?
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