Mike PiazzaOn September 29, 2013, the Mets entered catcher Mike Piazza into the Mets Hall of Fame Museum. Piazza is currently a Cooperstown Hall of Fame candidate and will be trying to be a second ballot Hall of Fame inductee this upcoming vote. He is also regarded as the greatest hitting catcher of all time, and one of the greatest New York Mets of all time. But was the timing of putting Piazza in the Mets Hall of Fame a mistake?

Yes it was a Mistake. What Were They Thinking?!?
Sure, Mike Piazza is one of the all time greats at the catching position, but the Mets missed out on a major marketing opportunity by putting him in the Hall of Fame on the last day of the season. The Mets are struggling financially. This came into play in 2009 when the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme was discovered. Since then, the Mets have been unable to land many big name free agents, and are losing many of their best players (i.e. Jose Reyes). By entering Piazza into the Mets Hall of Fame on the last day of the season, the Mets blew a huge opportunity to make money from huge t-shirt, hat, jersey, and other sales! In the Mets defense, they did draw a gigantic crowd on the last day of the season. But that was not the right day. The Mets were not in the playoffs, they were not playing spoiler, and they had nothing important to play for that day. The Mets should have waited until an early point in the 2014 to enter him into the Hall of Fame. This way the Mets will not only draw a crowd, but they would also make a profit on Piazza collectibles throughout the season. Of course, they can still sell stuff in 2014, but it will not be as special, as 182 days will have already passed since the day of his entry.

Of Course It was Not a Mistake. Are You Crazy?!?
As mentioned above, the Mets blew a great financial opportunity, but they can still make up for it. The Mets did not retire Piazza’s number, so if they do that in 2014, they will make a lot of money. Being in the Mets Hall of Fame is an honor, but fans tend to appreciate retired numbers more. Having one’s number retired means that they were truly great, and no one on the team will ever wear that number again. Piazza deserves this honor. Being inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame and retiring his number would once again draw a sellout crowd to Citi Field. Also, this could help Piazza’s case for getting into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and even more so, going in as a Met. Thanks to Reggie Jackson and the Yankees, Piazza, and every other Hall of Fame inductee, is not allowed to choose the cap on their plaque for the Hall of Fame. However, if the Mets enter him in their Hall of Fame, and the Dodgers do not, the Mets will give the voters in the BWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) something to consider when figuring out which cap to place on Piazza’s head.

Whether or not it was the right choice to put Piazza in the Mets Hall of Fame when they did, the Mets honored one of the greatest players to wear their uniform. It was an emotional day at the stadium, and I was lucky enough to see it in person. The turnout was amazing, Piazza was speechless, and who could ever forget his father’s face? I think it was the wrong choice for them to do it. Sure, they ended up drawing a huge crowd, but it only lasted for the one game, and then it was over. If they waited until early in the 2014 season, they would have still had an amazing turn out, and fans would come for at least the entire home stand to buy memorabilia from the induction ceremony.

10 comments on “Was it a mistake when Mets enshrined Mike Piazza into their Hall of Fame?

  • Trey

    When I first saw your title, I thought this could be an interesting article. After reding the entire text, I think you’re nuts.

    First. you can thank Wade Boggs for the Hall of Fame not allowing the players to choose their caps … he elected to wear a Tampa cap beccause he was paid $1M and gven a services contract with the team to do so. That was enough for MLB and the HOF to take over the hat selection. Not sure where you came up with Reggie Jackson.

    As for the Mets holding Mike Piazza Day in Sepetember — they made the right choice if you consider capitalizing on an attraction that will draw fans to the ballpark — which it did. Suggesting they wait until 2014 is not necessarily wrong, but when you consider that if he is elected to the HOF this Janurary and they decide to retire his number (as I believe they will) they will have yet ANOTHER Mike Piazza Day to celebrate that. By doing the Mets HOF inductin this year and then a Retire His Number Day next year, they get two sellouts (albeit across to seasons). If they held off this year’s Mets HOF event then they would probably do it all at once next year ….. result: one less sellout crowd. When they do hold another day for Mikie, you can bet that one will be sold out too.

    Where I really thought you were stretching is this comment: “…. Sure, they ended up drawing a huge crowd, but it only lasted for the one game, and then it was over. If they waited until early in the 2014 season, they would have still had an amazing turn out, and fans would come for at least the entire home stand to buy memorabilia from the induction ceremony ….”

    Really? First, not sure how much money the team actually makes selling bases and lineup cards from these games, but you seriously think it’s enough that people wouldn;t buy it in the off season anyway?

  • pete

    The leeches will do it again when they retire his number. Then they’ll do it again when he gets elected into the HOF, Finally they’ll have a Mike Piazza Day with a booble head doll for the first 500 fans.

  • Name

    Article title was different from article substance.
    Seemed like the article dealt with the question of “When should have they inducted him” rather than what the title suggested of “Whether they should have inducted him”

    • Brian Joura

      I don’t think that’s accurate.

      “When” is in the headline not “whether”

      • Name

        My bad. guess my eyes failed me. I totally missed the “when”

      • Name

        Actually, after reading the title again, it is very ambiguous. It sounds very much to me like “when” is being used to describe the mistake (Mets enshrining Mike Piazza) rather than being used to describe the mistake as “When”

  • Julian McCarthy

    I don’t understand the point that you are trying to make in the article. Is he meant for the Mets hall of fame or not? Great points made from both sides, but what is your side?

    • Dan Kolton

      I said in the last paragraph that I thought it was the wrong choice for them to put him in their Hall of Fame when they did. I thought it was too early and there was no point of drawing a crowd on the last day of the season.

  • Peter Hyatt

    When someone “didn’t do it” they say so in what is called a “Reliable Denial”; that is, when speaking for themselves (freely editing their words), the brain will signal to the person’s tongue to use words, in less than a micro second. 70 years of research shows the truly innocent will say:
    “I didn’t use PEDs” freely. This consists of three parts
    1. The pronoun “I” (something they have used millions of times and are good at it)
    2. The past tense “did not” or “didn’t”
    3. The specific allegation answered. This is because everyone of us has a personal, internal, subjective dictionary.

    Guilty people are, statistically, likely to say:

    “I never used PEDS” (Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones).
    ” I would never use PEDs”
    “Didn’t use PEDs” (dropping the pronoun “I”)
    and a host of avoidance techniques, including:
    “on advice of counsel…” and “let’s wait for the truth to come out” and
    “I’ve never failed a test…” and so on.

    If the denial has more than 3 components, or less than 3, it is “unreliable”

    Mike Piazza has never brought himself to issue a reliable denial. It is the simplest of sentences but deceptive people avoid using it, due to the internal stress of a direct lie. Most lies (90% plus) are via editing out information.

    • Brian Joura

      Very interesting stuff.

      My first thought was Rafael Palmeiro and here’s what he said: “Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don’t know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never.”

      Guess this qualifies as more than three.

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