One Hall of Fame down, the real Hall of Fame in Cooperstown to come for Mike Piazza.
Piazza entered the Mets Hall of Fame Sunday at Citi Field before a sellout crowd, only the Mets’ third sellout of the season, and offered these words about the PED era.
“I just feel it’s just an unfortunate consequence of that era and not to get into a deep dissertation of fault, in a perfect world, if we could go back and do things again, I’m sure we would have done a lot of things different,’’ Piazza said, trying to put the era in perspective.
“That’s something that I hate happened to the game, but you see how resilient the game is. You see that at the end of the day it comes down to baseball. It is a game that has shown through its ups and downs and through its imperfections, is a game that people really love.”
Just in case you didn’t get the message, Piazza added: “I wish we could go back and do it differently and I’m sure it would have been a different world, but I truly feel that baseball doesn’t get enough credit for the fact that they are trying to really make a statement to understand there is no place for PEDs in baseball and sports in general.’’
There is no getting around the PED scandal and Piazza is pointing out that is the way the game went down in that era. In his heart of hearts he believes he will be in the Hall of Fame someday.
There is no doubt in my mind Piazza is a Hall of Fame player. I voted for him last time and I will vote for him again next time. Piazza received 57.8 percent of the vote his first time on the ballot. He needs 75 percent to get into Cooperstown.
There is no doubt in David Wright’s mind, either.
“I feel like if you are the greatest hitting catcher of all time, you should be in the Hall of Fame,’’ Wright told The Post after the Mets’ season-ending 3-2 victory over the Brewer. “It’s a no-brainer.’’
Piazza, who blasted 427 home runs and batted .308 over his career, endorsed the Hall of Fame process and the vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
“I truly feel it’s a process,’’ Piazza said. “I’m very proud of my career. I will put my body of work up against anybody. But I truly feel the process is a beautiful thing as well. It is what it is. Looking back, Yogi [Berra] had three ballots, Joe DiMaggio had three ballots.
“When you retire, you think of things in bigger picture. If I’m so blessed and honored to get to that point one day I will enjoy it and be proud and wear the honor that is so important, but up until that point I can only do like an artist, ‘Here’s my work, my canvas.’ It’s out of my hands.”
In his book, “Long Shot,’’ Piazza admitted early in his career he took androstenedione, which is now banned, but phased it out of his baseball life.
In the end there are rumors and there are numbers. Piazza’s numbers are off the charts.
This was a rare happy day for Mets fans as the crowd of 41,891 wildly cheered Piazza.
Piazza gave a wonderful speech, thanking all the right people, especially thanking his dad, Vince, who has struggled the last year with massive health problems.
“He believed in me more than I believed in myself,’’ Piazza told the fans. His father, who was sitting in a wheelchair, began to cry.
The circle of baseball continues. When asked how these Mets could someday acquire another hitter like himself, Piazza he smiled and said: “Well, I got a boy who is two months old and I am going to train him, but the rest is up to him.’’
Hopefully, the Mets can find another big hitter before Marco Piazza turns pro.