Now that Mike Piazza has officially announced his retirement from MLB, it is inevitable that he will be elected to the Hall of Fame. His 427 career HRs are easily the most all-time for a catcher. I think most people would be surprised if he weren’t a first ballot HOFer. While the question of him being elected to the hall has a fairly obvious answer, which team’s hat he will wear when he is elected is more complex. Will he be a Dodger or a Met?

Actually, he’ll be wearing a Marlins uniform. Just kidding.

Listen, Mike might never have become the best catcher ever if it weren’t for the Dodgers drafting him the 62nd round. It is generally accepted that Piazza was only drafted as a favor by Tommy Lasorda , who was a long time family friend of Piazza and his father Vince. Piazza had easily his best statistical season of his career for the Dodgers in 1997, when he tied career highs with 40 HRs and 124 RBIs and batted a career best .362.

Piazza went to 12 All-Star Games in his career, with five of them as a Dodger and the sixth, in 1998 he began the season as the Dodger but was subsequently traded to the Marlins and five games later to the Mets. He won the Rookie of the Year award for the Dodgers in 1993, and in 1997 he was 2nd in the MVP voting, the highest he ever came in his career. Over a course of seven seasons, Mike played 877 games as a Dodger, hitting 209 HRs.

In 1998, he was traded to the Marlins, where he played five games and punched five RBIs. An RBI per game? Sounds like a case for a Marlins fan to say he should go into the hall as a Marlin…but seriously.

The Mets trading Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and Geoff Geotz for Piazza is arguably the best move in franchise history. Piazza continued to be an All-Star for six years on the Mets, seven if you include the partial season with the Dodgers and Marlins. In his first four full seasons as a Met, he hit 30 or more HRs, with an average at or above .300 in three of those four seasons. Piazza was in the top 10 in the MVP voting in 1999 and 2000. As a Met, he hit 220 HRs over 972 games, including the HR to become player with the most HRs all-time as a catcher.

So, statistically speaking his career for the Mets and Dodgers are awfully similar. Slightly more HRs as a Met, but over a slightly longer period of time. However, you do not decide what shirt somebody is wearing in the baseball Hall of Fame merely on statistics. Let’s look at his extra-curricular activities, for which he will be remembered. First of all, there are his sagas with Roger Clemens . Everybody knows the tale, but for a quick recap: Clemens drilled Piazza with a pitch during inter league play, giving Piazza a concussion. In the 2000 World Series, Clemens sawed Piazza off, and tossed the shard of Piazza’s bat at Piazza while he was running up the 1B line (smells like ‘roid rage to me from Clemens but let’s save that talk for another time).

Next, there is the success to which Piazza drove the Mets. In 1998, after acquiring Piazza the Mets missed the playoffs by only a game and a half (the Cubs only played 161 games). In 1999, a Piazza led team went to the NLCS, only to lose in six games to the Braves. In 2000, he led the Mets to the World Series where he would face Roger Clemens. He made the playoffs twice with the Dodgers, only making the NLDS either time, so 2000 with the Mets was his only World Series appearance.

Finally, there is September of 2001. Following the tragedies on September 11th, the first major sporting event in NYC was the Mets vs. Braves on September 21st. Losing 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th, Piazza belted a 2-run HR over the head of Andruw Jones , leading to a 3-2 Mets victory. As ESPN anchor John Anderson wrote in the ESPN game recap:

It’s just kept going. & Soaring off into the New York night. A baseball carrying an entire city’s emotional baggage.

The home run crossed the lines from baseball to real world as it united New Yorkers amid a crisis.

Statistically speaking, he was fairly similar as a Dodger and Met. However, his experience and time with the Mets defined him as an athlete and should be remembered as a New York Met. As he said at his retirement press conference, “But I have to say that my time with the Mets wouldn’t have been the same without the greatest fans in the world. One of the hardest moments of my career, was walking off the field at Shea Stadium and saying goodbye. My relationship with you made my time in New York the happiest of my career and for that, I will always be grateful.”

It would be a shame to see Mike enter the hall wearing any other hat.