Monday, December 31, 2012

Cardboard curiosity - Mike Piazza

I found a 1998 Fleer Tradition [#391] card of the former All-Star catcher in a dime box along with other 'goodies' that I'll highlight at some point soon - maybe the interesting but ultimately trivial fact about this card is Piazza is shown as a Florida Marlin, which he ended up playing five games with before getting traded to the New York Mets back in 1998.

I came of age as a baseball during the 1990's and Piazza was one of big name superstar players back in that Era - there is no doubt that he is a first ballot Hall of Famer for what he has done as power hitting catcher and someone who became the face of the New York Mets post 9/11.

However, there has been PED innuendos tacked onto his career and it might derail his Hall of Fame chances in upcoming years - still, if there was any blemish to his MLB at any point, it might have been this wrinkle, where he was called out by a veteran Brett Butler for not being a true leader and caring more about his individual stats.

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