Mike Piazza: The Man Who Did It Right

Many players have played the game right and many players have played the game well. But not as many players played the game both right and well.

When you think about the players that played almost 10 years ago, the first few guys that come to mind are Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa.

Not many look back at those days and think about the great catcher, Mike Piazza.

Piazza is one of the guys that played the game right when it was not a popular thing to do.

I am not saying he was alone. The name Ken Griffey Jr. comes to mind when you think about playing the game right, it's just sad that Griffey had an injury-plagued career.

But Piazza is the more underrated guy of the group and deserves more respect than he is given.

Think about how bad it would be if we found Piazza mentioned on the infamous list.

How devastated would the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets fans be if he was one of the 104 men that have cheated the game and its fans?

We will never really know if he was on it or not, at least until baseball releases the list to the fans, but a source (LJ Burgess) tells me that Piazza is not on the list. And I think Burgess is a trustworthy source.

Piazza not being on the list gives all that he did during his memorable career so much more meaning.

It means a man and not a half monster hit the post 9-11 game home run to take the lead away from the Braves and give it to the hurt state of New York.

It means a man was the starting catcher for the Mets in the World Series in 2000.

And it means a man was the captain of the Mets and one of the best catchers in the history of the game.

Thank you, Mike Piazza, for letting us be part of your great baseball career and for helping make baseball the great game it is.