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Michael Joseph Piazza (born September 4, 1968) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher, most notably for the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers with whom he was named the National League Rookie of the Year. He also played for the Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, and Oakland Athletics. A 12-time All-Star, Piazza has been described as the best offensive catcher of all time, and holds the career record for home runs hit by a catcher,〔http://m.mlb.com/news/article/104414770/proud-of-numbers-piazza-awaits-hall-of-fames-call〕 with a total of 427. Piazza has a career slash line of .308/.377/.545, for a (wRC+ ) of 140; and started 1606 games at catcher. He had at least one RBI in 15 consecutive games for the New York Mets in , the second-longest RBI streak ever (Ray Grimes of the Chicago Cubs had a streak that lasted 17 games). ==Childhood== Piazza was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and attended Phoenixville High School. He is of Italian and Slovakian ancestry, he is the second-oldest son of Vince and Veronica, with brothers Vince, Jr., Danny, Tony, and Tommy. Vince Piazza earned a fortune of more than $100 million in used cars and real estate, and attempted several times to purchase a Major League Baseball franchise. When the Dodgers—managed by Vince Piazza's childhood friend Tommy Lasorda, the godfather of Mike Piazza's youngest brother, Tommy〔Long Shot by Mike Piazza with Lonnie Wheeler, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 40〕—visited Philadelphia, Piazza visited the Dodger clubhouse and served as a bat boy in the dugout. Vince Piazza's own hopes of playing baseball had ended at the age of 16 when he left school to support his family. He saw that Mike Piazza had potential in the sport, and began encouraging his son to build his arm strength at the age of five. When he was 12, Piazza received personal instruction in his backyard batting cage from Ted Williams.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Ballplayers - Mike Piazza )〕 The Hall of Famer praised his talent, advised him not to let anyone change his swing, and autographed Piazza's copy of Williams' ''The Science of Hitting''. Vince Piazza threw hundreds of pitches nightly to his son, who shared his father's focus on baseball, clearing snow if necessary to practice his hitting and, after reaching the major leagues, practicing on Christmas Eve. He attended Phoenixville Area High School and graduated in 1986. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mike Piazza」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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