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Mike Piazza expected to attend Shea Stadium ceremony
Before the Mets tear down Shea Stadium later this year, their plan is to honor their home of the past 44 years with a special ceremony during the final weekend of the regular season. The organization has stayed tight-lipped about the details, but Newsday has learned perhaps the most important detail of the ceremony.
Mike Piazza will be present.
As recently as last week a spokesman for Piazza's agent, Dan Lozano, said his plans were not firmed up yet. Though the Mets will not divulge which former players will be at Shea until sometime next month, team officials behind the scenes are completely confident Piazza will be there to close Shea Stadium.
"The invitation went out and he accepted," one person familiar with the situation said. "He'll be there."
Piazza's presence is of the utmost importance because with the Mets it's not about celebrating the building, which seemingly was outdated before it even opened in 1964. Honoring Shea Stadium, rather, is a chance for Mets fans to remember their championship years — 1969 and 1986 — and their great players.
When Piazza arrived in May 1998, he was already a superstar — and he lived up to the billing. He helped bring consistent excitement and winning baseball teams back to Flushing, taking the Mets to the playoffs in 1999 and the World Series in 2000. Simply put, he was the best offensive player the Mets ever had.
And then who could forget his role in the first baseball game in New York after 9/11. The home run he hit to lift the Mets over the Braves that night seemed almost too good to even be scripted, and the image of him taking a curtain call with a somewhat solemn look on his face remains a moving moment.
Piazza's time with the Mets included its share of bozo moments, most notably the way bumbling Art Howe handled the whole switch-to-first-base disaster. And, no, Piazza didn't bring a championship here.
But ask anybody who goes to Shea Stadium these days which former Met they would like to see most walk onto the field last before the final regular-season game at Shea, and Piazza's name will probably be said the most.
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