02 January 2010

Florida's Greatest Catcher of All Time is.....Mike Piazza?!?!?!?

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I mean, really, the choice wasn't too hard. Other than Mike Piazza, who else has donned a mask for the Marlins or Rays? Charles Johnson? Dioner Navarro? Ivan Rodriguez (I mean, yeah, he was on their WS winning team, but so was Mike Redmond)?

Pudge's defensive dominance aside, it has to be Piazza. Even if he was only a Marlin for a week, during that tumultuous 1998 season when he was traded TWICE in a span of ten days or so. And it was during his peak years (he hit 32 homers that season and still had 4 more 30 plus homer seasons and 3 more 20 homer seasons on top of those 30 homer seasons).

Why do I bring this up? Mainly, just to show off the ONLY card I have of Piazza wearing a Marlins uniform. But also to ask, has any other superstar (and future Hall of Famer) ever been traded twice, in one season, at the height of their time?

6 comments:

  1. I know you wanted to show off your Piazza Marlins card, but I hope that you're not seriously trying to make people believe that Piazza was the best catcher in Florida Marlins history because he played there for a week.

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  2. Ha ha. Yeah, I guess he was! Just 18 at bats though. But Ivan had only 511 so it's not like he counts for much either if Piazza is written off for his short stay.

    If we put a 1000 minimum at bat requirement on it who wins it then? Charles Johnson?

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  3. Paul....there is a little jest to it ;) I am a huge Piazza fan, so that is part of it, but if I had to give a serious answer, I would go with Pudge. He was an anchor on that WS team.

    FoC....yeah, it has to go to CJ. He may be the only catcher in the history of either teams to have 1,000 at bats for a Florida team.

    Dave...i think you are confused. Cliff Lee is a starting pitcher, no?

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  4. I think he was referring to the traded twice in a season in their prime.

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  5. Damn...good catch Duane.

    That completely flew over my head when thinking about Lee.

    Very good comparison then (not the same time frame, but still twice in one season).

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