HOFer Piazza forever linked to Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — Mike Piazza will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday, and the cap on his plaque will bear a Mets logo, but his career was launched and made possible by the Dodgers.

They famously drafted him in the 62nd round in 1988 and signed him as a favor to then-manager Tom Lasorda, who grew up in Norristown, Pa., buddies with Piazza’s father, Vince, and would let Mike serve as a batboy when the Dodgers visited Philadelphia.

The favors, though, ended there, as there was some resentment toward Piazza due to his family connection, and he even briefly quit while at Class A, though he was talked back by coaches Reggie Smith and Dave Wallace, returning with a chip on his shoulder, determined to prove all of the doubters wrong.

2016 Hall of Fame Inductions Watch live coverage of Sunday’s Hall of Fame inductions on MLB Network and MLB.com starting at 11 a.m. ET.

• Complete Hall of Fame coverageHall of Fame video • Shop for Hall of Fame gear

• Complete Hall of Fame coverageHall of Fame video • Shop for Hall of Fame gear

That he did. Piazza burst onto the national scene in 1993, winning the National League Rookie of the Year Award while hitting .318/.370/.561 with 35 homers for the Dodgers. Over the course of parts of seven seasons with Los Angeles, Piazza would finish in the top 10 of the NL MVP Award voting five teams, compiling a .331/.394/.572 line with 177 homers, en route to become the all-time leader in home runs by a catcher (396 of his career 427). He will become the lowest drafted player ever enshrined in Cooperstown.

Coverage of the inductions of Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. begins on MLB Network and MLB.com at 11 a.m. ET/8 PT, with the ceremonies beginning live at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. …

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