Mike Piazza recently missed out on getting into the Hall of Fame and he just released a book titled "Long Shot", which he discussed on Tuesday night while visiting "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central.
Stewart is known as a huge New York Mets fan and he was enamored with Piazza, but he also asked tough questions, including about what was going on within the clubhouse during his days playing. Piazza commented about using greenies and amphetamines and what other players might have been thinking during that time.
The two discussed the last Hall of Fame vote that elected no one, including Piazza, and that playing during the steroid era casts a cloud over all the players. In the book the catcher wrote about using some substances that were not yet banned but said he never used illegal steroids.
CLICK HERE FOR full video of the INTERVIEW.
During the interview he spoke about androstenedione and Ephedra and that he also took the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx and the asthma med Dymetadrine. During his career Piazza never failed a drug test, but some rumors about back acne has cast a cloud over the career of the catcher who has the most home runs in the history of the position.
Piazza missed out on the Hall of Fame after getting 57.8 percent fo the vote, well below the 75 percent number that means induction. He has a claim as the best hitting catcher of all time, but since he played during the steroids era there will always be questions.
"I won't deny there is some disappointment, but I understand it's a process," Piazza told the New York Times in a piece published over the weekend. "All things considered, I got over 50 percent, and a lot of people were very supportive. I mean, there's what, almost 600 voters? That's a lot. I'm on my homeowners board. I know how hard it is to get six people on the same page, let alone 600."
It was the first time Piazza was on the ballot after spending his years in the league with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins (briefly) and the New York Mets. He was a 12-time All-Star player and hit a .308 batting average and 427 home runs with 1,335 RBIs over 16 years. He was never considered a stellar defensive catcher, but he always had great numbers.
He won the Rookie of the Year after hitting .318 with 35 home runs and 112 RBIs and his best season with the Dodgers came after hitting .362, with 40 home runs and 124 RBIs in 1997 before being traded to the Mets eventually.
Piazza hit .300 or better 10 times in his career and scored over 1,000 runs with 344 doubles and 2,127 hits and also won 10 Silver Slugger awards.