MLB Hall of Fame: Mike Piazza gains some momentum

Something really unfortunate has happened if you want to discuss Mike Piazza‘s Hall of Fame resume: there’s a reasonably good chance that somebody will want to talk about his back acne. That should be at the top of anybody’s list when they lament what the steroid era has done to our conversations about Cooperstown.

In his second year on the Hall of Fame ballot, the former Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets catcher received 355 votes, or 62.2%. That is a slight bump from his first year on the ballot in 2013, in which he received 329 votes for 57.8% of the vote. Like Craig Biggio, who missed election by just two votes, Piazza will have to wait and hope to make it on this third try.

Unfortunately that only promises to get more difficult as more superstars become eligible, especially because Piazza has become the whipping boy for the guilt-by-association tactics of many voters (despite the complete lack of evidence and his firm denial of ever using PEDs).

The Mets, Piazza’s team for eight of his 16 seasons in the big leagues, continued to show their support on Wednesday afternoon. COO Jeff Wilpon issued a statement after the results were released:

"“On behalf of the organization and our fans, Mike is a true Hall of Famer…We proudly display his plaque in the Mets Hall of Fame, and we’re hopeful that he’ll soon have one hanging in Cooperstown.”"

It seems likely that Piazza will eventually be elected. It will just be a matter of how long baseball writers want to punish him for doing nothing wrong when a bunch of other guys did something wrong.