mike piazza final tributes!

this card is not a mike piazza final tribute, but it is fantastic.

it comes from 1997 topps gallery and is a 'photo gallery' insert card.  dodger stadium serves as a perfect backdrop for this or any other baseball card. that's one reason why i think that it's too bad piazza didn't return to los angeles for a farewell tour of sorts, because most of his final tributes wound up with the oakland coliseum dugouts in the background instead of chavez ravine.

like his 2008 upper deck card

the yellow paint is a giveaway for the a's home stadium.  as is the sewage on the dugout floor, but you can't see that on these cards.  upper deck gave us piazza's complete career stats on the back

although they didn't give his 1998 three-team travels three separate lines like topps usually does.  what if i want to know how many hits he had as a marlin?

here's his 2008 upper deck first edition card - front

and back

pretty much identical to the flagship, except no foil.

at least the 2008 topps opening day set had different colored borders than the topps flagship.  here's piazza's opening day final tribure

with his complete career stats on the back

including individual lines for each team in the 1998 season.

and here's the topps flagship version

look at those dodger seasons from 1993 through 1997.

monstrous.  when piazza was traded to the marlins, i was ticked.  then when he was traded to the mets a few days later, i was disappointed because he failed to homer as a marlin.  i knew that there would be an odd looking zero on the back of his cards, and there it is.  at least he tripled for the fish.

the strongest man in socal also got a card in the 2008 topps heritage set, which used a different background

it's nice to see some arizona landscape for a change

piazza's last season was his only season in the american league, and i think everyone knew that it would be his final campaign.  he stuck with the a's all year, and in his final appearance (game 162), he started a game winning rally against the angels with a leadoff single in the bottom of the 9th.  he was removed from the game for a pinch runner, and i hope he was given a standing ovation.

i, of course, think of piazza as a dodger, so here are a couple of cards that are more pleasing to me than those showing him in green and gold.  this one is from 1997 pinnacle fan fest

and this one is from 1997 upper deck collector's choice.

i'd say it's high time that piazza starts appearing in some new releases, and i hope that he does so as a dodger.