Mike Piazza

New York Mets All-Star catcher and Roger Clemens’ foil.
Career Stats: click here

Breakdown: The Mets catcher from 1998-2005, Piazza was the one guy who routinely had Clemens figured out—and Clemens could never deal with that. Their rivalry goes down as one of the most bitter in baseball history.

From The Rocket That Fell to Earth: The second pitch was a 92­ mph fastball straight at Piazza’s head. The Met superstar ducked, but the ball still hit him on the front of his blue plastic helmet. As he crumbled to the ground, he looked as if he had been shot.

Piazza lay in the dirt, dazed. He blinked then blinked again and again. Mets trainer Fred Hina and manager Bobby Valentine rushed to his side, as his teammates angrily stormed the field. John Stears, the Mets’ flammable bench coach, unleashed a string of obscenities toward the mound, where Clemens stood, head down, seemingly indifferent. It was later announced that Piazza had suffered a concussion and would be forced to miss the All­ Star Game.

In the home dugout, Yankee players were speechless. On the one hand, they were supposed to defend a teammate, and would do so later in postgame interviews. But many were disgusted. It was one thing to brush a guy back, even to hit a thigh or leg or elbow. But headhunting crossed the line. “I hope we’re bigger than that,” Torre said in a rare moment of meekness. “To hit somebody in the head . . . you don’t do that.”

In the visitors’ dugout, there was a single emotion: rage. “I’ve seen him hit guys in the head,” Valentine said. “I saw him hit Robbie Alomar in the head after he tried to bunt on him once. It’s bullshit. It’s terrible. I hope someday he pitches in a National League ballpark when we’re playing against him. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

“They better watch out,” added a player. “This is not over.”

After the game, Clemens tried to call Piazza from the clubhouse—not to apologize but to make certain he was OK. When Piazza was told who was on the line, he refused to pick up. “Fuck him,” he said. “I don’t wanna talk to that guy.”