Piazza!

In my continued quest to produce Dodger playoff victories through the posting of cards, I have turned to a Dodger great of the 1990s.

You may think that odd, since the entire decade was a miserable time period for not only the Dodgers but all of baseball. There was a strike. A World Series cancellation. Braves repeatedly reaching the postseason. Yankees winning the World Series. Honestly, I don't know why I watched baseball in the '90s.

But one player stood out as about the only Dodger to have success on the national stage until L.A.'s postseason NLDS victory over the Cubbies last year. And that player was Mike Piazza, who helped lead the National League to an All-Star Game victory in 1996. Piazza doubled, homered, drove in two runs and was named the game's MVP.

Piazza is also the last Dodger who was mentioned with the best of the best when people were naming the current stars of the game. He was one of the first 10 guys you'd mention in the mid-1990s. The Dodgers haven't had a guy like that since (well, maybe Manny Ramirez for half a season).

So, in an effort to sway the Dodgers to victory tonight, so I don't have to agonize until the NLCS begins, I'm showing some Mike Piazza cards in hopes his star potential will travel through the intertubes to St. Louis and settle on my Dodgers, like energy-dispensing pixie dust. With a cry of "Piazza!" they will sweep the Cardinals.

I just completed a trade with Offy's Sports Site that yielded me 52 new Piazza Dodger cards. And I am going to show my 10 favorites, in no particular order:

1993 Studio Mike Piazza: This is my favorite Studio set of all-time. Some of the Studio sets are too hokey for me. I don't go for the hatless/logoless look, which is why if Upper Deck mimics those Studio sets next year, they can kiss me goodbye. But this one works perfectly.

1997 Pinnacle Zenith Mike Piazza: The focus on "Hollywood" Piazza was an annoyance to me at the time. But I have to show at least one of these cards to sum up the era.

1994 Upper Deck Fun Pack Mike Piazza: What happens when a pitched ball gets stuck in a catcher's mask? All baserunners advance one base. Not that Piazza would know. That never happened to him, I'm sure.

1994 Bowman's Best Mike Piazza: I just like the gaudy red of these cards. It's interesting to note that out of the 52 cards I received, 25 showed him catching and only 18 showed him batting (the rest were baserunning or portrait shots). Piazza was a much more superior hitter than catcher.

1994 Upper Deck Fun Pack Heat Activated Mike Piazza: I had my daughter try out this card, press on the dark area and reveal the wacky cartoon fans ogling Piazza. She said they need to make Bella Sara cards like that.

1994 Upper Deck Electric Diamond Mike Piazza: Mike was always good for at least one goofy face a year.

1994 Fleer Ultra Rawhide Mike Piazza: These cards have a glossy leather feel. They're pretty cool. I'm trying really hard not to smell the card like I used to smell my glove as a kid. I was so weird.

1993 Fleer Ultra Mike Piazza: Nothing beats a good photograph. Did I mention that Piazza's inability to throw out base stealers was a constant source of irritation?

1995 Select Mike Piazza: A very nice card, and it's a checklist, too! Piazza was the checklist king of the '90s.

1996 Upper Deck V.J. Lovero Mike Piazza: I had to show this one extra big because I have waited awhile to get this card. That was quite an insert set U.D. put out in '96 from the late Sports Illustrated photographer. I'm sure former housemates Piazza and Karros could never have had the real Lasorda pose for the photo, or those doughnuts and cereal would be gone.

Thanks for the Piazzas, Offy! Somehow, I don't think it will be enough to will the Dodgers to victory tonight. So I'm showing one more card Offy sent:

Koufax knew a thing or two about winning postseason games.

Go Dodgers!

Piazza!