Mike Piazza will wear Mets cap, not Dodgers, in Cooperstown

The National Baseball Hall of Fame held its press conference for the 2016 inductees into Cooperstown on Thursday, and catcher Mike Piazza confirmed that he will be depicted wearing a Mets cap on his plaque.

"As much as I loved coming up with the Dodgers, and I'll always cherish my time there, I'm going in as a New York Met," Piazza said during the press conference, as seen on MLB Network.

Piazza hit .331/.394/.572 in 5½ seasons with the Dodgers, and has better rate stats in Los Angeles than in New York, but he also played in his only World Series with the Mets, and played 7½ years in New York. With the Mets, Piazza has more games (972 to 726), hits (1,028 to 896), home runs (220 to 177), RBI (655 to 563), runs (532 to 443), walks (424 to 283) and total bases (1,885 to 1,548).

Piazza had good things to say about his time with the Dodgers, and said he called Tommy Lasorda, his godfather, on Wednesday night to let him know of the decision.

During the news conference, Piazza also praised John Roseboro, Kevin Kennedy and Joe Ferguson, his first catching instructors in the Dodgers organization, saying they got him ready to play. Piazza said it was an honor to meet Sandy Koufax with the Dodgers.

Piazza called his departure from the Dodgers via trade in 1998 "a combination of egos and bad timing."

Piazza originally wore 25 in his first call up to the Dodgers, in September 1992. He switched to his trademark 31 the next season thanks to a pair of former Mets. Bobby Ojeda wore 17 with the Dodgers in 1992, then left as a free agent in the offseason. Roger McDowell wore 31 in 1992 with the Dodgers, but switched to 17 in 1993 to honor his former Mets teammate. Piazza said his lucky numbers "were always in the threes," so he took the vacant number 31, and the rest is history.