Rookie jerseys of players who would eventually make it to Cooperstown are prized items indeed. After being selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers as the overall 1,390th pick in the 62nd round in the 1988 MLB amateur draft, Mike Piazza had a rookie season that would launch his Hall of Fame career. This offered jersey was worn by Piazza during the 1993 season when he would be named the National League Rookie of the Year. Piazza’s first full season saw the future Hall-of-Famer hit 35 home runs, drive in 112 runs while compiling a solid .318 batting average. Piazza's 35 home runs in his rookie season were the most ever by a rookie catcher at the time and he also became the first NL rookie in 40 years to drive in more than 100 runs.

     Starting in 1993, Piazza began a streak of being named to 10 straight all-star teams as well as a record 10 consecutive silver slugger awards. Other than Piazza, only nine other players in MLB history have ever had over 400 home runs with over a .300 lifetime average while never striking out more than 100 times in a season. The others include the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Hank Aaron, Albert Pujols, and Chipper Jones. Piazza is arguably the greatest hitting catcher of all time and holds the record for most home runs ever hit by any catcher in league history.

     This home white Los Angeles Dodgers size 48 button-down jersey has “Dodgers” is sewn on across the chest in blue with a paraph and his “31” sewn on in red on the left center. The back of the jersey has “PIAZZA” and his “31” sewn on in blue on white tackle twill. 1993 was a tragic year for the Dodgers as each sleeve has commemorative patches honoring passed players. The left sleeve has a black circle patch with “52” in white in memory of Tim Crews, who died in a boating accident during spring training with the Cleveland Indians (Crews had spent the previous six seasons with the Dodgers). The red Rawlings size 48 and “1 INCH EXTRA LENGTH” tags are sewn on the center rear bottom tail with a “SET 1 1993” flap along with a “4” that has been hand written in black marker. The jersey shows light game use and was worn by Piazza prior to June 26th as additional patches were added to Dodgers’ jerseys that season due to the deaths of Roy Campanella and Don Drysdale. This jersey comes with a full LOA from noted game used jersey expert Dave Miedema.

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