Mike Piazza hits his 400th career home run

In hindsight, anyone who read the box score for the April 26, 2006, match-up between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres would assume it was a rough day for Mike Piazza.

In the bottom of the second, he struck out swinging against Orlando Hernandez. Two innings later, he grounded into a double play.

And in the top of the seventh inning while he was behind the plate, he nearly got knocked unconscious by Luis Gonzalez’s backswing.

“He got me good,” Piazza said to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Even with a helmet on, he rang my bell. I was pretty loopy for a few innings and felt nauseous. But I didn’t want to come out of the game. I felt I needed to stay in there.”

But the future Hall of Famer had been defying all expectations since he was selected as the 1,390th player in the 1988 MLB draft. He didn’t just face his challenges – he harnessed them as motivation. And April 26, 2006, was no different.

So with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, as a crowd of 22,247 looked on, Mike Piazza crushed a solo 416-foot home run to the left-centerfield seats at Petco Park. With his round-tripper, he became the 41st player in history to reach 400 home runs, and the only catcher. According to Sports Illustrated, only six players before Piazza hit 400 homers with a .300 career batting average without striking out 100 times in a season: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Hank Aaron.

It was an exclusive group of baseball legends – one he would officially join in 2016 in Cooperstown. But historical significance aside, as far as Piazza was concerned his main priority was still to help his club win. And after Adrian Gonzalez struck out to end the ballgame, the Padres put their third consecutive game in the “L” column, as their winning percentage sank to .381.

“It’s nice, but it would have been sweeter if we were playing better, winning more games,” Piazza said to the Union-Tribune. “I’ve been too inconsistent with my swing, I need to start replicating my swing, strive for consistency. I need an 8-for-10 streak or something like that to get going.”

The Padres would improve that year, with Piazza’s help. At the age of 37, as retirement rumors swirled around him, the Hall of Fame catcher averaged .283, with 22 home runs, 68 RBI and an OPS of .843. San Diego would jump from last to first in the National League West, as they finished with a record of 88-74, ultimately falling to the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 in the National League Division Series. Piazza would retire after the 2007 season, posting a record 396 home runs as a catcher, a .308 career batting average and 1,335 RBI.

“His determination and his work ethic were off the charts,” former Padres teammate Trevor Hoffman said to MLB.com. "To have him in 2006 with the Padres was special because I had seen the hard work that Mike had put in. It was toward the end of his career and seeing the numbers he had put up, the dedication he had and the way he respected the game of baseball -- it was something.”