"Piazza, New York Catcher"
Song by Belle and Sebastian
from the album Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Released6 October 2003
RecordedSummer 2003
GenreBaroque pop
Length3:03
LabelRough Trade
Producer(s)Trevor Horn

"Piazza, New York Catcher" is a song by Scottish band Belle and Sebastian, first appearing on their 2003 album Dear Catastrophe Waitress.[1][2][3] The song details the band's lead singer Stuart Murdoch's romance of his future wife in San Francisco.[4]

The song takes it name from MLB catcher Mike Piazza, who at the time played for the New York Mets, and discusses rumors of Piazza's sexuality.[5][6][7] Murdoch said of Piazza, after seeing him play at Shea Stadium, "I was almost instantly drawn to Piazza. That’s the thing about him; he was a talisman wherever he went. He was the kind of player people tended to follow, and we thought he was a good guy."[8]

FanGraphs sabermetrician Carson Cistulli (now working for the Toronto Blue Jays) attempted to find the exact date of the game depicted in the song, which described Piazza as hitting for a .318 batting average. He concluded that "Belle and Sebastian are probably referring to no specific Mets-Giants game — or, if they are, it’s most likely a game from August of 2002, with a reference to a batting average from a different date."[9]

The song appeared on the soundtrack of the 2007 film Juno.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Belle & Sebastian: Piazza, New York Catcher". Gizmodo. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  2. ^ "Belle & Sebastian's 20 best songs | NME". NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM. 2019-02-18. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  3. ^ Lello, Michael (2019-07-08). "Belle and Sebastian on NYC, album covers and playing at sea". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  4. ^ Jack, Malcolm (2016-02-03). "Belle and Sebastian – 10 of the best". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  5. ^ Malinowski, Erik (2016-01-06). "Mike Piazza: The Hall Calls for the Catcher No One Wanted". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  6. ^ Sports, Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY. "Mike Piazza to deny he took steroids". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-07-31.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ McCullough, Rustin Dodd and Andy. "From Bob Dylan to The Strokes: The 30 greatest baseball songs of all time". The Athletic. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  8. ^ a b Montgomery, James (2016-01-07). "Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch Still Loves Mike Piazza". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  9. ^ "Did Belle and Sebastian See Mike Piazza in San Francisco?". NotGraphs Baseball. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
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