Jump to content

Piazza, New York Catcher

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"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 its 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

[edit]
  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.