NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- New York Mets great Mike Piazza was at Citi Field for Opening Day on Thursday. The 12-time All Star and 10-time Silver Slugger Award winner played with the Mets until 2005, and says he still misses Opening Day with the team.
"It's always a thrill as a player, Opening Day, because it's such a tradition in baseball and in New York it's even more special because of the intensity the fans here," Piazza said before the Mets lost, 4-0, to the Washington Nationals. "There's not a day that doesn't go by that you don't miss it, so you miss it every day as a player and so it is very special."
The former catcher says he's already offered advice to rookie first baseman Pete Alonso, who made his Citi Field debut on Thursday, telling him to "drink it in and enjoy it."
Piazza says "it takes a special person to really do well in New York" and that Alonso already shaping up to be a great addition to the team.
"He's off to a great start and I think even more so, I'm completely convinced he's gonna be a great player, but he looks and, just from when I've talked to him, being a great kid as well and a good person," Piazza says.
Piazza says it helps that Alonso has the support of veterans such as Robinson Cano and Jacob deGrom.
"A guy like Robinson Cano, he makes the team better just by his presence in the lineup," Piazza says.
As for deGrom, the former Met says "he's a great competitor, he has great stuff, he's a great guy in the clubhouse and when he won the Cy Young, as I said, I put a note out that I'm proud of him because he's a good guy and he works hard, but he's a bulldog on the mound and he's got all those great qualities, so I think we're very blessed to have him."