The beautiful baseball beef between Mike Piazza and Roger Clemens
If you know one thing about Mike Piazzaās beef with Roger Clemens, itās probably the moment in Game 2 of the 2000 World Series when Clemens threw a chunk of Piazzaās broken bat right back at Piazza. Thatās definitely the climax of the feud, but it wasnāt an isolated incident.
Clemens vs. Piazza is best understood within a few contexts: First, the surprisingly recent history of the Yankees-Mets rivalry. Second, baseballās strange, unwritten justice system wherein pitchers sometimes throw right at batters. Above all else, you need to remember the way intention and fate interacted to create that climactic moment in 2000. We saw a flurry of increasingly embarrassing homers, a beanball that led to a concussion, a possibility of ākarate,ā and a lot of back-and-forths in the media before the bat shattered that night. And after that moment, thereās a lot of unresolved tension between the two baseball legends. Itās pretty awkward.