Slugging catcher Piazza retires

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mike Piazza, a 62nd-round draft choice who became one of baseball's best hitting catchers, formally announced his retirement on Tuesday.

"It has been an amazing journey," Piazza, 39, said in a statement. "So today, I walk away with no regrets."

Piazza had held open the possibility he might play this season if the right opportunity came up.

Piazza set the major league record for home runs by a catcher with 396 of the 427 round-trippers he slugged during a 16-year career coming as a catcher.

A career .308 hitter despite being slow afoot, Piazza was selected in the 1988 draft as a favor to Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, his godfather through a friendship with the family.

Piazza converted from first base to catcher and shone for the Dodgers for 6-½ years before he was dealt to the Florida Marlins, who a week later traded him in a huge deal to the New York Mets, where he played 7 ½ seasons.

"He's going to go down as one of the greatest hitting catchers of all time," New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, a former big league catcher himself, told reporters on Tuesday.

"I'm not taking anything away from his catching, but he was a force day in and day out in the lineup. He was a force.

"He killed the teams that I was on. I used to hate to see him come to Colorado when we played against him because I think he had a grand slam in every series we ever played against him."

After leaving the Mets, Piazza signed with the San Diego Padres and then played a season with the Oakland Athletics.

"After discussing my options with my wife, family and agent, I felt it is time to start a new chapter in my life," Piazza said.

(Writing by Larry Fine; Editing by Ed Osmond)