Twelve-time MLB All-Star Mike Piazza was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday, and in his speech at the induction ceremony, he thanked his mother for raising him Catholic and quoted Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 encyclical, Spe Salvi (22:35 in the video below).
“My mother gave me the greatest gift a mother could give a child—she gave me the gift of my Catholic faith,” Piazza said. “This has had a profound impact on my career and has given me patience, compassion, and hope. Pope Benedict XVI said, ‘One who has hope lives differently.’”
Piazza was a 62nd-round draft pick when he started in the majors in 1988, and went on to hold numerous batting titles and to become one of the best catchers to play the game.
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