Did Belle and Sebastian See Mike Piazza in San Francisco?

In the song “Piazza, New York Catcher” from their album Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Belle and Sebastian (and frontman Stuart Murdoch, specifically) make specific references to a Mets-Giants game.

Question: are Belle and Sebastian referring to a real or imagined Mets-Giants game? And, if it’s the former, can we identify which game?

First, let’s consider what we know — both from information in the song and with regard to Piazza himself.

We know:

1. That, owing to references in the song regarding Piazza’s sexuality, that it (i.e. the song) was almost certainly written after May 22, 2002 — i.e. the date on which Piazza held a press conference (following a New York Post story) to declare his heterosexuality.

2. That the song was written before October of 2003 — i.e. when the album was released.

3. That, owing to invocations in the song of San Francisco and the Tenderloin (a neighborhood in San Francisco), that the game was played in that city.

4. That Piazza, as noted in the song, was batting either .318 on the season at the time of the game — or for his career at the time of the game.

Using Baseball Reference, it’s possible to identify seven games that would fall within the timeframe established above: three games between August 20-22 of 2002 and four between May 15-18 of 2003.

While both timeframes satisfy the first three points established above, neither satisfies the fourth. Piazza ended the 2001 season with a .325 career average. By the beginning of the August 2002 series, he’d recorded 140 hits and 370 at-bats, putting his season average at .281 and career average at .322. Piazza ended the 2002 season with .321 career average. By the beginning of the May 2003 series, he’d recorded 35 hits in 107 at-bats, for a .327 season average and (still) .321 career average. No matches in either case, in other words.

Piazza’s May 16th game in San Francisco of 2003 was actually his last for three months, as the catcher sustained a right groin tear. Upon his return, he was less effective, slashing just .244/.338/.366 for the remainder of the season (123 AB). After a 1-for-5 on September 20, 2003, Piazza would have had his lowest career batting average during the time period in question: a mark of .318642 — as close as he’ll have gotten to .318, even if rounding would have made it otherwise.

Another consideration: while we don’t know where the members of Belle and Sebastian will have been every day of the time periods being considered here, we do know when they would have been playing shows. According to the band’s official site, the group had no live shows scheduled during the relevant timeframe in August of 2002. They did, however, play a show in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 17th of 2003 — i.e. on the third game of that May four-game series (and the day after Piazza’s groin injury). As such, we might say that it’s possible, but unlikely, that Murdoch and Co were attending any Giants games in San Francisco on May 15 or 16.

In conclusion, we find 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.