The Dodgers traded Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile to the Dodgers on May 18, 1998, for Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, Gary Sheffield and Manuel Barrios.
In less than four days, the Marlins would turn around and trade Piazza to New York for prospects Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and Geoff Goetz.
The next day, May 23, Piazza - who had already hit 177 career home runs - played the first of his eventual 972 games for the Mets.
"Piazza was a marquee-type guy and we needed that type of player," then-GM Steve Phillips told me in 2015 about the decision to pursue Piazza.