BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Mike Piazza is retiring from baseball following a 16-season career in which he became one of the top-hitting catchers in history.

"After discussing my options with my wife, family and agent, I felt it was time to start a new chapter in my life," he said in a statement released Tuesday by his agent, Dan Lozano. "It has been an amazing journey ... So today, I walk away with no regrets.

"I knew this day was coming and over the last two years. I started to make my peace with it. I gave it my all and left everything on the field."

The 39-year-old Piazza batted .275 with eight homers and 44 RBIs as a designated hitter for Oakland last season, became a free agent and did not re-sign. He was not available to discuss his decision, according to Josh Goldberg, a spokesman for Lozano.

"He was one of those hitters who could change the game with one swing. He was certainly the greatest-hitting catcher of our time, and arguably of all time," said Atlanta pitcher Tom Glavine, Piazza's former teammate on the New York Mets.

At the urging of former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda, who like Piazza hailed from Norristown, Pa., and was a friend of his father, Los Angeles selected the son in the 62nd round of the 1988 amateur draft. Piazza went on to become a 12-time All-Star, making the NL team 10 consecutive times starting in 1993.

Upon hearing the news of Piazza's retirement Tuesday, Lasorda made one last pitch.

"I would hope he would go into the Hall of Fame as a Dodger," Lasorda, who entered the hall in 1997, told USA Today. "We're the one who gave him an opportunity. Here we are, from the same town [Norristown, Pa.], watching him grow up, and now we'll be into the Hall of Fame together."

Piazza finished with a .308 career average, 427 home runs and 1,335 RBIs for the Dodgers (1992-98), Florida (1998), Mets (1998-05), San Diego (2006) and Oakland (2007).

"It's the end of a Hall of Fame career," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "It was a privilege to manage him for the short time that I did."

Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia was a teammate of Piazza's on the 1992 Los Angeles Dodgers and remembered back to Piazza's first season in the majors and what he accomplished.