Piazza's Memoir

[Edgy MD]

"And we're so happy today to have Mike Piazza! ... and his pack o' mooks!"

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: A year is still the standard, but pop culture bios often have a short enough shelf life as it is, so that figure could be contracted, and the paperback version could very likely be out by Christmas. In the age of digital publishing destroying the book, "standard" isn't a very meaningful term. Everybody is trying to find a new model.

That's true? a year? That definitely seems like one of those things that needs to get caught up with the times.

[Frayed Knot]

A year from now the next HoF vote will be known making that perfect timing for a paperback release with a new chapter - particularly if that vote goes his way.
Keith's 'If At First' paperback release came approx a year later and took the obvious addition of including a chapter on the '86 season.

[Guest Kong76]

I was just thinking about Piazza and Seaver exiting Shea. Is it
possible in this digital age, and everyone chews on this book a
few more weeks that Mikey (I know he hates that), will become
the number one most self-absorbed Met over Tom Terrific in the
fan's eyes? Stay tuned.

[ashie62]

For this generation perhaps

[bmfc1]

An LA news report on the interview Piazza is talking about:
http://ktla.com/2013/02/15/exclusive-raw-interview-piazza-scully-discuss-ultimatum/#axzz2KyaMzmZK

Legend-on-legend crime: Mike claims Vin Scully had it in for him. And takes on the briefest of Met teammates. Mike Piazza has not set foot in Dodger Stadium since his retirement. When the Dodgers offered to honor him with a bobblehead night last season, Piazza declined. "He doesn't want to come back because he thinks the fans will boo," former Dodgers Manager Tom Lasorda, the godfather to Piazza's brother, told The Times last month. Piazza did himself no favors on that score in his new book, "Long Shot." In the book, he blames iconic Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully for turning fans against him during the contract stalemate that preceded his trade to the Florida Marlins in 1998. Piazza, who was eligible for free agency after the 1998 season, said he hoped to stay with the Dodgers but set a deadline of Feb. 15 to reach a new contract. In the book, Piazza wrote that Scully asked him about the deadline in a spring interview. "He wasn't happy about it," Piazza wrote. "And Scully's voice carried a great deal of authority in Los Angeles." Piazza wanted $105 million over seven years. In the book, he said the Dodgers made a take-it-or-leave-it offer of $76 million over six years, said he would have signed at $79 million, and suggested the team leaked that it had offered $80 million. At $80 million -- or even at $76 million -- Piazza would have been the highest-paid player in the game. Dodgers fans took notice that spring, as Piazza wrote. "The way the whole contract drama looked to them -- many of whom were taking their cue from Scully -- was that, by setting a deadline and insisting on so much money, I was demonstrating a conspicuous lack of loyalty to the ball club," Piazza wrote. "I understood that." Piazza ripped the Dodgers in a 1998 opening day interview with The Times. In the book, he said that interview did not play well with the L.A. fans, and neither did the fact that he failed to drive in a run as the Dodgers opened the season with a four-game losing streak. "On top of that, Vin Scully was crushing me," Piazza wrote. Scully flatly denied he maligned Piazza. "That's not true at all," Scully told The Times in a telephone interview Wednesday. Scully said he could not recall the interview in which Piazza said the contract deadline was discussed. However, Scully said, he never would criticize a player about contractual negotiations. "As God is my judge, I don't get involved in these things," Scully said. "I can't imagine I would ever put my toe in the water as far as a player and his negotiations. "I have no idea where he is coming from. I really have no idea. I can't imagine saying something about a player and his contract. I just don't do that, ever. I'm really flabbergasted by that reference." Piazza retired via email on May 20, 2008. No team had signed him for the 2008 season, although he heard from Lasorda that the Dodgers might be interested. Ultimately, the Dodgers signed Gary Bennett to back up Russell Martin. "Even to the end, ten years after they'd traded me, the Dodgers were still jerking me around," Piazza wrote. "If they'd brought in Pudge Rodriguez, sure, I could understand that. But Gary Bennett?"

[Vic Sage]

well, you know, alot of those Dodger fans... they're latins. They clearly had it in for him.

[G-Fafif]

bmfc1 wrote: An LA news report on the interview Piazza is talking about: http://ktla.com/2013/02/15/exclusive-raw-interview-piazza-scully-discuss-ultimatum/#axzz2KyaMzmZK

Three takeaways:

1. Vin Scully is a bit of a company man. Given that he'd been the public voice of that company for 48 years to that point, no real surprise. Pretty mild inquisition.

2. Mike Piazza: Awfully touchy from words for a guy who got slammed into at the plate as much as he did.

3. Glen Walker didn't need to stand outside Dodger Stadium to introduce that piece. I'm guessing that the greater Los Angeles area didn't take its cue from a KTLA interview in 1998, either.

[TransMonk]

Finished it. For what it's worth, he saves some of his most positive comments for his final days with the Mets and considers his times with the Mets his best times.

He states (once again, I believe) that it would be his preference to go into the Hall as a Met and that if the HOF made him go as a Dodger, he would prefer to go in like Catfish Hunter with a blank cap.

That being said, I'm still pretty put off about his bratty attitude. I would NOT recommend this book if you have a glowing image of Mikey's attitude in your mind.

Mike was a great player. He DID bring legitimacy to the Mets after several years of them missing it. Luckily, he was never my favorite player on any of his teams...but he was a nice piece to have on the field at the turn of the century. But the fact remains that he played on a lot of very good teams in his career. He was on playoff teams in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2006...and several other contenders. As good as his hitting was, he was never a legitimate leader either in the clubhouse or even on the field. If he was, I would think one of those teams would have a won ring.

[G-Fafif]

Monk, any tidbits on any Mets we wouldn't necessarily expect mentioned? On FAN yesterday, for example, he talked about what a cutup Pat Mahomes was.

[TransMonk]

Not a lot of surprised in my mind based on reports of the time. Piazza and Pedro did not get along...and I'm not sure that was news. Otherwise, he did not have many bad things to say about his Mets teammates. The 1998-2001 teams were very close in his recollection. He had great relationships with Leiter, Franco, Ventura and Zeile...again, not news.

His stories in the Mets years linger on the playoff runs, the Clemens feud, the Mota feud, 9/11, the gay story, his decline into injury in the years following 2001, and not wanting to move to first base. The book focuses a lot on him and he doesn't give too much away about his teammates at any time.

[G-Fafif]

In two of the three interviews I've heard, Mike pays homage to the coaching he received as a Dodger. He should also thank whoever has coached him for these sessions. In all three -- with Greg Amsinger on MBLN, Jon Stewart on TDS and Mike Francesa on WFAN -- when he's asked about steroids, he takes the same pause, emits the same "hmmm, that's an interesting question..." inflection and answers in the same fashion each time. Not so much that it's the same answer (the substance ought to be consistent), but as if the interviewer is the very first person to ask him about it and he's never really thought about it before. It's the kind of spontaneous Charles Van Doren performance Herb Stempel would have pointed out with glee to Congress in Quiz Show.

[metirish]

TransMonk wrote: That being said, I'm still pretty put off about his bratty attitude. I would NOT recommend this book if you have a glowing image of Mikey's attitude in your mind. .

Thanks, my fave Met ever.....the reason I really became a fan.....I will not be reading this I think....he seems like a twat.

[G-Fafif]

Chass plumbs new depths in condescension, innuendo and overall douchebaggery. Piazza could be the brattiest of brats with a syringe sticking out of his ass and it wouldn't make the Bacne Crusader look a whit better.

Had Piazza agreed to an interview this week, I would love to have had the opportunity to ask him about his back and the timing and disappearance of his acne. But the guy who just published an $800,000 book, isn�t doing interviews. Why should he care about book sales? He got his money. The publisher, on the other hand, should care for the same reason, but neither Mr. Simon nor Mr. Schuster wants to ruffle Piazza�s feathers, you know, the ones left from the steroids.

Dick. Seriously.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm starting to get the impression that latter-day Chass reads/watches little besides his own writing and that of a couple of friends.

He's not doing interviews with you, you decaying, acrid turd.

[Edgy MD]

Why should he care about book sales? He got his money. The publisher, on the other hand, should care for the same reason...

Could you imagine anybody anywhere who wouldn't have bought Mike Piazza's book, but for the promotional uptick he got from doing a hostile interview bomb with Murray Chass?

That guy so needs a hug.

[G-Fafif]

He really loves that Reggie Jefferson quote. Reggie Jefferson, you'll remember, played alongside Mike at every stop in his major league career from 1992 to 2007, except for 1992 to 2007, when they were never even in the same league.

Also, note the quiet pejorative Chassage: "Baseball people" are all knowing. "Cincinnati writer" indicates a step down from Michael Bamberger. If Lonnie Wheeler had been the first choice and turned it down, he'd be the "respected collaborator," whereas Bamberger would be "a magazine writer".

Craig Carton is a trustworthy voice of reason. Boomer Esiason's a dumb jock. Lasorda is without insight. Mark McGwire proves that.

[Guest themetfairy]

I'm just a little ways into this. But my impression is that, unlike R.A. Dickey, Piazza's early life was based entirely on baseball.

Not unlike the academic kids who study all day and have nothing else of relevance in their lives, Piazza really doesn't have anything other than baseball to discuss.

[ashie62]

I have not been comfortable to this day that Piazza didn't come at Clemens..wuss

[Edgy MD]

Do you really believe his decision was based on personal physical cowardice?

[ashie62]

Edgy MD wrote: Do you really believe his decision was based on personal physical cowardice?

Not physical..not at all...Mental ? who knows...

[Guest Kong76]

That whole situation was a cluster fuck. I still can't believe
Clemens did that and got away with it. It's beyond words.

[G-Fafif]

The "Vin Scully was crushing me" thing in L.A. seems to have gained traction to the point it's probably a bigger deal/detriment than anything Mike had to say about PEDs. Comments section of the linked piece, mostly from the estranged and scorned among Dodgers fans, is fairly enlightening (which is rare for a comments section).

Bill Plaschke: told Mike to "zip it" in 1998 and still has a major market newspaper column. That's the real crime here.

[Edgy MD]

I left boy scouts before doing the requisite work for my Eagle Scout promotion.

#VinScullyIsCrushingMe

[G-Fafif]

Rob Neyer notices Piazza claims he was criticized in a T#m Gl@v!ne book that doesn't exist. And that Gl@v!ne never criticized Piazza in the manner Piazza's book describes, at least not publicly or in print.

Quality Control on a Simon & Schuster product would seem to be lacking.

[Edgy MD]

There's never been a baseball book called Home of the Brave, and it's strange that nobody picked up on that before publication of Piazza's book; I mean, if you're going to criticize an ex-teammate -- and probably a fellow Hall of Famer someday -- you'd probably want to make sure you get something like that right.

Probably not as strange as all that.

I'm really starting to wonder if this book is 100% nonsense.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

I think the quote was actually from this book:

[G-Fafif]

I think the quote was actually from this book:

Mike Piazza: Leave evidence of well-to-do upbringing all over clubhouse bathroom floor, no clean up before Chico use. Tom Glavine: No show proper remorse for bad last outing. Last outing berry, berry bad for Mets. Joe McEwing: Everybody say Joe "super". Joe no so super. Chico es super.

[Elster88]

Piazza will be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I bet he'd rather be on Anderson Cooper.