- 1 day ago
The fact that Mike Piazza is a metalhead really fits with this beef. I believe it's quite metal to shake out your mullet and be like, "The Dodgers drafted me when no one else would, but f-you corporate ownership, I don't owe you a debt of gratitude."
Now it might be slightly less metal to then say, "so make me the highest paid player in baseball or I'm gonna be distracted on the field, $81 million is not enough for me I have expensive taste."
Oh, and it doesn't seem very metal to be like, "my dad's friend got me the job." (Tommy Lasorda grew up with Piazza's dad).
It also doesn't feel particularly metal to go after a beloved old guy (in this case, Piazza cast aspersions upon Vin Scully). That feels more Insane Clown Posse to me? But look, I'm not a music expert. You be the judge!
love,
Clara
Now it might be slightly less metal to then say, "so make me the highest paid player in baseball or I'm gonna be distracted on the field, $81 million is not enough for me I have expensive taste."
Oh, and it doesn't seem very metal to be like, "my dad's friend got me the job." (Tommy Lasorda grew up with Piazza's dad).
It also doesn't feel particularly metal to go after a beloved old guy (in this case, Piazza cast aspersions upon Vin Scully). That feels more Insane Clown Posse to me? But look, I'm not a music expert. You be the judge!
love,
Clara
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SportsTranscript
00:00The L.A. Dodgers gave Mike Piazza a chance when no one else would.
00:04And that chance led to a Hall of Fame career.
00:08Oh, he chose to wear a Mets cap.
00:11Hmm, wonder why he did that.
00:16While I have you, gonna plug the Patreon real quick.
00:19We're giving you new cool stuff every week.
00:21I'd like to see Santa pull that off.
00:25Okay, so yes, Piazza was very good at baseball,
00:27but he was not recruited out of high school or community college.
00:31Good thing his dad grew up and was close personal friends
00:35with legendary Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda.
00:38So Mike Piazza got to be drafted in 1988 after all.
00:42Sure, it was in the 62nd round as the 1,390th player.
00:47And sure, the Dodgers scouting director didn't want to sign him.
00:51Until Lasorda convinced the team Piazza could transform
00:54from a not-great first baseman who could hit,
00:57to a decent catcher who could hit.
01:00And off Piazza went on the difficult path of learning to play catcher
01:03in the Dominican Republic training grounds and Mexican leagues
01:06and eventually Dodgers minor leagues in the USA.
01:10Where he wasn't like,
01:11thanks for giving me, a loser, a chance.
01:14Love you guys forever.
01:16Does anyone need some coffee?
01:17Back rub?
01:18Rather, he was like,
01:20fuck off, I'm good.
01:21In 1990, playing for the single-A Vero Beach Dodgers,
01:25he butted heads with manager Joe Alvarez,
01:27who kept telling him to bunt with two strikes.
01:30He got so mad, he even quit.
01:32It only lasted a night,
01:34but still, it shows a confidence you might not expect
01:36from someone who was drafted as a personal favor.
01:39In his book, published more than two decades later,
01:42Piazza said that incident in single-A
01:44was the end of him bleeding Dodger blue.
01:48Though once his Dodgers career began in earnest,
01:50you wouldn't know it.
01:53Piazza became the starting catcher in 93
01:55and was an instant fan fave.
01:57Bolstered by the fact that there was a hole
01:59in Dodger fans' hearts,
02:00Fernando Mania had officially ended a few seasons earlier.
02:04Piazza filled that hole with his bat.
02:07Oh my God.
02:08He hit a lot of homers and had a great rookie year
02:11and was fun to watch, is all I mean.
02:13And the good times kept rolling.
02:1597 was his best year yet.
02:17He was the Dodgers.
02:18In LA, he was bigger than Shaq.
02:21Metaphorically.
02:22Don't be silly.
02:22Cut it out.
02:24Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Dodgers weren't winning.
02:25The past three years saw two sweeps
02:27and no playoffs at all.
02:29Yeah, yeah, yeah, he said some kind of racist stuff
02:32about why they weren't winning.
02:34Yeah, yeah, yeah, he occasionally made the press
02:36for not signing autographs for children.
02:38And yes, he wasn't actually the best catcher
02:40in the world at, you know, catching.
02:43But those were footnotes.
02:45The face notes were the homers
02:47and the Baywatch appearance,
02:49MTV's rock and jock games,
02:50and hair so luxurious it sold shampoo.
02:54Has a mullet ever been so glorified?
02:57After the 96 season,
02:58the Dodgers made the marketable face of their franchise
03:01the highest paid catcher ever
03:03and the highest paid Dodger ever.
03:05Of course they did, right?
03:07Oh, he had to file for arbitration.
03:10That's odd.
03:11Okay, so here's what was going on in the 96 offseason.
03:15First, the Dodgers made Piazza's teammate,
03:17Eric Keros, the highest paid Dodger ever.
03:20Then they offered Piazza a deal
03:22that would instantly knock Keros off that hilltop.
03:25Oh, wow.
03:26Piazza must be a priority for them,
03:28breaking that new record-setting price for him.
03:32Or they were just trying to make Piazza's offer
03:35look impressive by contrast.
03:37Because here's the rub.
03:39Piazza thought he was worth much, much more
03:42than they were offering.
03:43Piazza and his agent considered the whole display
03:46a slap in the face.
03:48Off to arbitration.
03:50The way that worked was the player submitted a number
03:52and the team submitted a number
03:54and the arbitrator picked one of those numbers.
03:56It wasn't like some sort of averaging
03:58or mean median mode thing.
04:01Piazza submitted a high number.
04:04And the Dodgers were like,
04:06this could get ugly,
04:07let's just give them a good short-term contract
04:09and push the problem down the road.
04:11They didn't exactly avoid things getting ugly,
04:14but at least it was over.
04:15For an extremely short period of time.
04:19Piazza went out in 97 and had his best,
04:21personal,
04:22season ever,
04:22and then it was time to negotiate again
04:25because his free agency was breathing
04:26its hot, stale breath down everyone's neck.
04:29In October 97,
04:31Piazza and his agent issued a deadline to the Dodgers.
04:34Sign him by this coming February 15th,
04:37or he'll become a free agent
04:38and test the waters at the end of the season.
04:40His agent clarified that the deadline was not a threat.
04:43Hey, if you have to specify something you said isn't a threat,
04:49well, it's certainly not friendly.
04:51And the deal might be tricky
04:53because, well, look,
04:54Mike had a very good season
04:56and he wanted to be compensated with more digits
05:00than any other baseball player ever.
05:03Fans were a little angry,
05:05a little taken aback,
05:06but how can you stay mad at him
05:08when he tells the media
05:09he still wants to be a Dodger
05:10while passing out toys to sick kids?
05:12The deadline came and went,
05:14partially delayed because the Dodgers were being sold to Fox
05:17and that took time.
05:19Piazza and his camp seemed angry,
05:21but publicly claimed no animosity.
05:24Oh, I should mention,
05:25speculation was now that he wanted
05:26more than $100 million.
05:29Maybe way more.
05:30Piazza's former teammate,
05:32the recently retired Brett Butler,
05:34could not handle that.
05:35He blasted Piazza in the press,
05:37saying the catcher was not worth that much money.
05:39Look at the Dodgers' playoff performances.
05:42That's the result of a bad,
05:44self-centered leader
05:45who only cares about personal accomplishments.
05:48Now, fans in the media couldn't handle that.
05:51The guy was asking for a lot of money,
05:53but he is the Dodgers.
05:55Back off, Butler.
05:57When the sale finally went through in late March,
06:00new president Bob Graziano
06:01offered Piazza a six-year,
06:03$76 million deal.
06:06With no incentives.
06:07The deal would make him
06:09the highest paid player in baseball,
06:11but just by a measly million dollars.
06:14Mike felt slapped for a second time.
06:16He later said the offer was calculated
06:19to make him turn it down,
06:20while at the same time convincing fans
06:22the club was being nice to him.
06:24Just good enough to make him look greedy.
06:26And perhaps it was a bit salty
06:28because the new president said
06:29there was no rush to sign him.
06:32L.A. did eventually up the offer to...
06:35It's a little unclear.
06:36The press at the time said $80 million.
06:39In his book, Piazza stresses
06:40it was only $79 million,
06:43but the team told the press $80 million
06:45to make him look bad for turning it down.
06:47Either way, still a very large number.
06:51Maybe, and I hate to say this,
06:53but when you're talking about that much money,
06:56$79 and $80 million are the same?
06:59Did I just out myself as not being super rich?
07:02I was passing before, though, right?
07:04With my rich bitch accent.
07:07Piazza did in fact turn down the deal,
07:10which looked bad.
07:12But hey, from Mike's point of view,
07:14the Dodgers were shortchanging him
07:16because of the whole
07:16your dad's bestie drafted you as a courtesy thing,
07:20which likely pissed him off more.
07:22He was the one who worked hard
07:24and capitalized on the chance he got.
07:26He got the Pert Plus commercial
07:27on his own merits.
07:30The season began
07:31and there was no new contract,
07:33but there was a season-opening 6-0 loss
07:35to the Cardinals.
07:37After the game,
07:38Mike talked to the press.
07:40His team responded via the press
07:42that same day,
07:43saying it's hard to assess Piazza's worth.
07:47That didn't go over well with the catcher,
07:49who went ahead and spoke to the press again.
07:52This time, he said he wasn't going to take
07:54all this contract distraction onto the field with him
07:57while saying he was going to take it onto the field with him.
08:01And considering he'd been not so great on said field,
08:06there was backlash.
08:08His stock had fallen so low
08:10that people were willing to call out
08:12his children's hospital visits as PR stunts.
08:14A reporter went so far as to reveal
08:17that a feel-good story from the previous season
08:19wasn't so feel-good.
08:21The story was,
08:22a sick little girl's dying wish
08:24was to meet Mike Piazza.
08:26He intended to meet her,
08:28but she passed away before he got the chance.
08:31So, okay, maybe not a feel-good story,
08:33but definitely a pro-Piazza story.
08:36The catcher's efforts were the silver lining.
08:38He looked like a saint.
08:40Behind the scenes,
08:41Piazza even wanted to contact the family
08:43after the child's death.
08:44And his camp got their number
08:46through this reporter.
08:47But Piazza never called.
08:50The grieving family was hurt.
08:53The reporter who broke this story
08:55went so far as to compare Piazza
08:57whining about wanting a guaranteed
08:59seven-year contract extension
09:00with the little girl
09:02who didn't get any seven-year extension
09:04on her life,
09:05yet never complained.
09:08Which, like,
09:09holy shit.
09:10The beef was on fire.
09:13On April 1st,
09:14Piazza splashed some lighter fluid
09:16onto the beef,
09:17turning down another,
09:18slightly higher Dodger contract.
09:20He was booed at LA's home opener.
09:23Fans in the media were so angry,
09:25they started to doubt Piazza's baseball ability.
09:28He's a bad catcher.
09:29He's selfish and can't lead.
09:31He's actually not worth $100 million.
09:34Now people were seeing the light
09:36Brett Butler had been shining a month ago.
09:38Opinion of Piazza had done a complete 180.
09:41On May 15th,
09:43the Dodgers punted the flaming beef patty out of town,
09:47trading Mike for Gary Sheffield in pieces.
09:49They couldn't afford to let him walk in free agency
09:51and get nothing in return.
09:53They sent him to the Marlins,
09:55but no one expected him to stay there long.
09:57Florida was shedding salary
09:58after winning the World Series the previous season.
10:01Some said he should have had to stay with the Marlins
10:03while they sucked as punishment
10:05for the crime of boundless greed and arrogance.
10:08The Marlins traded him to the Mets.
10:10He didn't do well there initially
10:11and was booed at home.
10:13Few felt sympathy for the catcher
10:15with an ego bigger than the monster Godzilla.
10:18I mean, he went on to have a great Mets career.
10:21Everyone stopped booing him
10:23and pretended they never did.
10:24But the scent of charred beef stuck with him.
10:28He heard boos in Dodger Stadium
10:30whenever the Mets visited.
10:31And after his retirement in 2008,
10:34he never returned.
10:36In 2012, the Dodgers invited him to come back
10:38for his bobblehead night,
10:40but Piazza refused.
10:42Tommy Lasorda said Piazza didn't come
10:44because he was afraid fans would boo him.
10:47Which, like,
10:47Tommy, I thought you were supposed to be a family friend.
10:50Don't tell people that.
10:52Lasorda didn't think fans would have booed him.
10:54He thought they were over it
10:55and ready to put his bobblehead on a shelf
10:57in their basement or garage or bedroom,
11:00depending on family dynamics.
11:02But in 2013, Piazza gave fans a reason
11:05to remove his bobblehead from wherever they kept it
11:08and shove it full of firecrackers.
11:10He published an autobiography
11:12in which he attacked Dodger broadcaster,
11:14excuse me,
11:15beloved Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully.
11:18He claimed that in an interview
11:20about his self-imposed 1998 contract deadline,
11:23Scully made him out to be a villain.
11:25Unfortunately for Mike,
11:27there is video of the interview
11:29and it's very neutral to pro-Mike Piazza.
11:35Vin Scully seemed offended
11:36and vehemently denied ever weighing in
11:39in any way to any player's contract situation.
11:43The contract dispute could have been forgiven.
11:45Time and Fox generally being bad owners
11:48could erode fans' strong feelings.
11:51Lasorda had thought Piazza was in the clear.
11:54Had thought.
11:56Cause you know what LA won't forgive?
11:59Going after Scully.
12:01Whatever, said Mike Piazza
12:03as he adorned a Mets cap
12:04rather than a Dodger cap
12:05for his Hall of Fame induction in 2016.
12:08The move was expected,
12:10but still seemed petty and bitter.
12:12And the Scully bros,
12:14as I'm sure they'd like to be called,
12:15said they didn't want him in a Dodger cap anyway.
12:18Even the more laid-back,
12:20California surfer,
12:21Pete the Cat-type Dodger fans
12:23found his induction bittersweet.
12:25The Dodgers were the only team
12:27that took a chance on Mike Piazza.
12:29They gave him the opportunity
12:30to become one of the best catchers of all time.
12:33Seems there should be some sentimentality there.
12:36But there's another way to look at it.
12:38Great, they gave him a bat.
12:40Look what he did with it.
12:42Why should he be so loyal to them
12:44that he gives up money,
12:45even though either way he'd be sickeningly rich?
12:48Why should he be loyal to broadcasters
12:50who could have said more than,
12:52well said, Mike?
12:53The Hall of Fame catcher
12:54has never returned to Dodger Stadium,
12:56and there's little reason to believe he ever will.
12:59Because the beef between Mike Piazza
13:01and the Dodgers
13:02burns eternal.
13:11Thanks to our patrons.
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13:18get a snack,
13:19and make it a chocolatey one.
13:21That's what we all want.
13:22Come on, why not?
13:23For Secret Base,
13:24I'm Clara Morris.
13:25Good night and good game.
13:31Good night and good game.
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