EXTRA INNINGS
His playing days over as he prepares to enter Cooperstown, Mike Piazza takes The Post inside his Hall of Fame life
COOPERSTOWN marks the end of a long journey. In Mike Piazza’s case, this is only the beginning.
Being voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America is the highlight of Piazza’s MLB career. In January, Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. were elected, bringing the total number of elected Hall of Famers to 312.
The former catcher has so much more on his plate as he prepares for Sunday’s induction.
“My career and my life is a miracle,’’ Piazza told The Post. “I always want to give thanks and appreciate what I feel has been a blessing for me.”
It’s truly a miracle when you consider Piazza was drafted in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft, the 1 , 390th player chosen. A 12-time All-Star, he hit 427 home runs — including a record 396 as a catcher, batted .308 and finished with a .922 OPS over his 16-year career, including eight seasons with the Mets.
“Mike’s life would make a heck of a movie, it’ s a heart warming story ,” said his father, Vince. “How he arrived and all the things he had to go through. How hard he worked to succeed. Everything he does he puts his heart and soul into it.’’
That teenager who was coached one magical day in his backyard batting cage by “The Kid,” Ted Williams, will be joining Williams in the iconic Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery, an overwhelming thought for Piazza.
“It ’s euphoric,’’ Piazza said. “Not only for everything that he accomplished but for his aura, his legendary size in the game, his commitment not only to our country but to our game. Ted Williams is the real life John Wayne.’’
How did Ted Williams find his way to young Mike Piazza’s Pennsylvania backyard? Vince said it all came about because of his friendship with longtime Dodgerses scout Ed Liberatore.
“That was amazing that we got Ted to the house,’’ Vince said. “Ed asked me if I wanted to meet Ted Williams, who was doing a card show over in Valley Forge. We get over there and Ted was talking about hitting. Liberatore told Ted about Mike, saying he was a ‘ damn good hitter.’ Ted said, ‘I have a couple hours free tomorrow, where do you live?’
“I said, ‘King of Prussia, about 15 minutes away.’
“Ted said, ‘ Can you pick me up in the morning?’
“He gets to the house, he watches Michael hit for 20 minutes in the cage, and says, ‘If I were a scout, I’d give that kid $50,000 right now to sign.’ Then we go in and have breakfast.
“Michael runs upstairs and gets Ted’s book, [The Science of Hitting]. Ted writes in first page of the book, ‘Mike, don’t forget me when you make it to the major leagues.’ It wwas an amazing day.’’
Piazza, 47, is a tremendously successful businessman with the Piazza Auto Group and two golf courses in Pennsylvania, the Bellewood Golf and Country Club and the public Westover Country Club.
“We h ave some people who have been with us 20 years ,’’ Piazza said.
Piazza is involved in a different game now. His love of soccer is on display with his majority ownership stake in A.C. Reggiana 1919, a soccer club in Italy that finished in seventh place in the tier-three Lega Pro and made the second round of the Italian Cup.
He just returned from a trip there and visits at least once a month. From player to owner is an incredible jump, as future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter might find out one day.
“I started looking into the process a few years ago,’’ Piazza said. “Obviously, with Italy and my ancestral heritage there, there was a team called Parma that actually won a European Cup. It went bankrupt and I went over there with some investors to see if they could save the team. But the team was so far in bankruptcy that it could not be rescued.
“I looked into a couple of other deals and started with Reggiana about a year ago. I partnered up and now we are off to the races, trying to move up. It’s a very interesting business model. I don’t know for sure, but I may be the first former athlete to have a majority share in a team. I’m basically the team president.
“There are a lot of things I am going to learn, I’m going to make a few mistakes, but I think overall it’s a very interesting venture,’’ said Piazza, who owns 60 percent of the team.
“I always tell people, ‘Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone to do something exceptional.’ As former athletes we are naturally competitive. We have to find ways to continue that.
“There are some really interesting plans for the future with
the team. It’s a great region. It’s between Milan and Bologna and obviously the food is some of the most spectacular food in Italy. We play in a great stadium [Mapei Stadium], we share the stadium with a team called Sassuolo. There’s a lot of upside, I do think these franchises are undervalued. I’ve been studying the model since I retired and I decided to jump in the water.’’ The deep end. “I encourage Derek to get into ownership,’’ Piazza said. “It really comes down to people. You have to be smart enough to know what you don’t know. You have to let people do their jobs, quality people who are willing to outwork other people. You have to have those hard-hat, lunch-pail guys.’’
As for his home life, Piazza and his wife Alicia are the parents of three children, Nicolette, 9, Paulina, 6, and Marco, who is about to turn 3.
“She’s been great with everything,’’ Piazza said of his wife, “planning everything with the Mets and the Hall. I’m just trying to show up and do my job. I’m so excited, it’s going to be a crazy week with the Hall and then the Mets after,’’ as his No. 31 will be retired.
“You don’t have to be a perfect man to be a great father,’’ Piazza said. “Just be there to do the best you can, to be there when they fall down to give them encouragement.
“Baseball was the job that gave me the most visibility, but the most important job I’ve ever had was to be a husband and a father. I think in this day and age, obviously our country has some issues that we need to resolve, I’m not saying from a place of high and mighty, but we have to get back to basics.
“The basics are fatherhood and trying to raise our kids to be healthy, productive members of society, it’s not easy. I’ll be the first to say it, it’s been the most humbling of experiences. It is though the most rewarding job.’’
He wants his children to experience life in Italy.
“I eventually want to get my kids over there maybe in school for a year or two, you can give them an introduction to Italian culture and the language and friends over there, you know step by step,’’ he said. “I don’t want to overwhelm my wife because at the end of the day she basically runs the show.’’
Faith and family are No. 1 for Piazza, a devout Roman Catholic.
“For me, the faith part is the greatest gift that my mom has given me,’’ Piazza said. “Because it’s always been a point of stability for me. It helps you rationalize life. It helps you deal with failure, it helps you get through bouts if you’re depressed.”
The church of baseball will take Piazza in Sunday and it is going to be joyful for his entire family, especially his parents, Vince and Veronica.
“I’m ve ry g rateful,” Pizza said, “my dad had a major stroke a couple of years ago and he is doing great now, he wants people to remember him as he was but I said, ‘Dad, just go and have a great time, roll with it.’ As a family I’m very blessed.’’
He would not be going to Cooperstown without his father’s guidance.
“My dad had more confidence in me than I had in myself,’’ Piazza said, his voice filled with emotion. “So it’s truly special.
“This is a celebration of the game. It’s family. That’s what I love most about baseball. From the dad who takes his kid to his first game and bonds with him to a bunch of Hall of Famers sitting around talking about the old days, drinking and having a few cigars, it’s going to be a blast.
“My career is a testament to all the coaches, and teammates, and people that supported me. I get emotional when I think about it. When you go into the Hall, all those people go in with
you.’’