Piazza Is MVP of the Family

The phones started ringing Tuesday night the moment Dodger catcher Mike Piazza was selected Most Valuable Player of the All-Star game.

The phone rang at his parents’ house near Philadelphia. It rang at his home in Manhattan Beach. And it rang off the hook at his agent’s office in Beverly Hills.

“It’s been crazy,” Piazza said. “I was talking to my agents [Dennis Gilbert and Dan Lozano], and they said we already turned down over 40 things. Hey, I’m not going to play this thing up big. It’s not like I was the World Series MVP or something. I want to concentrate on helping us get to the World Series.”

The greatest aspect of the All-Star honor, Piazza said, is not the additional money he can earn in endorsements, but seeing the pleasure in his parents’ faces.

“Right after the game I looked at my mom and she was in tears,” Piazza said. “She was telling me, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ She knows how much it meant to me. And my dad, well, he was just beaming with pride. I finally had to say, ‘That’s enough Dad.’

“But really, it was nice of everybody coming up to my dad and congratulating him.”

Was it the happiest he has ever seen his folks?

“No, I think the happiest I’ve ever seen him is when I moved out of the house,” Piazza said, laughing. “So this is the second happiest.”

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The greatest souvenir Piazza brought home from the All-Star game is not the MVP trophy, Piazza said, but the autographed baseball that he received from childhood idol Mike Schmidt. Piazza brought the ball with him to the clubhouse and showed the inscription that read: “Mike, I think you’re the best.”

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Dodger reliever Antonio Osuna received permission to delay his return to the team for another day to be with his mother, Antonia, who’s suffering from high-blood pressure. He is expected to arrive today. . . . Dodger starter Tom Candiotti, who was hit in the right elbow in his last start Saturday, has a bruise from the pitch but said he’ll be fine to make his scheduled start Sunday. . . . Executive Vice President Fred Claire said that he expects center fielder Brett Butler to return to the team by September. “He believes strongly he will be back and I believe strongly in Brett,” Claire said. . . . The Giants juggled the rotation to give an extra’s day rest to William VanLandingham, who now will start Sunday. Shawn Estes will start Saturday.