The Tools of Ignorance on Piazza?

Mike Piazza’s comments about the ethnic diversity of the Dodgers were nothing short of asinine. In fact, it is the performances of such foreign players as Hideo Nomo, Ramon Martinez and Raul Mondesi that have kept the Dodgers from being the cellar dwellers in the NL West.

Instead of blaming the Dodgers’ average play on the team’s diversity, which is one of their major assets, the team should try to evaluate other glaring weaknesses. A team batting average that is one of the lowest in the majors is a more important problem.

PETER LEE

North Hollywood

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Thanks, Mike. Come October, you’ll see the team leaders taking their teams to the playoffs. I really hope you have a nice soft couch, a big-screen television, and plenty of snacks. By then you’ll be a fan like the rest of us.

RICHARD MENA

Pacoima

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Good for Mike Downey! His piece Friday [“Piazza Makes True Blue Call”] was right on the money. Mike Piazza’s interview was intelligent, thoughtful and articulate. Piazza communicates more and encourages more than anyone on the field. After all, which Dodger is the most popular in Japan after Nomo? Mike, of course.

DOROTHY JOHN

Oxnard

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Mike Piazza, how’s this for “Cultural diversity”? Rose, Bench, Perez, Geronimo, Morgan, Concepcion, Foster and Griffey. Mike, you and your culturally diverse teammates need to start earning your scandalous salaries. Play ball!

RENE ARAUZ

Trabuco Canyon

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Kudos to Mike Piazza for speaking up at a time when there is still something that can be done about the Dodgers’ problems. If this incident can lead to something positive, then maybe Mike is more of a leader than he thinks he is.

ROBERT RUTKIN

Encino

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Since Eric Karros went to college, maybe Mike should have Eric look up the word diversity and read its definition and explain it.

Maybe this is just Piazza’s way of asking for a trade, since Los Angeles won’t look much like him in the next 20 years--or ever. Or maybe he wants to collect the guys from the corners in South Philly and put a team together.

Whatever Piazza meant--I’m not sure he knows--he lost me. Maybe he should stay at the beach and we’ll try to survive without him.

HENRY MENDOZA

Playa del Rey

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Maybe Peter O’Malley should send Mike to Korea, Japan or the Dominican Republic in the off-season for cultural sensitivity training. It might help him understand his teammates better, as well as helping him understand the responsibilities that come along with his superstar status.

Mike should decide which road he’ll take to Cooperstown: the great hitter with impressive numbers, or the great ballplayer and team member who improved everyone’s game with his demeanor on and off the field.

Or why not shoot for both?

MIKE VELAZQUEZ

La Crescenta

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How come, in article after article about factionalism on the Dodgers, the only Dodgers ever interviewed by The Times are Mike Piazza, Eric Karros and Bill Russell? How come we never hear Ismael Valdes’ side of the Valdes-Karros clubhouse altercation? How come we never hear a single word from Raul Mondesi or Ramon Martinez or Hideo Nomo on what’s wrong with this team?

How can you continue to write about the problems of cultural diversity while interviewing players from only one culture? Please make an effort to bring us those other viewpoints. If there’s a language barrier that makes interviews with other players difficult, deal with it. But in relentlessly quoting only the Americans, you’re failing to give us the whole story.

JON WEISMAN

Los Angeles

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So only five Dodger players showed up for poor Brett Butler’s birthday party? Gee, I’ll bet Mike Busch would have liked to attend, and his wife would surely have brought the Tupperware--had the Dodger wives not so publicly ousted her from their clique a couple years back.

Rest easy Dodgers, because there won’t be a party not to go to at the end of the year either.

JIM MALLON

Morro Bay