Is Piazza Worth All These Letters?

Mike Piazza has proved the old adage: “Actions speak louder than words.”

FREDERICK D. MULLEN, Upland

*

The problem with Mike Piazza is that he has blown an opportunity that not too many sports stars ever get--the chance to command real respect and admiration from fans. Whether Piazza gets $84 million or $100 million over the next seven years really shouldn’t matter; he is set for life either way.

There are players, like Tony Gwynn and a handful of others, who realize that they make so much money that they can afford to reward their fans and their team with some loyalty. Whether the working stiff making $3,000 a month would demand $3,500 from his employer if he could get it is irrelevant. Mike Piazza could have been one of those few principled guys who remembered how the strike of 1994 and the greed of both the players and owners turned so many fans away from the game.

He could have told his fans he didn’t really have the ego to be the highest-paid player in the game (even if only for a few days). Mike Piazza could have brought fans back to the game. Instead, he has turned out to be just another rich athlete out only for himself, no matter the cost.

ROB OWENS, Pacific Palisades

*

If Mike Piazza is confused about how to manage his career, perhaps he should take a look at how Mark McGwire handles his. McGwire could have gone anywhere as a free agent and made triple the money (the kind of money Piazza wants), but his decision to stay in St. Louis was fueled by his love of the game and of the fans, not by greed.

Mark McGwire inspires me to want to do good things and to work hard to accomplish something, while Mike Piazza inspires me to want to sit home as a couch potato whining about my salary, hoping one day to win the lottery.

MARY ELIZABETH STEWART, Los Angeles

*

I don’t think top athletes are overpaid.

How many people can hit a baseball pitched at 90 mph? How many people can play basketball on the road day after day and average 30 points against people the size of giants or skate while pushing a puck with a stick around others trying to stop you?

The best tennis player in the world could never make what an average top executive would make.

This is called capitalism. If you don’t think it is a good system, ask the Russians.

LOUIS H. ABRAMSON, Westlake Village

*

Here’s the point. Fans don’t care how many millions you are paid. They just like to hear a baseball player complain that $80 million over six years isn’t enough to play baseball. Personally, Mike, I think you’re worth it.

As for the reception you received opening day, don’t take it too hard. If Rupert Murdoch would have come to the plate, the needle on the Boo-o-Meter would have gone off the charts.

JIM LOWERY, Agoura Hills

*

Mike Piazza was selected by the Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 free-agent draft and was recommended to me by Tommy Lasorda. After Mike’s first workout at Dodger Stadium, it was asserted by Ross Newhan [in his April 12 column] that I didn’t think he was good enough and I didn’t want to sign the player.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The workout was attended by myself, scouts Gib Bodet, Bobby Darwin, Manager Lasorda and coaches Mark Cresse and Joe Ferguson. Cresse pitched batting practice and Mike put on the greatest display of power hitting that I had ever seen.

Later that evening, I spoke to Mike’s dad, Vince, and he asked me to also work him out as a left-handed hitter. We did this but didn’t like him as a left-handed hitter. I spoke to Mike and Vince again and they agreed on a contract that included a bonus.

These workouts were the only time I saw Mike perform as an amateur.

BEN WADE, Dodger scouting director, 1973-91