Dodgers need a slice of Piazza in 2008
I was a little sad to hear that Mike Piazza retired this week, unsigned and out of uniform. For Barry Bonds to fade out of baseball and disappear unclaimed and unwanted makes sense. It is unfortunate to see the greatest offensive catcher ever ride off into the sunset without a grand tour to let his fans say goodbye.
Although I realize that Mike is likely to show up in the Hall of Fame wearing a Mets cap, its hard for True Blue Dodger fans not to claim him for ourselves. Every Dodger knows the Ballad of Mike Piazza, and it speaks to everything that was great about the Dodger family, and everything that went sour in the FOX era.
Mike Piazza was born to a Dodger family. As Tommy Lasorda’s godson, he was raised on little jars of blue baby food and dodger dogs. When it was time for Mike to make the jump to the big leagues, the Dodgers brought him home in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft as a favor to Tommy. Like any good fairy tale, the almost unwanted foundling turned out to be a true prince. An all around nice guy and team leader, Piazza put up stats unrivaled amongst major league catchers.
But every fairy tale needs to have its wicked witch. In our story, the evil witch wore a grey suit with a FOX logo. When the O’malley family sold the Dodger franchise to FOX, the corporate suits tried to run it into the ground. One of their first, and worst choices was to dump their team leader Piazza. Not only did they drop him, but they did it months early, behind their GM’s back and below market. We’ve been told that Piazza cried when told that he’d no longer be bleeding Dodger Blue. A lot of fans cried that day too, those that didn’t spat and cussed and cursed the evil FOX Suits.
After years of wandering in the desert, a broken, losing team with no spirit, no loyalty and no sense of what it once meant to be a Dodger the team was finally dumped off on an untried and untested parking lot guy from Boston. Step by step over the past couple of years, that parking lot guy has shown LA that he understands what the Dodgers were, and how they can climb back to greatness.
The McCourt era Dodgers have stayed away from buying flashy hired guns, and instead have opened the clubhouse to young kids and workhorses with heart. The Dodgers feel like Dodgers again.
Which brings us back to our fairy tale ending for the Ballad of Mike Piazza. The Dodger’s should bring Mike back and put him in Dodger Blue this season. Do it after the break when teams step up their rosters, or even better, do it tomorrow while Gary Bennett is on the DL. Russell Martin needs to rest his knees every once in a while anyways. Give Mike a chance for a last grand tour, and let the NL fans thank him and send him on his way. It might help win a few games, but it will certainly help win back the old Dodger Soul.
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