MLB

Mike Piazza’s $120 Million Baseball Career Started With a Favor from Tommy Lasorda

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If not for Tommy Lasorda, Mike Piazza might not have even become a professional baseball player.

While the New York Yankees may be the big name in Big Apple baseball, the New York Mets have their own rich history. The Queens club might only have two World Series titles, but they’ve seen more than their fair share of iconic players and colorful characters. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was no one bigger than Mike Piazza.

In the big leagues, Piazza belted 427 home runs, including one famous blast, and earned more than $120 million in salary. His career might not have ever gotten off the ground, however, if not for a favor from Tommy Lasorda.

Mike Piazza’s early baseball career

These days, most baseball fans remember Mike Piazza as the handlebar mustache-wearing catcher who hit an iconic post-9/11 home run. His Hall of Fame career, however, started in much different circumstances.

Mike’s father, Vince, dreamed of being a baseball player but walked away from the game to help provide for his family. Once he struck it rich in business, he ensured that one of his children would make it to the big leagues. That turned out to be Mike.

Piazza embraced the game; he spent hours hitting in a backyard batting cage, even impressing Ted Williams. Once he headed to college, however, he hit a snag. At the University of Miami, Piazza failed to hit his stride. After only getting nine at-bats during his entire freshman year, the first baseman left the program. He found some success at Miami-Dade North Community College, but hardly seemed destined for greatness.

A draft-day favor from Tommy Lasorda

It goes without saying that Miami-Dade North Community College isn’t a hotbed of Major League Baseball talent. Luckily, Mike Piazza had an ace up his sleeve: his dad was a childhood friend of Tommy Lasorda, who was managing the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lasorda convinced the team to use their final draft pick, 1,390th overall, to select Piazza. While it was more of a favor than anything else, Mike had other ideas. When the team eventually reached out to him, he asked for a tryout.

At that tryout, Piazza belted home run after home run. Lasorda floated the idea of moving the young first baseman behind the plate to take advantage of his bat; the club agreed to give him a shot and signed Mike to a contract with a $15,000 signing bonus.

Mike Piazza seized that opportunity and became a Hall of Famer

If not for Tommy Lasorda, Mike Piazza might not have gotten a chance with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Once his foot was in the door, however, the catcher made the best of his opportunity.

Piazza threw himself into his new position, even heading to the Dodgers’ Dominican Republic academy to sharpen his skills. Once his defense was strong enough to earn a place in the lineup, his bat was potent enough to keep him there.

In 1993, Piazza earned a full-time job with the Dodgers; he promptly earned the National League Rookie of the Year title, batting .318 and hitting 35 home runs. He spent seven full seasons in Los Angeles before being traded to the Marlins and flipped to the Mets. In New York, however, he became a blue-collar hero.

By the time he retired from baseball, Mike Piazza had spent 16 seasons in the big leagues, taking home more than $120 million; his career .308 batting average, 427 home runs, and 1,335 RBIs have since earned him a place in Cooperstown. And to think, it all started with favor from Tommy Lasorda.

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Joe Kozlowski
Sports Editor

Joe Kozlowski began his career as a sports journalist in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2019. He covers the NBA and soccer for Sportscasting, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history — likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center — he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope — both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.

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Joe Kozlowski Sports Editor

Joe Kozlowski began his career as a sports journalist in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2019. He covers the NBA and soccer for Sportscasting, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history — likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center — he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope — both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.

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