Sunday, March 29, 2009

Where's the media outrage about Mike Piazza?

The baseball blogosphere has been abuzz all week about the performance enhancing drug allegations against Mike Piazza in Jeff Pearlman's Roger Clemens biography "The Rocket That Fell to Earth," even if the mainstream media seems to be pretending the story doesn't exist.

Last Sunday, Murray Chass broke the story about the book's charges. On Tuesday, the day the book was released, I was the first to note the book's allegation that Piazza reportedly admitted to sportswriters that he took performance-enhancing drugs. Six hours later, Deadspin wrote about those charges as well. And most Met blogs have also weighed in on the allegations.

Yet while Pearlman's book has gotten plenty of buzz in the mainstream media, his Piazza charges have been pretty much completely ignored by those same reporters. No tabloid headlines, no investigations of the allegations, no followups, nothing. Very strange.

I'd hate to think that reporters are not going after that story because they like Piazza (Neal Travis' infamous blind item aside, Mike had a great relationship with the press). Or because some of their brethren may be complicit in keeping Piazza's alleged juicing quiet.

Even Joel Sherman, who did ask Piazza a few tough steroid-related questions in February after the A-Rod story broke, hasn't done a followup after the Pearlman book release. Why not?

Is it too much to expect one reporter to actually 1) write in the paper about what Pearlman's book says, 2) ask Piazza for a reaction to it, or maybe even 3) investigate the story a little further? Heck, given that, according to Pearlman's book, Piazza "fessed up" to "reporters he especially trusted," you'd think there would be one reporter going on the record to confirm or deny that charge. Or to see if Mike is one of the 103 who tested positive in 2003.

And for argument's sake, wouldn't you think, if Piazza were innocent, some reporter would try to help clear his name?

Instead, it's as if most sports reporters are sticking their fingers in their ears and going "La, la, la, I can't hear you" when it comes to the possibility that Mike Piazza used performance-enhancing-drugs. Unreal.

Why is the mainstream media ignoring the Mike Piazza story? Leave us a comment!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

What story Lisa? a couple of accusations lobbed by writers? canseco implicated ARod years ago and nothing was done about it until there was evidence. give it a rest. there is no conspiracy. if/when there is evidence that indicates piazza was dirty, there will be a maelstrom I am sure. but there is little more than allegations made by a writer trying to sell his book at this point.
Is there going to be a point this season when you will begin to write about baseball again?
km

Uncle Mike said...

This will teach me not to miss Subway Squawkers for the better part of two weeks. Look what I missed!

So who's "the 2000 World Champions" now, Met fans? Because your boy is every bit as guilty as Clemens!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, "We need proof." That's what we said. And, right now, there's exactly the same amount of publicly-revealed proof on Clemens as there is on Piazza -- zilch. (Which is still less than we have on A-Rod, where we have an actual confession.)

Like the man said a few posts ago: This means that your juiced players weren't good enough to beat our players, juiced or not.

It also explains why Piazza flipped out when Clemens threw that bat across the foul line, far enough away from Piazza to get a separate ZIP Code.

And I don't ever again want to hear "Mike Piazza is the greatest-hitting catcher of all time." No, he wasn't. Cochrane, Hartnett, Lombardi, Campanella, Bench... oh yeah, and Dickey and Berra. They were all better.

Jose Canseco once said that the difference between him (462 career home runs) and his "identical" twin brother Ozzie (462 less than Jose) was that Jose used steroids and Ozzie didn't.

Then again, Ozzie may have had Jim Bouton's problem with amphetamines: "In my case, greenies probably improved my performance about 5 percent. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough."

After all, most of those suspended for steroid use thus far have been marginal players, as Ozzie Canseco was, and as Bouton became after his 1965 elbow injury that turned him from a kooky kid that the Yankees tolerated because he won 39 games in 2 years (1963-64, 41 if you count World Series games) into an injured has-been whose jokes weren't funny anymore... to them, anyway. (The Yankees' intolerance for nonconformists and controversy predates George Steinbrenner by decades.)

So... despite a rather pungent odor coming from the Prudential Center last night (the Devils blew a 1-0 lead to Carolina with 8 minutes left and lost 2-1), I'm going to spend most of this day chuckling and smirking.

Once again, Met fans have nothing to say.

Bronx Baseball Daily said...

I think Piazza is well liked by the reporters, so that's part of it. Also, he's retired, personally I don't care. Even though I always figured he was juicing.

Anonymous said...

Grandpa mike! all right, welcome back! were you on an extended trip with your buddies wilfred brimley and hume crohn?

Your post is actually more nonsensical than lisa's. there is no story. there is no smoking gun, and there is no evidence. Now if there were, it would not be shock me. But there isn't.

At this point all there is ar allegations made by someone who wrote a book, a couple of mentions by journalists, and a hack blogger who is seeking to indemnify yankee cheaters by beating a dead horse.

When he confesses during a press conference, or his trainer pipes up, than you will have your day. right now you have accusations. nothing more.
km

Reality check said...

Please it was very obvious that Piazza was a fruit, what guy frosts his hair blonde? The story even came out and he denied it. He definitely juiced but you saw his girly reaction when Clemens threw the bat at him, he looked at Clemens, Clemens raised his arms with a come on over if you have a problem gesture and Piazza went back to the dugout to sit with the rest of the gutless Mets. Probably went to play cards with his teammates.

She-Fan said...

Maybe it's because he's retired. But I wonder if the coverage would be different if he were a retired Yankee.

Reality Check said...

She-fan, the coverage would definitely be different. Mets are 2nd class citizens in their city, alway have been. They got lucky twice and won 2 world series which anyone can do in 47 years. Even the young Marlins have done that in less than a quarter of the time. The Mets were created to make for a real team leaving NYC the Brooklyn Dodgers and the have not come close to measuring up. I think the Mets should be moved to NJ or CT. There should be only 1 baseball team that has the honor of representing NY, that's the Yankees.

Anonymous said...

this will probably be my last comment on the topic, but I just can't resist.
Reality Check, each time you post, the overall intellect of this blog decreases. which I didn't even think was possible. really, it is remarkable.

Yankee fans should be honored that they have you to represent them.
km

NAM said...

KM - don't feel bad - the guy signed his name "Idiot." It says it all.

Yankee Fans: it must be wonderful to have the world revolve around your team.

Welcome back Uncle Mike. It's a bore without your pontifications.

NAM said...

And where is the Emperor? I need some consistency people. I don't know who all these anonymous bloggers are.

Serioursly, good luck everyone with the Season. It will be nice to get it underway.

Anonymous said...

NAM, my name isn't "Idiot", but nice attempt at trying to be clever.

Maybe I'll come out from behind my veil of anonyminity like KM and reveal everything about me: I'm JJ!

There you go, now you know all about me!

-JJ

Uncle Mike said...

KM: It's "Wilford" Brimley -- who, unlike every living human except Yogi Berra and Davey Johnson, managed a New York team to a National League Pennant in "The Natural" -- and Hume "Cronyn." But as long as we're talking about old people, how's Art Shamsky's love life lately?

No smoking gun? Just like Clemens. Just "allegations made by someone who wrote a book"? Well, Kirk Radomski wrote a book, but I seriously doubt Brian McNamee has ever ever READ a book.

The difference is, when things got crazy, Clemens settled down and beat the Mets, while Piazza whined and let it get to him. Who looked more like a "steroid freak" then? Number 31 in black, blue and orange did. That's not proof, but it sure is "evidence."

Times like these, I actually miss Ed Drossman.

One thing I won't do, however, is suggest that what Piazza did, that we know about and otherwise, was "girly" or "gay." If the truth is that he was steroid-free but is also gay, then I don't have a problem with that. Besides, being a Met fan is the real "deviant lifestyle." Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Met fan Jerry Seinfeld would say.

She-Fan, wonder no more: If Piazza were a Yankee, (N)ESPN would be talking about it, going on and on and on. I'm surprised Mike Wilbon on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" hasn't told co-host Tony Kornheiser, "Tony, yuh boy, Mike Piazza, is at the center of the steroid controversy now!" (I love it when Tony and Mike go into their "yuh boy" bit.)

As for "Met fans getting lucky twice," that's not fair. They outplayed the Orioles in 1969. And calm, steady Gil Hodges outmanaged turbulent, temptestuous Earl Weaver. Why Hodges is not in the Hall of Fame is a disgraceful mystery.

Now, in 1986, yes, the Mets got lucky. They got lucky in that they played the Red Sox. That's a luck the Yankees had many times between 1920 and 2003. Except, in 1986, it didn't work. I guess the baseball gods wanted to REALLY stick it to Boston that year. And let's not forget, they'd already blown a 2-run lead with one out, one strike even, to go before Mookie's grounder to Buckner.

Uncle Mike said...

Oops, I forgot about Bobby Valentine. Well, maybe not: I did say "every living human except... "

Anonymous said...

As I have said, and said, and said again, If Piazza is dirty, I would not be shocked, disappointed, yes, but not shocked. right now there is nothing more than speculation, which there is on every player at this time.

And JJ, or idiot, or whatever your name is. I don't paraphrase the media. If anything, I use direct quotes, or just make stuff up. I don't really know what the rest of the nonsense you wrote means. I could get out my thesaurus, but I don't think it would be worth my time.

You are right about 1 thing though, I am disillusioned. Because I believed that in 2009 a person's sexual orientation, real or perceived, wouldn't matter. To quote, not paraphrase, that bastion of inteligence Mr. Reality Check:

"Please it was very obvious that Piazza was a fruit, what guy frosts his hair blonde?"

That was what I was responding to, and you made it apparent, JJ, that you are just as enlightened as the other jacka$$.

I misspoke earlier, I am very curious to make sense of something you posted. Can you please explain to me, you know because I am dumb and all, could you tell me what you mean by "mediocre loser mentality?" that is a new one and I would really like to be able to use it on another blog so I can take credit and look really, really smart. thanks for the help.

Oh, and to answer reality's question, ARoid frosts his hair as well.
KM

Anonymous said...

KM, when it comes to the Yankees and any bad news about a player, whether proven or not, you're so quick to jump right on the media bandwagon and bash Yankee fans with everything being reported.

And don't give me that crap that you don't understand what I said. I'll take a gamble and assume you do; that you do have a small shred of intelligence lurking somewhere beneath that swampy march you probably call a brain. Stop trying to play devil's advocate by making people explain things to you that you already know the answers to. You're not good at it and it's a waste of both of our times. I know most Met fans are genetically hardwired to be dim-witted cretans, but try and manage at least a little bit of dignity, will you?

Typical of you to always revert to the same defense tactics everytime someone calls you out or challenges you by commenting on their intelligence.

Mediocre loser mentality. Let's see: You settle for mediocrity by rooting for a team that does nothing but short-change their fans by choking, provide decades of losing seasons, and derives comfort from Yankee misgivings. The true mark of a loser with an inferority complex.

Trust me in that, as Uncle Mike pointed out earlier, there may not be proof (yet) but there sure is plenty of evidence that several Mets players were juicing and doing what ever else that was illegal. You're accustomed to not having your guys called out much because you live in the shadow of the Yankees.

Piazza was a juicehead just like the rest of the cheaters, and I'm sure more will surface.

Deal with it, bro.

-JJ

Anonymous said...

Your assuming that it takes intelligence to interpret the gibberish you wrote? hell of an assumption. not to be much more a an a$$ that i already am, but you might want to look up devil's advocate cause, while it may be inconceivable, but, I do not think it means what you think it means.

As for juicing, you are probably right. Paul loduca was exposed as a cheater, you don't hear us crying about that do you though? the evidence that you, and grandpa, have suggested, is hardly incontrovertible, again, it is conjecture at this point, without any corroboration.

I like how you call it a media bandwagon when a yankee player gets caught doing something they aren't supposed to. Like the media forced clemens and pettite and giambi and Aroid to cheat. no conspiracy, a spade is a spade.

Lastly, nobody called me out, or challenged me. I responded to a particularly stupid comment made by Reality. when someone does something stupid, it is reasonable to question their intelligence, no? You support Reality and his assinine comments about homosexuality, fine, that is your prerogative, but don't give me a hard time because I don't share your caveman mentality. Bro.
KM

Ryan O said...

Jesus fellas...save it for the season. Why so angry JJ or anonymous, or Reality Check or Idiot? Save it for yankee games when you can yell at the beer vendors for charging $12 a beer. You have more important things to worry about than us poor Mets fans, like how your $200+ million a year team that has Brett Gardiner in your starting lineup.

Also you can prove to me that Piazza is gay if you show me a picture of him kissing a guy...hell ill even believe it if he's pictured kissing a reflection of a guy off a mirror.

But since he's married to a playboy model...i think he's straight. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anonymous said...

KM, you got issues, dude. Seriously, you need to get out more - get a woman or something.

Way too much repressed hostility. You need to learn a little humility -- if you're so willing to dish out insults to everyone, you need to learn how to take it.

Cheers.

-JJ

Anonymous said...

P.S. The Mets suck and you're a leach.

Ha!!

Anonymous said...

Hostility? me? what have i got to be hostile about? and i actually take insults pretty well, i think. as you, and most yankee fans have pointed out, i am a mets fan and have become accustomed to an insulting end to my season on a yearly basis.
km

NAM said...

Uncle Mike,

You are so right about the baseball gods wanting to stick to the Red Sox in 1986; which makes me wonder how hard and where they wanted to stick it to the Yankees in 2004, not to mention the entire century thus far.

Abby said...

Yankees are a bigger target, no question. I also think that people like Mike, whereas, Arod is not very likable. Look at the others...Pettite v. Clemens...forthcoming v. lizard lips. Sometimes you invite extra scrutiny. Call it karma. There are no victims, only volunteers.

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