Boomer To Mike Piazza: 'Man Up' And Talk About Your Book
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mike Piazza "pulled a disappearing act" after Monday's book signing in Manhattan, his publisher granting no access to the media, according to the New York Daily News.
As it would turn out, the New York Post nabbed a few quotes from Piazza. The former Mets catcher talked to the paper about the Hall of Fame process, but provided no insight into the hot topic surrounding his book, "Long Shot," which was officially released Tuesday.
Piazza admitted in his memoir to using some yet-to-be-banned substances during his playing career. He denied ever using illegal steroids.
"Get your agent out of your ear. You wrote the book, you wrote some things in that book that you need to explain via the spoken word," WFAN co-host Boomer Esiason said Tuesday morning. "You have commitments and you have responsibilities. You can't hide from it now -- you wrote the book. You know, don't write a book then. Don't write the freaking book if you're not gonna come out and you're not gonna talk about it."
Boomer on Piazza silence
Piazza wrote that he took androstenedione and Ephedra before the substances landed on MLB's banned list. He also said he took the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx and the asthma med Dymetadrine, and tried stimulants known as "greenies." Piazza wrote of a time when he asked former Mets trainer Fred Hina about human growth hormone, not knowing it was banned substance.
Esiason's co-host, Craig Carton, was extremely skeptical of Piazza and made the Mets great a main topic of the "Boomer & Carton" show Monday.
"You owe everybody explanations. People want to know," Esiason said Tuesday. "The fact of the matter is, now you wrote it, you got to man up, you got to be responsible, and you got to go out there and you got to talk about it. I'm sorry, that's just the way it is.
"You don't want all this attention? Don't write the book, don't take the money."
Piazza never failed a drug test, hasn't been directly linked to PEDs and wasn't named in the Mitchell Report. He's scheduled to appear Tuesday on "The Daily Show" and will talk with WFAN's Mike Francesa later this week.
"I'm as big a Mike Piazza supporter as there is," Esiason. "But I can't sit here and say that his actions yesterday are the actions of somebody that I would want to support."
Piazza, a 12-time All-Star, batted .308 and had a career .922 OPS in 16 seasons, mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mets. He holds the all-time record for home runs hit by a catcher — 396 out of his career total of 427.
He earned just 57.8 percent of the Hall of Fame vote on his first time on the ballot, needing 75 percent for induction.
"I won't deny there is some disappointment, but I understand it's a process," Piazza told the New York Times in a piece published over the weekend. "All things considered, I got over 50 percent, and a lot of people were very supportive. I mean, there's what, almost 600 voters? That's a lot. I'm on my homeowners board. I know how hard it is to get six people on the same page, let alone 600."
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