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Piazza's record deal escalates to $15 million per season

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Posted: Tuesday October 27, 1998 02:42 PM

A prized catch: Piazza hit .348 in his 109 games with a Met AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- Mike Piazza was pumping iron last Friday in a Southern California gym when his cell phone rang with the news.

After winning over the tough New York fans, who booed him for much of the summer, Piazza was being offered the richest deal in baseball by the Mets.

"I might as well get booed by the best if I was going to get booed by anyone," Piazza said Monday after the Mets announced his $91 million, seven-year contract, the largest in baseball history.

A six-time All-Star, the 30-year-old catcher had slumped early this year. First, the Dodgers traded him to Florida on May 15 after failing to work out a new multiyear contract, then the Marlins sent him to New York seven days later, and Mets fans immediately expected him to lead the team back to the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

It took until the final month of the season for him to settle down, and he wound up hitting .348 in 109 games for the Mets with 23 homers and 76 RBIs, finishing with an overall .329 average, 32 homers and 111 RBIs.

"I definitely had some growing pains coming here," Piazza said. "Once I went through the ups and downs of New York, I definitely wanted to finish my career here."

New York, which finished one game out in the NL wild-card race, is poised to act quickly in rebuilding for next year. The Mets intend to announce Wednesday that they have re-signed pitcher Al Leiter to a $32 million, four-year contract, and they are close to a deal with Los Angeles that would bring outfielder Bobby Bonilla back to New York along with second baseman Eric Young for reliever Mel Rojas.

Piazza, a former 62nd round draft pick, broke the record for largest deal and highest average salary set last December when Pedro Martinez agreed to a $75 million, six-year contract with the Boston Red Sox.

He said he didn't expect his record to last long, perhaps not even until opening day, and that he knew the contract would bring about high expectations.

"It's not going to get any easier," he said. "But I think I'm up for the challenge."

Mets co-owner Nelson Doubleday said ticket prices will go up for next season -- he didn't specify how much -- but said they would have gone up even without Piazza's contract because the Mets intended to raise their payroll significantly.

"Coming close is not good enough next year," Doubleday said.

The Mets wanted to send a message to other free agents that they were going to compete next year, and worried the price would go up if they had waited. For baseball and marketing reasons, they wanted to build their team around Piazza.

"The guy's a handsome guy," Mets co-owner Fred Wilpon said. "He's an extremely attractive man."

Piazza, who had been eligible for free agency after completing a $15 million, two-year deal, laughed when someone asked if he would still maintain the same lifestyle he had when he was making $8 million. Under the new contract, his salary escalates each year until he makes $15 million in each of the final two seasons.

His knows his deal is sweet -- he gets the use of a luxury box at all home games and gets a suite for all road trips -- and he intends to buy get involved in New York area charities, filling the luxury box with children most of the time but perhaps inviting potential dates once in a while.

"The Mets showed incredible commitment to me," Piazza said. "If I'm so fortunate as to go into the Hall of Fame someday, it definitely will be in a Mets uniform."

Piazza's agent, Dan Lozano, said the offer made by the Dodgers last spring was for $79 million over six years -- and without a no-trade clause. Piazza was shook up when the Dodgers left his close friend Eric Karros unprotected in last year's expansion draft and then talked about trading him.

Piazza said he was puzzled about the Dodgers' unwillingness to include a no-trade clause.

"I don't know if they just didn't like me," he said.

His concentration seemed to break down after he got to the Mets. He slopped to just four homers and eight RBIs in June, then had five homers and 14 RBIs in July.

"They'd boo before he got up, they'd boo when he got a single, they kept booing," Wilpon said. "If they had booed him until the end, I think Mike would have had second thoughts on whether he could win this community over."

By August, Piazza looked like himself again, hitting .347 with eight homers and 30 RBIs. In the season's final month, he hit .378 with six homers and 22 RBIs.

By then, he also started going out in Manhattan, liking the Greenwich Village area.

Then he went home to California and on vacation to Hawaii and had trouble adjusting back to life without New York's "electricity."

"Actually, when I felt I felt myself missing it," he said. "It was strange."

The Mets will now try to trade catcher Todd Hundley, who is to be paid $5.2 million next season and $6 million in 2000. Phillips and Wilpon said sending Hundley to the AL is their preference.

And with Leiter's deal done, they are turning their attention to Bonilla, largely a bust in New York after he signed a $29 million, five-year contract in December 1991. The Mets traded him to Baltimore during the 1995 season.

"We think Bobby's attitude toward New York has changed," Wilpon said. "He's been through a lot of experiences. He's basically a New York guy. I think he wants to finish what he started here."

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