For Mets fans who are lovers of history, nobody forgets their last World Series appearance, despite how painful it may be to recollect.
It was game two, Mike Piazza broke his bat on a foul ball, and Roger Clemens was the pitcher for the Yankees. A piece of the bat flew towards Clemens, and rather than discard it normally, he threw it in Piazza’s direction, something Piazza did not take very kindly. There were no haymakers thrown, but words were exchanged, including the comical portion when Clemens insisted he thought it was the ball.
Here’s the video of the incident:
In July of 2012, TMZ caught up with Piazza and his wife Alicia Rickter, who he married in 2005. She wasn’t so kind towards Clemens. In fact, she didn’t hold back whatsoever. Who knows if alcohol was a contributor in her blunt honesty?
Before we dive into that, I know this isn’t a new story, but I never remember seeing the coverage of it, so I decided to give my spin on the whole situation. Here’s a look at what was said.
“Does he think Roger Clemens was on [steroids] when he broke the bat? Yes he does think that,” Rickter said of Piazza, who was visibly uncomfortable in the background in the video.
“I do, I do, I do,” she added.
The reporter asked what Piazza thought of Roger Clemens’ legacy, and asked if he thought it was tarnished.
“People ask me, but the only time I’ve ever known him is kinda hitting against him,” Piazza said. “It’s really tough for me to say because I never played with him.”
“He was a great pitcher,” Piazza added. “His record speaks for itself. I did catch him in the all-star game, but it didn’t go too well.”
Here’s the video from TMZ:
Piazza was clearly surprised and backed into a corner by his wife’s bluntness, but as usual, he took the classy road. {I think it’s no secret that there’s no love lost there, but Piazza was never one to throw someone under the bus.
Bottom line? I don’t think Clemens was trying to injure Piazza in any way. The bat came at him, he picked it up and did something stupid…plain and simple. He made a mistake. Just because he made millions of dollars and was a superstar doesn’t mean he’s not human.
But as a Mets’ fan, I couldn’t stand the guy.
Not only was there this incident, but the whole way he was brought back. When Susan Waldmyn uttered the “Oh my goodness gracious” when he came back, I rushed to the vomit bag, because his ego always seemed to be overinflated.
In July of 2000, he beaned Piazza in the head. I don’t think there was intent there either, but that is something fans should’ve been madder about than the World Series incident. This one knocked Piazza out of the game.
At the end of the day, this is nothing more than Piazza’s wife being truly entertaining. It would have been a lot easier to reflect on if the Mets walked away winners, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
