Vin Scully never turned Dodgers fans against Mike Piazza
On Thursday, we brought you the story of Mike Piazza trashing Vin Scully in his new autobiography, related to an interview that Scully did with Piazza that Piazza felt turned the fanbase against him. Well, the video of the interview Piazza was referring to has surfaced, and things don't exactly seem to be as Piazza claimed.
In the interview, Scully mentions Piazza's ultimatum, and asks him to explain what he meant by it. Piazza explains, and Scully references the word "ultimatum" being very heavy-handed before Piazza once again reiterates that he didn't mean to use the word so seriously. Then, the conversation moves on to topics unrelated to Piazza's contract, with Scully hilariously focusing on Piazza's stolen bases.
Really? This is what Piazza construed as Scully turning the Dodgers fanbase against him? With this interview being unearthed, Piazza looks like a fool for his comments about Scully when nothing of the sort happened. All that happened in this interview was Scully asking for clarification about Piazza's comments, Piazza giving them, and that's it. Watching the interview, you don't get the sense at all that Scully is biased against Piazza or showing any sort animosity at all.
Now, maybe Piazza just made a mistake by lumping the fans and Scully together in the same breath. But that's a decision he consciously made in authoring this book, and now he's going to have to face the ramifications from making reckless claims when reality is far, far different.
[LA Times via Larry Brown Sports]
@Mark_J_Boyle As a Yanks fan that HATED Clemens always, maybe that one time with the bat shard he was on to something.
@Mark_J_Boyle will never forget Piazza's "I'm not gay" presser. What a ridiculous moment in sports
After watching the interview, it's obvious Piazza is grasping at straws!! Vin Scully was only doing his job as a interviewer, and wasn't trying to put him on the spot. If Piazza thinks he's going to get into the Hall of Fame by slamming Scully, he's got another thing coming!!
"Really? This is what Piazza construed as Scully turning the Dodgers fanbase against him?"
... It wasn't just this. It was the tone and manner in which Scully referenced this ultimatum and the negotiating failures from the time the 1998 season got underway, and this continued until Piazza was traded in the middle of May.
Wait a minute...what about the following statement by Vin, from the first story on AA about Piazza's book:
"As God is my judge, I don't get involved in these things," Scully said. "I can't imagine I would ever put my toe in the water as far as a player and his negotiations.
"I have no idea where he is coming from. I really have no idea. I can't imagine saying something about a player and his contract. I just don't do that, ever. I'm really flabbergasted by that reference."
It certainly isn't unreasonable for Piazza to think that the interview above, with Scully BRINGING UP his contract negotiations, could have fanned the flames of fans' antipathy. Even though Scully obviously tried to make the discussion as fair as possible to Piazza, it can certainly be argued that talking about it at all was a bad idea from Piazza's perspective and that fans would take sides against him no matter how much Scully tried to avoid doing that himself.
