titanbaseball04
02-24-2003, 10:33 PM
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The sun peeked over the treetops surrounding Field 5 at 7:02 Monday morning. Day was breaking at the Thomas J. White Stadium complex but the field had been bustling with activity for nearly an hour.
The baseball diamond was being transformed, looking less like a place where the Boys of Summer play and more like a movie set with each passing minute. Mets catcher Mike Piazza arrived at 7:20, driven out to Field 5 in a golf cart by the team's equipment manager, Charlie Samuels.
It wasn't a limo and there weren't any paparazzi trying to sneak pictures. But make no mistake about it -- Piazza was the star of this production. The 10-time All-Star showed up in the early morning hours to film a commercial for the MLB Authentic Collection. Piazza will be the centerpiece of the advertising campaign for the new line of performance batting practice apparel that was unveiled at the beginning of Spring Training. The Mets' new orange batting practice jersey is part of the new line.
Piazza was scheduled to complete the shoot later in the afternoon at a local sporting goods store.
"This is fun," Piazza said during a break in filming. "The more and more I do them, the better I know what [the producers] want. I try to give them some variation and they give me freedom to do what I want."
Vinny Greco, the Mets assistant equipment manager, was also on hand to take part in the commercial, which was being produced by Major League Baseball Productions. The storyline is simple: Piazza shows up at the ballpark one day and finds that his new orange batting practice jersey is missing from his locker. He goes out onto the field and finds Greco wearing his hat and jersey, launching bombs during batting practice.
"Vinny, what are you doing wearing my jersey?" a stunned Piazza asks as he approaches Greco in the batter's box.
"These things are magic, Mikey," Greco replies before resuming BP.
The commercial concludes with Piazza at the sporting goods store buying up all the jerseys so no one else can "have the power."
It took several dozen takes over nearly three hours to complete the scene. In between, Piazza and Greco joked with the crew and even filmed a few outtakes in which Piazza reacts in mock horror to Greco wearing his clothes.
"What are you doing stinking up my stuff," Piazza shouted, much to the delight of the crew.
It all went off without a hitch with Piazza seeming very much at ease in front of the camera. He's already filmed more than a dozen commercials with the likes of Hulk Hogan and Terry Bradshaw. He's also done work for Japanese television, though he added that those shoots were far more strenuous.
"I did a few of these for Japan but they were action-oriented," Piazza said. "They were usually more sliding and running and not so much dialogue."
Piazza smiled when asked if an acting career was going to be part of his post-baseball days. He's got the Hollywood look and is already a poster boy, but remained sheepish about the prospect of becoming a movie star.
"If it's out there," he said. "My priority now is playing, but you never know. Things have to be right, especially for me if it's something I want to build on. I enjoy this. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't ever do them.
"It gives you an opportunity to be creative and it's interesting to see the whole process. It's not all glamorous like people think. It's a lot of work. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that do a lot of things. It's kind of neat."
What was also neat was the comic interaction between Greco and Piazza. Greco proved to be a wonderful straight man and was clearly a natural for the part. He was part of a similar commercial last season involving Mo Vaughn.
"I did it last year and the same producer was doing this commercial, so he came to Charlie [Samuels] with the Piazza thing," Greco said. "I just do it for the fun of it. It gives a clubhouse guy a chance to do something outside the clubhouse."
Greco couldn't resist kidding around, either.
"I'm looking to get an agent now," he said. "I'm going to call [acclaimed director Martin] Scorcese and move on to bigger and better things. It's a good thing it's only 8 o'clock now. None of the guys are in yet. If they knew I was here on Field 5, I'd be taking a lot of heat. When they played the Vaughn thing on the Diamond Vision [at Shea Stadium] last year they were on me pretty hard. It was a lot of laughs."
As the morning wore on, production had to be halted several times as airplanes flew overhead or trucks barreled down the street. Piazza took the interruptions in stride, taking with the crew and playing air guitar with a bat. Extras made up to look like Mets were also on hand wearing batting practice jerseys that had names like Horwitz and Samuels stitched on the back to pay homage to the Mets equipment manager, as well as their long-time vice president of media relations, Jay Horwitz.
"We're having fun," Piazza said. "Just trying to keep it light."
Mike Piazza (http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20030224&content_id=203636&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp)
The baseball diamond was being transformed, looking less like a place where the Boys of Summer play and more like a movie set with each passing minute. Mets catcher Mike Piazza arrived at 7:20, driven out to Field 5 in a golf cart by the team's equipment manager, Charlie Samuels.
It wasn't a limo and there weren't any paparazzi trying to sneak pictures. But make no mistake about it -- Piazza was the star of this production. The 10-time All-Star showed up in the early morning hours to film a commercial for the MLB Authentic Collection. Piazza will be the centerpiece of the advertising campaign for the new line of performance batting practice apparel that was unveiled at the beginning of Spring Training. The Mets' new orange batting practice jersey is part of the new line.
Piazza was scheduled to complete the shoot later in the afternoon at a local sporting goods store.
"This is fun," Piazza said during a break in filming. "The more and more I do them, the better I know what [the producers] want. I try to give them some variation and they give me freedom to do what I want."
Vinny Greco, the Mets assistant equipment manager, was also on hand to take part in the commercial, which was being produced by Major League Baseball Productions. The storyline is simple: Piazza shows up at the ballpark one day and finds that his new orange batting practice jersey is missing from his locker. He goes out onto the field and finds Greco wearing his hat and jersey, launching bombs during batting practice.
"Vinny, what are you doing wearing my jersey?" a stunned Piazza asks as he approaches Greco in the batter's box.
"These things are magic, Mikey," Greco replies before resuming BP.
The commercial concludes with Piazza at the sporting goods store buying up all the jerseys so no one else can "have the power."
It took several dozen takes over nearly three hours to complete the scene. In between, Piazza and Greco joked with the crew and even filmed a few outtakes in which Piazza reacts in mock horror to Greco wearing his clothes.
"What are you doing stinking up my stuff," Piazza shouted, much to the delight of the crew.
It all went off without a hitch with Piazza seeming very much at ease in front of the camera. He's already filmed more than a dozen commercials with the likes of Hulk Hogan and Terry Bradshaw. He's also done work for Japanese television, though he added that those shoots were far more strenuous.
"I did a few of these for Japan but they were action-oriented," Piazza said. "They were usually more sliding and running and not so much dialogue."
Piazza smiled when asked if an acting career was going to be part of his post-baseball days. He's got the Hollywood look and is already a poster boy, but remained sheepish about the prospect of becoming a movie star.
"If it's out there," he said. "My priority now is playing, but you never know. Things have to be right, especially for me if it's something I want to build on. I enjoy this. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't ever do them.
"It gives you an opportunity to be creative and it's interesting to see the whole process. It's not all glamorous like people think. It's a lot of work. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that do a lot of things. It's kind of neat."
What was also neat was the comic interaction between Greco and Piazza. Greco proved to be a wonderful straight man and was clearly a natural for the part. He was part of a similar commercial last season involving Mo Vaughn.
"I did it last year and the same producer was doing this commercial, so he came to Charlie [Samuels] with the Piazza thing," Greco said. "I just do it for the fun of it. It gives a clubhouse guy a chance to do something outside the clubhouse."
Greco couldn't resist kidding around, either.
"I'm looking to get an agent now," he said. "I'm going to call [acclaimed director Martin] Scorcese and move on to bigger and better things. It's a good thing it's only 8 o'clock now. None of the guys are in yet. If they knew I was here on Field 5, I'd be taking a lot of heat. When they played the Vaughn thing on the Diamond Vision [at Shea Stadium] last year they were on me pretty hard. It was a lot of laughs."
As the morning wore on, production had to be halted several times as airplanes flew overhead or trucks barreled down the street. Piazza took the interruptions in stride, taking with the crew and playing air guitar with a bat. Extras made up to look like Mets were also on hand wearing batting practice jerseys that had names like Horwitz and Samuels stitched on the back to pay homage to the Mets equipment manager, as well as their long-time vice president of media relations, Jay Horwitz.
"We're having fun," Piazza said. "Just trying to keep it light."
Mike Piazza (http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20030224&content_id=203636&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp)