What should be a shocker to no one, New York Mets legend, and baseball Hall of Fame inductee, Mike Piazza is Italian. But what may shock some people is that Mike Piazza was THIS CLOSE (holds up thumb and pointer finger really close together to emphasize the point) to being trapped in Italy, as the country is still on lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Coach of the Italian Baseball Team Left Just in Time, Kept Out
In a sit down on the Jim Rome Show, Piazza reflects about how he left just in time prior to the Italian government shutting the country down. Piazza, as head coach for the Italian national baseball team since November, has been living in Parma Italy.
“I live in Miami when I’m here in the States, and my wife was like ‘Why don’t you go home for Super Bowl and hang out with your boys?’ and I was like ‘Really?’ And she was like ‘yeah,’ so then I got on a plane a few days before the Super Bowl and was hanging out with a couple of guys,” Piazza said.
Piazza Applauds Healthcare Workers
Later in the interview, Piazza was asked if the response to the coronavirus pandemic has been similar to the response we as a nation showed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Piazza had this to say:
“Many, many healthcare workers, doctors, people who are caring for the sick, who are exposing themselves to possibly getting sick, that to me is true selflessness and bravery in a way, that they’re not allowing the fear to overcome what they need to do,” said Piazza.
“So even though maybe in a crisis situation like 9/11 it was more about first responders, police, firemen, and people who were racing to try to rescue people in a terrorist attack, here it’s the doctors, nurses, people who are giving up themselves and putting themselves in harm’s way to try to comfort the sick and the researchers in the companies that are looking for some sort, hopefully, of protection from it, and ultimately, hopefully, a cure.”