Batter up! Piazza to write memoir

NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball great Mike Piazza, a home run slugger and 12-time All Star widely regarded as the best hitting catcher in history, is working on a memoir.

“I look forward to having the chance to take people behind the scenes and to talk about the many great people and characters I’ve played with and for over the course of my career,” Piazza said in a statement issued by Simon & Schuster, which plans to release the book in 2010.

Financial terms were not disclosed for the memoir, currently untitled.

Piazza, who retired earlier this year after a career spent mostly with the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, had a .308 lifetime batting average, 427 home runs and 1,335 RBIs. Along with his many triumphs, he will also write about such controversies as pitcher Roger Clemens throwing a shattered bat at him during the 2000 World Series between the Mets and New York Yankees, and the 2002 press conference in which he denied rumors he was gay.

“He will also talk about the personalities and players from his days with the Mets, including Bobby Valentine, Pedro Martinez, and Rickey Henderson and many others,” according to Simon & Schuster. “In the book, Piazza will describe how he matured as a ballplayer and a man over the last decade.”