MARCH 21, 2004

ONE HAPPY CAMPER

THE NEW YORK POST

March 21, 2004 -- PORT ST. LUCIE - See Mike Piazza grinning as he scoops up grounders at first base. See Mike Piazza chuckling as Mike Cameron reels off another one-liner. See Mike Piazza cheerfully dispensing advice as minor leaguers seek his counsel.

See Mike Piazza in better spirits than you've seen him in quite awhile.

"I've been teasing him," Todd Zeile said, "that he took some happy pills this year."

More than a month into spring training, Piazza remains a hot story around camp for his transition to first. But just as fascinating has been the transition that Piazza has made in his career.

About to enter his 12th season, the 35-year-old All-Star is experiencing a sort of baseball renaissance.

"I don't want to say I have a new perspective," Piazza said, "but just a good shot of enthusiasm. Not that I never had it before, but certain things can trigger certain feelings."

There are many of those things that have triggered those nostalgic feelings. Fellow catcher/first baseman Jason Phillips believes after last season's groin injury that limited him to just 68 games, Piazza appreciates his health more than ever. Fred Wilpon noted the Mets' new additions have provided some of Piazza's excitement.

Piazza, too, credits the Mets' new players, raving about Cameron's sense of humor, praising Zeile's longstanding friendship and pointing out the Mets have a "good social group as well as a good group on the field."

But the biggest factor in Piazza's happiness - let's call it a "renewed" perspective - appears to be that for the first time, he sees the light at the end of his career tunnel.

"I never really thought about anything past this year. But you see a little of your own mortality, career-wise," Piazza said. "So you're like, 'Wow, I better start really smelling the roses a little bit.' "

Zeile has had a lot to do with that. At 38, Zeile has said 2004 will be his last season, and Piazza has watched how his buddy has approached his farewell campaign.

"I see him enjoying the moments," Piazza said. "So it's infectious in a way. It makes you appreciate what you do.

"For me, I blinked and it was 12 years. It's interesting to feel I'm the old guy. It seems like a short time ago I was Rookie of the Year. So it's weird, in a good way. It's different. I like it.

"And I feel a lot more responsibility to the team. I know the team looks to me in a lot of ways, not just for production but just being a presence. I feel like they've been able to really approach me on anything."

That latest bit is a contrast to how Piazza has long been perceived, that of someone who's a marvelous player but a quiet clubhouse presence who has been labeled aloof.

But this spring, Piazza has been a more vocal leader. Several days ago, when Jose Reyes strained his hamstring on a headfirst slide, Piazza revealed he had counseled the 20-year-old on the need to play with some "contained aggressiveness." After all, Piazza stressed, Reyes is simply too important to the team.

The other day, minor leaguers Eric Valent and Raul Gonzalez approached Piazza and began asking him questions. Piazza relished it.

"I want to be like that," Piazza said. "That's part of my responsibility. It's part of my job as well."

Part of his job and part of his enjoyment. The roses have never smelled better.

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MARCH 18, 2004

NY POST

......Meanwhile, Ty Wigginton, who played second base in the minors, said if the Mets want him to, he'd be open to taking grounders there again. "Definitely," Wigginton said. "If they came to me tomorrow and said, 'We need you to catch,' no problem. Whatever's going to help the team win ball games." Theoretically, if Jose Reyes were out for an extended period of time, the Mets could use Wigginton at second and Todd Zeile at third. Art Howe doesn't seem inclined to go that route, noting on Tuesday that Wigginton hadn't played second base in a while.

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March 18, 2004

Mets don't want Bud to lay down law by himself

BY KEN BERGER STAFF CORRESPONDENT

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- With pressure mounting for baseball to strengthen its steroid testing policy, Mets players reacted defiantly yesterday to any suggestion that commissioner Bud Selig intends to bypass the union to do so.

"What I would say to that, I guess, would be, 'Good luck,' " said Tom Glavine, a longtime union activist who sees dire consequences to having a steroid policy "shoved down our throats."

"Nobody's going to tell you that what's going on is good for baseball," Glavine said. "But I still think that having an agreement that both sides sat down and hammered out is what we need to be doing. If a year from now, we find out that it wasn't good enough, then we'll sit down and talk about it."

Even infielder Todd Zeile, who adamantly supports stricter testing, opposes circumventing the union.

"I've always been a very vocal advocate of testing," Zeile said. "But it's unrealistic to think that you're going to go from zero policy to zero tolerance in one step."

After testifying on Capitol Hill last week in the wake of the scandal involving the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, Selig is under pressure to put more teeth into baseball's steroid testing program. But the sport's labor contract, most recently bargained in 2002, would seem to preclude Selig from acting unilaterally.

"I couldn't tell you legally whether he was capable of being able to do that," Glavine said. "I would doubt it." When asked about Selig possibly attempting to invoke the "best interests of the game" clause in baseball's constitution to impose a more stringent steroid policy, Glavine rolled his eyes.

"There's a lot of things that are in the best interests of baseball that we need to worry ourselves about," Glavine said.

THG, the previously undetectable designer steroid at the center of the BALCO scandal, was added to baseball's list of banned substances yesterday, nearly five months after the federal government declared it illegal. Zeile called baseball's action on THG "as much public relations as anything else."

"It's an illegal steroid," Zeile said. "Why wouldn't it be banned?"

The current policy, negotiated in the labor agreement that runs through 2006, calls for players to be tested for steroids twice in a one-week period each year. There is no suspension until the second offense.

"The problem is that these politicians and people and fans want names in the paper and front-page mug shots," said catcher Vance Wilson, the Mets' player representative. "That's not what the program is designed to do. The program is to get people help and be a deterrent."

"I do think it's cheating," Wilson added. "I don't agree with the people who have taken them and I have no respect for them. But we have a system in place. Let's give it a chance to work ... You don't want to set a precedent where all of a sudden you start opening deals because of what the hot topic is."

Zeile said he believes that one side attempting to change the labor agreement without negotiation could lead to more labor strife down the road for a game that has been badly scarred by work stoppages. It would certainly lead to a grievance and legal fight, Glavine said.

"You're talking about setting a precedent to two groups with a long, bitter history of negotiations and collective bargaining," Zeile said.

And if baseball tries? "It becomes an even bigger issue - an issue that we will continue to be talking about and won't go away," Glavine said. "And I don't think that's good for baseball."

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MARCH 5, 2004

www.tcpalm.com

Decision to play gets family's Zeile of approval Todd Zeile decided to play one final season, with the Mets, only after consulting his wife and children.

By Bob Pacitti staff writer

PORT ST. LUCIE -- Before reaching an agreement with the New York Mets, Todd Zeile signed a binding contract with his family.

Zeile, a 13-year major-league veteran, seriously considered retirement when the Yankees released him last Aug. 17. But the 38-year-old infielder signed with the Montreal Expos three days later and realized he still has something to offer baseball.

"I was given the chance to revitalize myself, and that kept the spirit alive," Zeile said. He began thinking about returning for another season last November but decided his family should help him make his decision.

"I sat down with them and basically made a pact with them that if I was given the opportunity to play in New York or L.A that I would probably seize that opportunity," Zeile said.

"And I would seize it with the understanding that this would be the last season." Zeile -- married to the former Julianne McNamara, a gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic gymnast in 1984 -- has two children in school and two in diapers. Being away, he said, puts a strain on his family.

An opportunity with the Dodgers would have been the best situation for Zeile, who was born in California and has a home in Thousand Oaks, but the Mets made an offer and both parties felt he would be a good fit in New York.

Having had that family meeting, Zeile is totally comfortable with the decision to play.

"That's why I can conclusively say this is my last season," Zeile said. "The kids, particularly the older kids, were included in the dialogue to make the decision."

This is the second stop with the Mets for Zeile, who played with the team in 2000 and 2001.Zeile has fond memories from the last time, including a trip to the Subway Series in 2000. He says he sees similarities between that club and this one.

"I'm hoping that this team proves to have the same character makeup of those teams," Zeile said. "There was something special about that clubhouse. It made the difference on winning teams in 2000 and 2001." Zeile was New York's starting first baseman on both of those teams and contributed a .267 average, 141 RBIs and 32 home runs.

"It wasn't necessarily the best team on paper and we were certainly underdogs," Zeile said. "But we found a way to rise to what was expected of us." Zeile said the current Mets clubhouse has much the same feel. He's found the players are happy and loose, and Mike Piazza is excited to be back.

"The powers that be and the people you rely on are confident and believe in the team," Zeile said.

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March 3, 2004

Players go to bat for program

By ADAM RUBINDAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

PORT ST. LUCIE - Tom Glavine hears the second-guessing about the lack of teeth in MLB's steroid-testing program. The former NL player rep's reply: Where were the advocates of more stringent testing when the policy was formed two years ago? "When the collective bargaining agreement was finished, this is what everybody supposedly was happy with," Glavine said yesterday at Mets camp. "So now, after the fact, for people to be screaming and yelling that we're not doing enough - we need to be doing more - well, it's kind of too late for that. "We all signed on to the program. And whether we like it or we don't, it's awful hard in my mind to criticize the program before we ever give it a chance to do anything." Under the CBA, baseball conducted an anonymous survey last year, and 5% to 7% of players had positive results. That triggered random mandatory testing this season, though critics have voiced displeasure with soft penalties - including having the player's name withheld until a second offense. "The survey, although I thought it was really more of an IQ test than a drug test, was at least valid enough to warrant further testing," said 16-year veteran Todd Zeile. "I think the testing program implemented is certainly not on par with the USOC (U.S. Olympic Committee) or professional tennis. "But I think at this point it's not so much about how stringent it is, but that there is at least some accountability in the game. "If people are going to profess that there is not a problem, and people are going to say that they're clean, then at least have some accountability to those statements. For as many years as this union has been in existence, you could make those claims without ever having to account for it. "So now at least, even if it doesn't have the teeth that the other ones do, it shows some accountability." Over at Yankee camp in Tampa, the team's two biggest stars said the only thing on their minds was baseball. "I haven't really heard a lot of talk in here (the clubhouse)," said Alex Rodriguez. "There's so much positive talk going on here with what we want to do this year and our goals and trying to draw together, I've heard almost zero talk." Added Derek Jeter: "It hasn't been one (an issue) in here. Not too many people are talking about it. ... You can't assume someone's guilty because their name has come up."

With Anthony McCarron

Originally published on March 3, 2004