Mike Piazza is a Hall of Famer-elect and one of the most beloved New York Mets of all time. He’s now a sports mogul too. Yesterday he announced that he has purchases a majority share of A.C. Reggiana 1919 -- an Italian soccer team that plays in Lega Pro, the third division of Italian soccer.
Take that, retired athletes who say they want to go into sports ownership but then only buy, like, one half of one percent interest into a majority owners’ group that calls all the shots but trots you out as the “face” of the franchise. Piazza is actually owning something.
I took the liberty of researching the city in which the club plays in case Piazza plans on being a hands-on owner and wants to know what to do with himself. It’s in the area where Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese comes from. And Lambrusco wine. Historically, it was one of the largest strongholds of socialists and communists in Italy too, so Piazza had best gear-up for tough labor negotiations. That’s all I got, pretty much.
