Piazza Has ‘Cash Cow’

Mike Piazza’s bank account could take a hit if he chooses not to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 1998 season. And it has nothing to do with what the team, or any team, is willing to pay the best-hitting catcher of all time.

It has to do with Hideo Nomo.

Being the catcher for one of the most famous men in Japan has afforded Piazza his own celebrity in that country. It is a celebrity that has grown the past three years as Piazza has embraced it. But is it a celebrity that can stand on its own?

“Attention will probably shift away from him,” said Fred Notehelfer, director of the Center for Japanese Studies at UCLA, echoing the sentiment of many who follow the Dodgers and Nomo here and in Japan.

Piazza brings in an estimated $3 million a year from his endorsements in Japan, though some accounts have placed his Japanese earnings as high as $6 million. A Forbes magazine report in December, which ranked Piazza the 29th-highest-paid American athlete, said Japanese endorsements accounted for more than half Piazza’s off-field take in 1997. The Dodgers paid their All-Star catcher $7 million last year, while he brought in $6 million between his product peddling here and in Japan.

The bulk of Piazza’s endorsement money in the United States comes from Pert Plus shampoo and Nike. He has as many as 30 smaller endorsements that pay him around $100,000 apiece. A video game entitled “Mike Piazza’s Strike Zone” is due out soon.

The catcher is seen in TV ads, magazines and newspapers in Japan pushing underwear, heavy construction equipment and Mizuno bats.

Many observers say those endorsements will lose their value should Piazza leave Nomo.