Via CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa comes the following press release from Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts regarding Metal Mike Piazza’s one-night-only cameo in a production of George Balanchine’s “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue”.  If you find any portion of this worthy of ridicule, please keep in mind Piazza has previously taken the stage with a far more embarrassing ensemble.

Mike Piazza will not be dancing, leaping or catching ballerinas. But he will be sporting a 1920’s-era gangster costume, throwing out a few lines Al Capone-style and then sitting back and watching the stage come alive with dazzling dance routines, a gorgeous Strip Tease Girl, a tap-dancing Hoofer and the colorful Ladies of the Ballet.

It was Piazza’s six-year old daughter, Nicoletta, a student at Miami City Ballet School, and MCB’s Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez, who, together prevailed upon him to pinch hit as the Gangster in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue for this May 3, one-night only, guest appearance. Although this is not Piazza’s first acting experience – he’s been a spokesman for Pert Shampoo and appeared in the TV sitcom Married with Children and the movie Two Weeks Notice – he never imagined that he would appear on stage as a cast member in a ballet production.