Former Major League Baseball catcher Mike Piazza made his debut with Miami City Ballet.
Piazza played the role of a gangster in the ballet's Friday night performance of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue."
It's not a dancing role, and Piazza's not wearing tights. He walks onstage in a taupe houndstooth suit and say a few lines as a hit man hired to kill a jealous dancer's rival.
Piazza had 427 career home runs and made 12 All-Star Game appearances. His daughter is a student at Miami City Ballet School. Piazza says he wants to help boost ballet's image among sports fans.
At a rehearsal last month in the ballet's Miami Beach studios, dancers praised Piazza for his acting skills and for the attention he brought to their performance.
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