Letters to the Editor

Mike Piazza’s ‘Bodyguard’

Dear Editor: I enjoyed the letter (“Mike Piazza and Bishop ‘Iggy’,”Jan. 23) written by Philip McBride about Mike Piazza’s Easter Vigil visit to Holy Family Church in Fresh Meadows.

I was the NYPD officer who was Mike’s “bodyguard” that night. I coordinated the Sunday Mass at Shea Stadium for the players and employees while I was assigned to the police detail there. Father Tom Concagh, C.M., from St. John’s University celebrated the Mass until declining health no longer allowed him to travel.

I asked Bishop Iggy Catanello to say Mass for us. The first time he met Mike Piazza, he presented him with a statue of St. Michael. A friendship began that day and lasted until the bishop’s death.

I will always remember the faces of the parishioners as Mike and I entered the church. He did sign many autographs that night.

I remember Sister Dorothy, the parish school secretary (a huge Met fan) barrel over the parishioners to get into the sacristy with her parish bulletin for an autograph.

Mike was a class act both on and off the field.

SGT. ED CONROY

NYPD