Former Baseball Player's Ballet Debut

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - From the baseball field to the stage, former catcher Mike Piazza is set for his  role with the Miami City Ballet.

The former Major Baseball League player will play a gangster in Friday night's performance of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue."

Piazza will not dance in tights, rather he will walk 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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