In the end, there were no such bombshells in [Mike] Piazza’s book, “Long Shot” (Simon & Schuster), which was written by Lonnie Wheeler and was scheduled to be released this week. But there are a good number of intriguing disclosures as he recounts his improbable rise to stardom, pushed every step of the way by the support and insistence of his father, Vince.

Piazza writes that he was a brat at times during his baseball career, selfish, moody and immature. He says that he was occasionally ...