June 2, 1977 – Yankees 10, Twins 3

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The transition had begun for Lou Piniella in 1976, his third season with the Yankees. Throughout his career, spent mostly with the Royals and Yankees, Piniella had been a full-time outfielder who, since the advent of the designated hitter in 1973, had rarely been used in that capacity.

But in 1976, when Piniella was 32 and starting to slow down a bit, Billy Martin slotted him in as the DH in 38 games. Like many players, it was a struggle for Piniella because the complaint was that it was difficult to stay into the game if you weren’t playing in the field. Piniella’s .254 average as a DH in 1976 was well below his season number of .281.

With the acquisition of Reggie Jackson in 1977, New York’s outfield – which also included Mickey Rivers, Roy White, and defensive sub Paul Blair – was overcrowded, and not much was going to change for Piniella. He was going to have to contribute as a DH, and in this one-sided victory over the Twins, he certainly did. Piniella went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI to lead a 14-hit Yankee assault on four Minnesota pitchers.

Blondie performing Rip Her To Shreds at CGBG's in 1977.

“This year there’s no place to play, but I’m more than happy being the DH,” Piniella said. He admitted the toughest part of the job was finding something to do in between at-bats. “There’s so much time in between, all I do is come in the clubhouse and eat the candy bars they got in there.”

Piniella would go on to play start 86 games in 1977, and exactly half were as the DH. He finished with a slash line that established career highs in all three measures - .330 average, .365 on-base and .510 slugging percentage. As the DH, his slash line was .303/.344/.520.

Rod Carew was back at it again as he went 4-for-5 with a double, a home run, and two RBI, all of that coming in the first six innings against Yankee starter Ed Figueroa. “Everything I pitched, he hit,” Figueroa. But none of the other Twins did much of anything, especially against Sparky Lyle who relieved with two outs in the sixth, faced 10 batters, and retired all 10.

Piniella’s two-run homer opened the scoring in the fourth, and he contributed a sacrifice fly to cap a five-run explosion in the fifth which blew the game open. That inning also featured a two-run double by Thurman Munson, and an RBI triple by Chris Chambliss.

“Now that’s more like it,” Martin said of the offense. “We’re capable of doing this more often. We should be seven games ahead of where we are.” Where they were was back within a half-game of the Orioles, and a game ahead of the Red Sox, in the manic AL East.

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