August 4, 1977 – Sweet Lou

When Lou Piniella joined the Yankees in time for the 1974 season, Yankee fans weren’t exactly moved to pay attention. Piniella had enjoyed some success with the Kansas City Royals, but at this time, the Yankees were a middling team that was about to take up residence for the next two seasons in Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium was being renovated.

Trading relief pitcher Lindy McDaniel for Piniella wasn’t the type of transaction that moved the needle the way the eventual free agent signings of Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, and so many others. But in looking back over his time in the Bronx, few players meant as much to the Yankees on and off the field than the fiery man who one day would be called Sweet Lou, and the next day be called Mount Lou.

Piniella once said of himself, “Hitting is the thing I do best in the world.” Umpires might have a different viewpoint on those occasions – and there were many, from when he was a player and later a manager – when Piniella would literally explode like a volcano, so angry would he get if a call went against him or his team.

“I guess the hardest thing for me is to learn how to relax,” Piniella said. “After every game, I go over in my mind: ‘Could I have done it differently?’ I know I take (losses) hard. Maybe too hard.”

Piniella was never a spectacular performer, but he was a consistent threat at the plate, prompting former teammate Don Baylor to once say, “When I played against him, Lou was the guy I never wanted to see up with a man on second.”

Originally signed by the Indians in 1962, Piniella bounced around the minors for seven years with the Indians, Senators, and Orioles before ending up in spring training with the 1969 expansion Seattle Pilots. Before the season, he caught his big break when the Pilots – made famous by Jim Bouton’s book, Ball Four -

traded him to the Royals. He became rookie of the year in 1969, earned an All-Star berth in 1972, and hit .286 across five seasons in Kansas City.

He came to New York and spent the next 11 years contributing in so many ways, finishing his time with the Yankees with 57 home runs, 417 RBI, a slash line of .295/.338/.413., four American League pennants and two World Series championships.

When Billy Martin was fired for the fourth time by George Steinbrenner following the 1985 season, the Boss hired Piniella to be his replacement, starting a 23-year managerial career that would result in 1,835 victories and one World Series title, that in 1990 with the underdog Cincinnati Reds.

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