Lou Piniella

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Louis Victor Piniella (born August 28, 1943, in Tampa, Florida) is a former left fielder in Major League Baseball and the current manager of the Chicago Cubs. His nickname, "Sweet Lou," has two meanings, his sweet swing as a hitter for the New York Yankees for whom he batted .295, and, facetiously, to describe his demeanor as a manager.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Managerial career 2.1 New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds 2.2 Seattle Mariners 2.3 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2.4 Chicago Cubs 3 Awards 4 Broadcasting career 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Playing career

After graduating from Jesuit High School of Tampa, Piniella played at the University of Tampa. He began his professional playing career with the Cleveland Indians, who signed him as an amateur free agent in 1962. Piniella, at the age of 21, played in his first major league game in 1964 with the Baltimore Orioles. At 24, his second major league season was with the Indians. He joined the Seattle Pilots during their 1969 preseason, but was quickly traded. He was prominently mentioned in Jim Bouton's classic book about the Seattle Pilots, Ball Four.

Piniella played for the Kansas City Royals from 1969-73, and was the American League's AL Rookie of the Year in 1969. He was the first player to come to bat in Royals history. On April 8 of their first season, he led off the bottom of the 1st against left-hander Tom Hall of the Minnesota Twins. He doubled to left field, then scored on an RBI single by Jerry Adair.

That was followed by 11 years as a member of the New York Yankees, where they won five AL East titles (1976-78, 1980 and 1981), four AL pennants (1976-78 and 1981), and two World Series championships (1977-78). He was the leading hitter during the Yankee dynasty during the aforementined years. One of the more underrated players of the 1970's (he made just one all star team), he compiled 1705 lifetime hits despite not playing full time for just under half of his career.

He wore uniform number 24 for the Orioles, and 23 for the Indians. His longer stretches were wearing number 9 for the Royals, and 14 for the Yankees.

[edit] Managerial career

Known for his often aggressive and sometimes explosive behavior, Piniella is one of the most-ejected managers in major league history.^[1] He had a reputation for being less than patient with pitchers, often sending his pitching coach to remove them from the game.

Managerial record: 1519 wins - 1420 losses (.519 winning percentage)

[edit] New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds

After retiring as a player, Piniella managed the Yankees from 1986 to 1987 and for most of 1988 before briefly serving as the club's general manager for the rest of the 1988 and 1989 seasons. Piniella managed the Cincinnati Reds between 1990 and 1992, a tenure that included winning the 1990 World Series against the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics.

[edit] Seattle Mariners

From 1993-2002, he managed the Seattle Mariners, winning the AL Manager of the Year Award in 1995, and again in 2001 when he led the Mariners to a record-tying 116 wins (the 1906 Chicago Cubs accomplished the feat in a 154-game schedule). After winning the 2001 AL Division Series, the Mariners dropped the first two games of the AL Championship Series, and Piniella held an angry post-game press conference in which he guaranteed the Mariners would win two out of three games in New York to return the ALCS to Seattle. However, the Yankees closed out the series at Yankee Stadium, and the Mariners did not reach the World Series. Following the 2002 season, he signed on to become manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

In the Mariners' 30-season history, they have had nine winning seasons and reached the playoffs four times. Seven of the winning seasons and all of the playoff appearances occurred during Piniella's ten years with the Mariners.

[edit] Tampa Bay Devil Rays

In his first two seasons with the Devil Rays, Piniella was able to improve the team somewhat, and they won a franchise-record 70 games in 2004, which was also their first season in which they did not finish last in their division. During the 2005 season, Piniella was very critical of Devil Rays management for focusing too much on the future and not enough on immediate results, and for not increasing payroll quickly enough to field a competitive team (they started the season with a $30 million payroll, which was the lowest in the major leagues).

Tensions eventually made Piniella step down as the Devil Rays' manager on September 21, 2005. He had one season remaining on his contract that he signed in October 2002, but agreed to a $2.2 million buyout of his contract, instead of the original $4.4 million that he was due, had he decided to manage the team for one more season. He would also receive $1.25 million in deferred salary from 2003.

[edit] Chicago Cubs

Piniella agreed to a three-year contract to manage the Chicago Cubs on October 16, 2006. The contract is for $10 million over three seasons with a $5 million option for a fourth year [1].

[edit] Awards

• 1969 - AL Rookie of the Year
• 1972 - All-Star
• 1995 - AL Manager of the Year
• 2001 - AL Manager of the Year

[edit] Broadcasting career

After parting ways with the Devil Rays, Piniella spent one season as a color commentator for Fox Sports, having joined Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons in calling postseason baseball games.

During this stint, Piniella was involved in an incident which eventually cost co-worker Lyons his job. Lyons made some racially insensitive remarks alluding to Piniella's Hispanic background that did not sit too well with Fox management. Lou Piniella later stated that he thought that Lyons was just "kidding" and that Lyons was, per Piniella's experience, not bigoted.

[edit] References

1. ^ Devil Rays Managers and Coaches page

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career playing statistics and managing record
• Baseball Almanac
• BaseballLibrary.com - career highlights
• Piniella, Rays Parting Ways - Tampa Tribune

Preceded by: Stan Bahnsen	American League Rookie of the Year 1969	Succeeded by: Thurman Munson
Preceded by: Buck Showalter	American League Manager of the Year 1995	Succeeded by: Joe Torre Johnny Oates
Preceded by: Jerry Manuel	American League Manager of the Year 2001	Succeeded by: Mike Scioscia
Preceded by: Billy Martin	New York Yankees Manager 1986–1987	Succeeded by: Billy Martin
Preceded by: Billy Martin	New York Yankees Manager 1988	Succeeded by: Dallas Green
Preceded by: Tommy Helms	Cincinnati Reds Manager 1990–1992	Succeeded by: Tony Pérez
Preceded by: Bill Plummer	Seattle Mariners Manager 1993–2002	Succeeded by: Bob Melvin
Preceded by: Hal McRae	Tampa Bay Devil Rays Manager 2003–2005	Succeeded by: Joe Maddon
Preceded by: Dusty Baker	Chicago Cubs Manager 2007–	Succeeded by: Incumbent