by Lou Piniella
In an April 2016 game, Yankees pitcher Nathan Eovaldi lost a no-hitter against Texas on a ground ball that went through the area where the shortstop normally plays because Yankees’ manager, Joe Girardi, had the shift on. After the game, Girardi said what I maintain: “It’s an illegal defense, like basketball. Guard your man, guard your spot. I just think the field was built this way for a reason—with two men on one side and two on the other.” He went on to say if he were commissioner, he would ban the shift. I fully concur. In my twenty-three years of managing, I never once used a shift and somehow still managed to win 1,835 games.
EPILOGUE
As I reflect on my career and life, I recognize that God has blessed me, and I am extremely thankful. In April 2017, I celebrated fifty years of marriage, and I am the proud father of three children, Lou Jr., Kristi, and Derek, along with five beautiful granddaughters: Kassidy, Sophia, Anica, Mia, and Ava.
My whole adult life has been in baseball, as a player, coach, and manager, and I enjoyed every minute of it and learned a lot from my experiences. Losing my best friends, Thurman Munson, Catfish Hunter, and Bobby Murcer, taught me how fickle life can be and that nothing is guaranteed. You slowly realize there are things more important in life other than trophies, rings, and, yes, even the Hall of Fame.
I’d be lying if said I hadn’t thought about the Hall of Fame, especially after I passed 1,800 victories and people began telling me that, in the history of baseball, only Joe Torre, Dusty Baker, and I had over 1,500 hits as players and 1,500 wins as managers. I also couldn’t help noticing that, of the thirteen managers in history with more wins than I have, only one, Gene Mauch—who had a losing record and never made it to a World Series—was not in the Hall of Fame. (My friend Joe Torre, who’s fifth on the all-time wins list with 2,326, played eighteen years in the big leagues and then managed fifteen more years with three different teams without ever getting to a World Series. It wasn’t until he went to work for Mr. Steinbrenner that he started winning championships. I could have told him that and saved him a lot of time and anguish!) I am likewise proud of having over 200 more wins than my contemporaries Tommy Lasorda, Dick Williams, Earl Weaver, and Whitey Herzog, who have all been elected to the Hall of Fame in recent years.
So I felt I had some worthy credentials, but I also knew it was very difficult to get the necessary twelve votes (or 75 percent) from the sixteen-member Veterans Committee. On December 4, I learned just how difficult when the Hall of Fame’s president, Jeff Idelson, announced that Bud Selig, the longtime commissioner, and John Schuerholz, the highly accomplished former general manager of the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves, had been elected. Schuerholz was unanimous with sixteen votes and Selig got fifteen. “The only other person on the ballot with more than five votes,” Idelson said, “was Lou Piniella with seven.”
In the hours waiting at home for the election results, I thought about how strange it was being on the same ballot with Mr. Steinbrenner, who was my boss. I felt sure he’d be elected after all he’d accomplished in baseball—restoring the Yankees dynasty with six world championships, founding of the YES network that sent the value of franchises skyrocketing, and being an early visionary on free agency—and I even wondered if he fell short by one vote if there was a way I could give him one of mine. But he didn’t even come close, and I find that really puzzling. Nevertheless, I was particularly happy for Schuerholz, who was the assistant farm director under the highly astute baseball man Lou Gorman with the Royals my first few seasons with them in the early ’70s. John and I were both young pups back then and were in the same National Guard reserves unit in Olathe, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. One summer, we shared a tent together at Fort Leonard Wood for our two-week active training. The memory of that got me to reflecting on all the great people who came through my life in baseball, many of whom touched me deeply and helped shape me into the player, manager, and person I became.
My passion in baseball was hitting, and I was fortunate enough to have had an excellent batting instructor in the minor leagues in Johnny Lipon (who taught me how to hit the breaking ball), and, on the major-league level, the greatest batting instructor of them all in Charlie Lau. I played for about twenty different managers from 1963 to 1984, but the two who stand out are Bob Lemon and Billy Martin. I played for Lem both in Kansas City and in his two terms with the Yankees. He was a man’s man who didn’t tolerate fools and he was just a great guy to play for. Billy was my mentor, a brilliant in-game strategist. Because of all the continual off-field drama with him, he wasn’t always the most fun guy to play for, but I loved sitting next to him in the dugout watching how he ran a ball game. I will forever cherish the memory of those 1977–78 Yankees world championship teams, which Billy and Lem both managed.
The games I’ll never forget: Opening Day, April 8, 1969, with the expansion Kansas City Royals. There I was, leading off, that noted agent of speed, going 4-for-5 and finally launching my career … My first and only All-Star Game, July 25, 1972, Atlanta. All three Royals’ outfielders, Amos Otis, Richie Scheinblum, and myself, made it, only Earl Weaver, our manager, told me to leave my glove at home … I didn’t play October 14, 1976, but what a beautiful sight from the bench it was, Chris Chambliss’s home run disappearing over Yankee Stadium’s right-center-field fence, carrying me to my first World Series … The playoff game with the Red Sox, October 2, 1978—this one they were glad I had my glove … The night Reggie Jackson became Mr. October, October 18, 1977, hitting three home runs and leading the Yankees to the world championship, which, for most of us, was our first … The game for Thurman, August 6, 1979, Bobby Murcer, 2-for-5, singlehandedly winning it with a three-run homer in the seventh and two-run single in the ninth.
When I think about the important dates in my professional life, however, one stands out above all the others: December 7, 1973. That was the day I was traded by the Royals to the Yankees. The best thing that ever happened to me. Were it not for George Steinbrenner, the managing part of my baseball career might never have happened. When it comes to people who had the most impact on my life and career, he was unquestionably number one.
A manager is only as good as the players he has and the people who got him those players. I am privileged to have managed six Hall of Famers—Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Barry Larkin, Junior Griffey, Randy Johnson, Goose Gossage—and two more, Edgar Martinez and Alex Rodriguez, who should and hopefully will be in the Hall of Fame. And I was fortunate to have worked for many talented general managers, especially Woody Woodward and Pat Gillick, who made me look good with their knowledge and acumen in putting together a ball club.
I want to thank all those people, my teammates, my players, my coaches, my trainers, my general managers, the owners who hired me, the fans, and all my friends in the media, for being part of this wonderful journey. And while I would be honored to someday join so many of my contemporaries in Cooperstown, I am comforted by the fact that in my family’s eyes, I am already in the Hall of Fame as a husband, father, and grandfather. I also realize that, approaching my midseventies, I am in the ninth inning of life, winning the game because of my faith—and that is the greatest comfort of all to me.
PHOTOS SECTION
Baby Lou, 1943, West Tampa, Florida.
Three-year-old Lou with father Louis and mother Margaret, 1946, West Tampa, Florida.
Tony LaRussa and I played together on the American Legion Post 248 team, which captured the 1960 championship. In the team banquet photo here, I am on the left, third from the bottom. Tony LaRussa is on the right, first from bottom.
An All-American basketball player at Jesuit High School in Tampa, I attended the University of Tampa for a year, where I played basketball and was an All-American in baseball for the Spartans in 1962.
My lifelong love of fishing began as a boy with my father, Louis. Here we are with our catch in 1959.
In the 1969 season, I was the American League Rookie of the Year. I’m remembered by the Royals’ historian (Curt
Nelson) as “a man of firsts” in Royals history: first franchise batter, first franchise hit (a double off the first pitch he saw), and first franchise run scored. Courtesy of the Kansas City Royals
With some of my Kansas City Royals teammates in 1972 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium at 22nd and Brooklyn. L–R: Amos Otis, Fred Patek, Cookie Rojas, and Lou. Courtesy of the Kansas City Royals
With my wife, Anita, on the field at Kansas City Municipal Stadium for the Royals’ Family Day.
On April 12, 1967, I married Anita Garcia at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Tampa.
Arguing with umpire Ron Luciano after being called out at home at Yankee Stadium in 1978. Joe McNally
My reaction after being called out at home plate in a close play in the fourth inning of the third playoff game between the Yankees and the Royals on Friday, October 6, 1978, in New York at Yankee Stadium. Home plate umpire Ron Luciano had the last word: I was out. Associated Press
Going above the fence to rob a home run from Dodger Ron Cey in the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 15, 1977. Associated Press
Thurman Munson, already in his catcher’s gear for the next half of the inning, runs onto the field where he had to restrain me after my collision with Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk resulted in a brawl. The New York Daily News
NBC sportscaster Joe Garagiola interviewing Anita and me following my final game as a player, on June 16, 1984.
Me, Anita, Lou Jr., and Kristi in 1975 at the Yankees’ Family Day.
Family portrait, 1981. L–R: Kristi, Lou Jr., Derek, Lou, Anita.
With Anita in the backyard of our “Yankee home” in Allendale, New Jersey, 1985.
Chatting with then manager Yogi Berra before the start of an exhibition game against the New York Mets in March 1984. Associated Press/G. Paul Burnett
George Steinbrenner (center) and Billy Martin (left) were both hugely important to my career in baseball. Here we are in the dugout during spring training in 1988, the year I was general manager for the team. Associated Press/Bill Cooke
Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott looking on as I hug my son Derek at the news conference announcing my hiring as Reds manager in 1989.
October 1990. Reds fans celebrate the team reaching the postseason. Courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds
Friends and rivals since boyhood, Tony La Russa and I were excited to manage against each other in the 1990 World Series. Here we are shaking hands before game 1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds
Hoisting the World Series trophy with Marge Schott at a celebration in downtown Cincinnati. Courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds
On our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, Marge Schott presented Anita and me with a pair of handcuffs as an anniversary gift.
October 30, 1990, the World Series champion Cincinnati Reds were honored in the White House Rose Garden by President George H. W. Bush. Courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds
Following the Reds’ 1990 World Series sweep of the Oakland A’s, our Piniella family posed with the World Series trophy. L–R: Lou Jr., Kristi, Derek, me, and Anita.
1992 family portrait. L–R: Anita, me, Kristi, Lou Jr., Derek.
In 1993 I decided to take a chance on a team out west, beginning almost ten years with the Seattle Mariners that would last until 2002. Courtesy of the Seattle Mariners
During a game against the Yankees in August 1999, I had to be restrained by my bench coach, John McLaren, while arguing a call with home plate umpire Ted Barrett. The Yankees had the bases loaded with Bernie Williams, Chili Davis, Tino Martinez, and Scott Brosius at bat. REUTERS/Roger Bacon/Alamy
Alex Rodriguez and I remained close long after he left Seattle for Texas. Even when we were playing against each other, as here in 2000, neither of us ever forgot how his time in Seattle had shaped him. Associated Press/LM Otero
After the amazing season we’d had, the 2001 ALCS was one of the most difficult losses I’d faced. Here I am congratulating the Boss following the Yankees’ win in game 5. REUTERS/Alamy/Mike Segar
“Daddy’s girl” Kristi Piniella with me on her wedding day in 1995.
1999, Lou Jr., Derek, and me at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where Derek played football in 1998 and 1999.
Kicking my cap after being ejected from a game against the Rangers in September 2002 by umpire C.B. Bucknor. Mark Harrison/Seattle Times
A couple of Seattle fans screaming their support for me during my first season as manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2003. REUTERS/Alamy/Anthony P. Bolante
While it was great to be home in Tampa Bay, managing the Devil Rays was one of my hardest challenges. Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays
Signing autographs for Devil Rays fans at spring training in Port Charlotte, Florida. Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays
With my grandkids. L–R: Kassidy, Anica, and Sophie at Tropicana Field, 2002.
After the announcement that I would be the new manager of the Chicago Cubs on October 17, 2006. REUTERS/Alamy/Frank Polich
Arguing with third base umpire Mark Wegner in a game against the Atlanta Braves in 2007. Not only was I ejected by Wegner, but that outburst drew a four-game suspension. Associated Press/Nam Y. Huh
Being doused with champagne after we clinched the National League Central Division in 2008. REUTERS/Alamy/Nam Y. Huh
Changing pitchers in 2007. Steve Green, Chicago Cubs
A 2007 pregame radio interview with Cubs broadcaster and Hall of Famer Ron Santo. Steve Green, Chicago Cubs
With my granddaughter Kassidy at her first horse show in 2003.
Now that I’m retired from managing, Anita and I spend as much time as we can with the family. Here we are with our granddaughters Ava, left, and Mia.
With Anita and our granddaughters on Lake Magdalene in Tampa in 2016. L–R: Kassidy, Anica, Mia, Lou, Anita, Ava, Sophie.
Our family.
Back row L–R: Derek, his wife, Michelle, Kassidy, Janet, Lou Jr., Kristi, Lou.
Front row: Sophie, Ava, Anita, Mia, Anica.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the following people whose help was significant in the creating, writing, researching, and editing of this book:
Moss Klein, who lived a lot of this Lou history himself and was our dogged and scrupulous proofreader.
Sean Forman’s Baseball-Reference.com, the new bible of baseball insofar as the history of the game goes. This book and just about any other future book on baseball could not be written without Sean’s “bible.”
Steve Hirdt, Tom Hirdt, John Labombarda, and Bob Waterman of the Elias Sports Bureau, who swiftly and diligently provided answers to all the statistical questions that came up along the way in the writing of this book.
Mondy Flores, who provided background history on the city of Tampa and the neighborhood and playing fields where Mr. Piniella grew up.
The Major League Baseball Media Relations Departments—Rob Butcher and Brendan Hader of the Cincinnati Reds; Mike Swanson and Curt Nelson of the Kansas City Royals; Randy Adamack, Tim Hevly, and Ben Van Houton of the Seattle Mariners; Rick Vaughn and Dave Haller of the Tampa Bay Rays; Peter Chase and Steve Green of the Chicago Cubs—which assisted in the procuring of pictures for the book.
Andrew Levy and Tim O’Neill of Wish You Were Here Productions who provided contact information for people interviewed for this book.
Steve Alexander of Octagon Sports and Entertainment Agency for his tireless work editing copy, procuring pictures, and coordinating this entire project.
Jeff Idelson, Jim Gates, and Bill Francis of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, who made available their files and photo resources.
And lastly:
David Hirshey, who had the vision at HarperCollins that Lou was a story well worth publishing … and Matt Harper, a “baseball guy” who did a superb job of editing the book.
APPENDIX
The Lou Lists
Managers All-Time Wins List
CONNIE
MACK 3,731*
JOHN MCGRAW 2,763*
TONY LA RUSSA 2,728*
BOBBY COX 2,504*
JOE TORRE 2,326*
SPARKY ANDERSON 2,194*
BUCKY HARRIS 2,158*
JOE MCCARTHY 2,125*
WALTER ALSTON 2,040*
LEO DUROCHER 2,008*
CASEY STENGEL 1,905*
GENE MAUCH 1,902
BILL MCKECHNIE 1,896*
LOU PINIELLA 1,835
BRUCE BOCHY 1,789
JIM LEYLAND 1,769
DUSTY BAKER 1,766
RALPH HOUK 1,619
FRED CLARKE 1,602*
TOMMY LASORDA 1,599*
* Hall of Fame
Managers All-Time Ejections List
BOBBY COX 161
JOHN MCGRAW 132
EARL WEAVER 94
LEO DUROCHER 94
TONY LA RUSSA 87
PAUL RICHARDS 80
FRANKIE FRISCH 80
JIM LEYLAND 68
JOE TORRE 66
RON GARDENHIRE 65
LOU PINIELLA 63
BRUCE BOCHY 61
LOU’S ALL-TIME TEAMMATES TEAM
CATCHER: THURMAN MUNSON—Gritty leader by example. Master handler of pitchers. Great clutch hitter. In many ways our idol on those ’70s Yankees championship teams.
FIRST BASE: CHRIS CHAMBLISS—We called him “the snatcher” because of his ability to cover first base and all the incoming throws like a blanket. Quiet, steady, productive hitter, who hit perhaps the biggest home run in Yankees history.
SECOND BASE: WILLIE RANDOLPH—Made every play look smooth and easy around second base, and was no easy out at the plate either.
