Thursday, September 15, 2022

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LOU PINIELLA

Good day all!

Thought it'd be fun to add another player to my long-running 1971 "Minor League Days" thread, with the next guy in 1969 A.L. Rookie of the Year Lou Piniella:

 
Piniella is shown here as a member of the Portland Beavers, for whom he played between 1966 and 1968, averaging above .300 combined while in the Cleveland Indians organization.
He did get into six games for the Indians in 1968 before being selected by the new Seattle Pilots organization in the expansion draft in October of that year.
However right before the 1969 season Piniella was traded by the Pilots to another new franchise, the Kansas City Royals, for John Gelnar and Steve Whitaker.
It was a great move by the Kansas City team, as Piniella would not disappoint, going on to cop Rookie of the Year honors by hitting .282 with eleven homers and 68 runs batted in.
He'd play with the Royals through the 1973 season, making one more All-Star team in 1972 when he hit .312 while leading the league with 33 doubles, collecting a career-best 179 hits.
After being traded to the New York Yankees before the 1974 season, Piniella found his permanent home in the big leagues, playing the final eleven seasons of his career there.
Along the way he was a member of two championship teams, hit .300 or better five times, and eventually would even become manager of the Yanks before moving on to a long career leading Major League squads.
Over his 18-year career he hit .291, with 1705 hits in 5867 at-bats, and besides 10 games split between the Orioles in 1964 and the Indians in 1968, he'd do it all with the Roylas and Yankees between 1969-1984.
In 1986 he took over as Yankee manager, and would go on to manage for another 23 seasons, guiding the Yanks, Reds, Mariners, Devil Rays and Cubs.
He would lead his teams to a World Series win in 1990 (Reds), an American League record 116 win season in 2001 (Mariners), eight 90+ win seasons (all but the Devil Rays), and six 1st place finishes (with the Reds, Mariners and Cubs).
Not a bad career spanning 46 years!

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