Lou Piniella will attend Old Timers’ Day

May 6, 2011 by Mike Axisa 19 Comments

Via Ken Davidoff, Lou Piniella will attend Old Timer’s Day this summer, his first time in a Yankee uniform since 1988. He’s currently a “special consultant” with the Giants, a cushy job that affords him the luxury of staying home with his elderly mother. I’m too young to have seen Piniella play, and I don’t remember anything about his time as a manager either. I was like, five when he was running things. Either way, it’ll be cool to see him there.

Joe Torre will be there this year as well, in case you missed it over the winter.

MikeD

Cool. Now if we can just get Jeter to attend Old Timers’ Day we’ll be in good shape.
- The209
  
  ponderous man
  - MikeD
    
    Relax. It was all meant in good humor. That’s the point.
Monteroisdinero

Lou Piniella played with passion and fire-just like he managed. He was a great clutch hitter/line drives to all fields. Decent RFer.
http://www.twitter.com/mattpat11 Mattpat11

He appeared once or twice as a visiting manager, right?
tom

Lou’s numbers were, by contemporary standards, probably too weak to play for the Yankees now. He was an old-timers’ kind of guy — the sort who seemed to come through in key moments, whether with a timely base-hit or a diving (if awkward) catch. I don’t know if he would have been valued in the Bill James stat era — I’ve never even seen his output run through that sort of analysis. But fans in the 70s loved him.

Oh, and he threw world class tantrums when he felt wronged on the field. Paul O’Neill was a pussycat by comparison.
- dalelama
  
  Believe me Lou could easily start for the current version of the Yankees either in LF, RF, and at DH. Unlike our current occupants in LF and RF Lou didn’t choke in the post season.
Mike R.

I wish they’d invite Bobby Cox.

Imagine Cox, Torre, and Piniella all on the same team…
- Monteroisdinero
  
  Cox was a pretty unimpressive 3rd baseman in his day. Torre was much better. He failed as a catcher, however, earning the catchy nickname of…..
  
  Chickencatchertorre.
  - crawdaddy
    
    No kidding. Torre had near HOF numbers compared to his contemporaries.
I Am Not The Droids You’re Looking For (is off to masterstroke myself)

He was Paul O’Neil before, you know, Paul O’Neil. Was always one of my favorite players.
- billy’s bartender
  
  Exactly who I always compared Lou too. Never forget the fight with fisk after a home plate collision in the mid 70s.
Ballgame

One of the quotes about Sweet Lou was that he could roll out of bed at midnight in the middle of winter and lash a line drive hit. He would muscle every hit with an exaggerated shoulder heavy swing…and his sloppy looking genius in the OF was something to behold. One of my favorites growing up. Clutch, productive and never cold off the bench.
phil

Just a flat-out great hitter. One of the great Yankee trades sending Lindy McDaniel to Kansas City for Sweet Lou. Kind of like sending Danny Cater to the Bosox for Sparky Lyle; both players having lots to do w/turning that Yankee team into a mid to late ’70’s powerhouse.

I remember in ’74 we were in the pennant race for the first time since forever (or at least since the last Pennant in ’64 w/the Mickey Mantle era Yankees) & the last series of the year was in Milwaukee, a two game set against the Brewers. While I don’t remember all the details, the Yankees were right on the tails of the Orioles & needed to win both games from the Brewers to have a shot at tying or winning the division. Before the first game, Bobby Murcer got injured in a locker room scrap w/Bill Sudakis resulting I think in him breaking a finger which prevented Bobby from contributing to a final pennant push. The injury finished Bobby’s season & for the time being ended his Yankee career as he would be traded for Bobby Bonds in the off-season (a not so successful deal that was remedied a year later when Bonds was shipped to the Angels for Ed Figueroa & Mickey Rivers).

At any rate, one of the critical plays of the 161st game of the year was a fly ball to right center field that Piniella probably should have caught but didn’t, which resulted in the brewers plating the eventual winning run & the Yankees being eliminated upon losing that game. I remember Piniella being a stand up guy & taking the heat for losing that game & remarking how his former manager — Oriole Manager Earl Weaver — had told him earlier in the year that Lou would probably make a defensive mishap that would cost his team a big game.

Oh, well, aside from the ’75 season in which he had an ear infection that pretty much ruined that year, the dude won us a whole bunch of games w/his productive hitting & yes, solid defensive play. Lou really was a great Yankee & one sweet player.
cr1

Who didn’t see the Steinbrenners inviting Torre the minute he got his new position in the Commissioner’s office?

Glad to see the rapprochement, but the quick-step timing looked a little opportunistic, no?
DSFenkel

Sweet Lou spent 15 years with the Yankees as a player, coach, manager and GM, and the next two decades as a prominent, major league manager elsewhere. He remains beloved by Yankee fans – like me – who watched him play.
JFH

I loved Pinella as a player. My favorite Pinella momement: he loses the ball in the sun at Fenway, stuck out his glove and caught the ball on a hop. If the ball got by him, the Bucky Dent game would have been very different.

My most hated Pinella moment: he was in a designer jeans commercial. Ooh, la la, Sassoon! WTH? No self respecting athelete should ever be in a designer jeans commercial.
Greg C

I remember Piniella (managing), but I look like I’m 15. So I thank posts like this for making me feel old, or at least close to my age.
Robert 23

Did anyone notice Paul O Neill snubbing Lou Pinella at Old Timers Introductions. Pinella thought he was garbage and traded him to Yanks. Pinella didnt want to hit against Jeff Nelson another ex player he managed. Why doesnt Reggie Hit?