Lou Piniella will attend Old Timers’ Day

19 Comments»

MikeD says:
May 6, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Cool. Now if we can just get Jeter to attend Old Timers’ Day we’ll be in good shape.
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• The209 says:

  May 6, 2011 at 6:42 pm

  ponderous man

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  • MikeD says:

    May 7, 2011 at 1:43 am

    Relax. It was all meant in good humor. That’s the point.

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Monteroisdinero says:
May 6, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Lou Piniella played with passion and fire-just like he managed. He was a great clutch hitter/line drives to all fields. Decent RFer.
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Mattpat11 says:
May 6, 2011 at 6:03 pm
He appeared once or twice as a visiting manager, right?
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tom says:
May 6, 2011 at 6:14 pm
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.
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• dalelama says:

  May 7, 2011 at 6:45 am

  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.

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Mike R. says:
May 6, 2011 at 6:18 pm
I wish they’d invite Bobby Cox.
Imagine Cox, Torre, and Piniella all on the same team…
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• Monteroisdinero says:

  May 6, 2011 at 6:25 pm

  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.

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  • crawdaddy says:

    May 6, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    No kidding. Torre had near HOF numbers compared to his contemporaries.

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I Am Not The Droids You're Looking For (is off to masterstroke myself) says:
May 6, 2011 at 6:57 pm
He was Paul O’Neil before, you know, Paul O’Neil. Was always one of my favorite players.
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• billy's bartender says:

  May 6, 2011 at 7:15 pm

  Exactly who I always compared Lou too. Never forget the fight with fisk after a home plate collision in the mid 70s.

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Ballgame says:
May 6, 2011 at 11:15 pm
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.
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phil says:
May 7, 2011 at 4:30 am
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.
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cr1 says:
May 7, 2011 at 8:45 am
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?
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DSFenkel says:
May 7, 2011 at 9:11 am
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.
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JFH says:
May 7, 2011 at 10:59 am
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.
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Greg C says:
May 7, 2011 at 12:29 pm
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.
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Robert 23 says:
June 24, 2013 at 9:22 am
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?
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