Who is the man: Lou Piniella was two years removed from his 1969 American League Rookie of the Year Award. But he followed up that year with an even better season in 1970, hitting above .300 for the first time.
Can ya dig it: The Royals are one of the main beneficiaries of Topps' decision to incorporate action shots into a set for the first time. There are a handful of Royals in action in this set.
Right on: I think those are just extra thick dots above the i's in Piniella's last name. But at first glance they look like he dotted his i's with stars.
You see this cat Piniella is a bad mother: I'm sure that base that Piniella threw when he was manager of the Reds thought he was a pretty bad man.
Shut your mouth: When Piniella worked as a broadcaster during Fox's airing of the 2006 ALCS, his conversation with fellow broadcaster Steve Lyons ended up getting Lyons fired. Fox said Lyons' comments were racially insensitive (he joked that Piniella stole his wallet, insinuating that's what a Spanish-speaking person would do).
No one understand him but his woman: Piniella's move in 2003 from being a manager with Seattle, a winning organization, to being the manager of Tampa Bay, a perennial loser, was baffling to some people. But Piniella and his wife, Anita, wanted to be closer to their Tampa home. Both are Tampa natives.
(A word about the back): As someone who only knew Piniella as playing for the Yankees (and, boy, did we despise him), it's strange enough to see him in a Royals uniform. But playing for the Orioles and the Indians? I don't think I ever knew that until now.
Love the vintage action shot. Even if it does look like his fly is open.
ReplyDeleteSweet Lou played four games for the Orioles in 1964, but got only one at-bat, pinch-hitting for Robin Roberts and grounding out. His other three appearances were all as a pinch runner. He didn't resurface in the majors until 1968 with the Indians. I have his card from that year, and he doesn't even look like the same person.
ReplyDeletePinella was on THREE different multi-player "prospect cards": 1964 (Orioles), 1968 (Indians), and 1969 (Pilots). Strange that if he was such a great prospect, why was he traded around so much? Or was he not really much of a prospect when Topps issued those cards?
ReplyDelete