Playing Career
Piniella was signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent on June 9, 1962. That fall, he was drafted by the Washington Senators from the Indians in the 1962 first year draft. In August 1964, Piniella was sent to the Baltimore Orioles to complete an earlier trade for Buster Narum. Piniella played in his first major league game in 1964 with the Baltimore Orioles at the age of 21.
Prior to the 1966 season, Piniella was traded by the Orioles back to the Indians for Cam Carreon. At 24, his second major league season was with the Cleveland Indians.
He was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft, but was traded at the end of spring training to the Kansas City Royals for John Gelnar and Steve Whitaker. He was prominently mentioned in Jim Bouton's classic book about the Seattle Pilots, Ball Four.
Piniella played for the Kansas City Royals from 1969-73, and was the American League's Rookie of the Year in 1969 and was named to the 1972 All-Star Game. Piniella was the first player to come to bat in Royals history. On April 8 of their first season, he led off the bottom of the 1st against left-hander Tom Hall of the Minnesota Twins. He doubled to left field, then scored on an RBI single by Jerry Adair.
After the 1973 season, Piniella was traded by the Royals with Ken Wright to the New York Yankees for Lindy McDaniel. He played with the Yankees for 11 seasons. During this period, the Yankees won five AL East titles (1976–78, 1980 and 1981), four AL pennants (1976–78 and 1981), and two World Series championships (1977–78). In 1975, he missed most of the year with an inner ear infection. From mid 1977 through the end of 1980, he was the Yankees' regular outfielder/DH.
In his career, Piniella made one All-Star team and compiled 1705 lifetime hits despite not playing full-time for just under half of his career. He received 2 votes for the Hall of Fame as a player in 1990.
Read more about this topic: Lou Piniella
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