In this candid, revealing, and entertaining memoir, the beloved New York Yankee legend looks back over his nearly fifty-year career as a player and a manager, sharing insights and stories about some of his most memorable moments and some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball.
For nearly five decades, Lou Piniella has been a fixture in Major League Baseball, as an outfielder with the legendary New York Yankees of the 1970s, and as a manager for five teams in both the American and National leagues. With respected veteran sportswriter Bill Madden, Piniella now reflects on his storied career, offering fans a glimpse of life on the field, in the dugout, and inside the clubhouse.
Piniella speaks from the heart about his teams and his players, offering a detailed, up-close portrait of the Bronx Zoo’s raucous personalities such as Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter, as well as his close friendship with Thurman Munson and his unusual relationship with George Steinbrenner. He also delves deep into his post-Yankee experiences, from winning a World Series for the controversial owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Marge Schott, to transforming the perennial cellar-dwelling Seattle Mariners into one of the league’s best teams. Some of the game’s brightest stars are here: Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez, Piniella’s supremely talented and controversial protégé.
Throughout his time in the majors, Piniella has witnessed MLB grow into a multi-billion-dollar business. Piniella reflects on those changes, voicing his highly critical opinions on a range of controversial subjects, including steroids. Hilarious and uproarious, filled with eight pages of photos, Lou brings into focus a man whose deeply rooted passion for baseball has defined his life.
Lou Piniella has been a part of Major League Baseball for over fifty years. In that time, he played for the Orioles, the Indians, the Royals, and the Yankees, and managed for the Yankees, the Reds, the Mariners, the Rays, and the Cubs. He is fourteenth on the list of all-time MLB managerial wins. He is currently a senior advisor to the Cincinnati Reds organization. He lives in Tampa, Florida.
Bill Madden has covered the Yankees and Major League Baseball for the New York Daily News for more than forty years. In 2010, Madden was the recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s J. G. Taylor Spink Award. He has written several books about baseball, including the New York Times bestseller Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball.