Baseball Hall of Famers Barry Larkin and Marty Brennaman sat in the Great American Ball Park cafeteria last week reminiscing about Lou Piniella.
Larkin and Brennaman still remember Piniella’s first speech at spring training in Plant City, Florida, in 1990 as the Cincinnati Reds’ new manager.
“I’m not going to stand for losing,” Piniella told the team, as recalled by Brennaman, then the radio play-by-play man. “Because you’re too damn good to lose. I will not put up with it.”
Sweet Lou never had to that season. The Reds went wire-to-wire behind Larkin, Eric Davis, Chris Sabo, Jose Rijo and the Nasty Boys, sweeping the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. The Reds were only the fourth team at that point to ever remain in first place throughout the season and win it all. There’s been only two teams since.
More over, the Reds haven’t come close to the World Series since, let alone win one, making Piniella’s induction into the team’s Hall of Fame on April 25 well deserved and long overdue. Piniella, 82, is scheduled to be Cincinnati with his wife, Anita, and their three children for the induction ceremonies.
Winning has been so fleeting around here for most of the past 36 years that we probably don’t celebrate Piniella enough, Brennaman said. Piniella spent the last 11 seasons of his playing career with the New York Yankees, having won two World Series rings as a player. He ranks 17th all-time in Major League Baseball managerial wins, putting him in a place where he’s both looking up and down at members of the Baseball Hall of Fame on that list and yet Piniella remains outside the club.
For a generation of Cincinnati fans that doesn’t know winning, it’s a good time to learn about the hot-tempered, chain-smoking winner who led your Reds to 90 wins in two of his three seasons here.
It all started with that no-messing-around speech in Plant City.
“I looked at the team,” Piniella said in an interview last week. “I said, ‘You guys have the talent to win. I don’t know why you haven’t won in the past. It’s your time.’ “
Piniella paused during the phone conversation and added: “My God, I had such good talent over there.”
The Reds were coming off a tumultuous 1989, when then-manager Pete Rose was banned midseason from baseball for gambling on the game. Cincinnati won just 75 games that season.
Insert Piniella, who’d worked for then-Reds general manager Bob Quinn when he was a Yankees executive. That spring-training speech was backed up by two key factors, according to Brennaman and Larkin.
∎ Piniella did not have any previous National League experience. Most of the coaches he hired had either played or coached in the NL. Brennaman called it a “smart” decision.
“I marveled at the way he came over from the American League, not knowing anything about this league because we were absent the DH (at the time),” Brennaman said. “In spring training that first year, he did very little in-game managing without getting recommendations from the coaches with how to make a move. He maintained that throughout the entire spring until he got a grasp and understanding of how the game was to be played – and then he was off and running.”
∎ Piniella demanded excellence in playing the game right fundamentally, and he didn’t simply brush off mistakes.
“Early on, he pointed out the flaws we had,” Larkin said. “And many of them weren’t visible. He talked about a lack of preparation. He talked about throwing to the wrong base because of not anticipating the play. He talked about all the small things. He called them ‘teaching moments.’ That’s how he really impressed me.”
Said Brennaman: “I think Lou intimidated them right out of the gate and made them realize that they were a hell of a lot better than they thought.”
Unfortunately, Piniella’s time in Cincinnati was short-lived and has left long-time Reds fans wondering what-might-have-been. Piniella resigned after the 90-win 1992 season. As Brennaman puts it, Piniella “felt underappreciated” by then-owner Marge Schott.
“Marge didn’t want to spend money,” Piniella said. “I think we could’ve had a dynasty. We had a $13 million payroll. She said, ‘You won with 13 million. You can do it again.’ We asked her for a little more pitching. That’s all we asked for. The team on the field was good enough, but we needed another starter for sure.”
The 1990 title was Sweet Lou’s only World Series championship in 23 seasons managing for five organizations. He has missed making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame by one vote in both 2018 and 2023. He now faces being on a ballot with Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy, both of whom have more career wins.
Brennaman and Larkin both say Piniella belongs in the Hall of Fame.
“I belong, in my opinion,” Piniella said. “Hopefully, someday I’ll be there. This (Reds Hall of Fame induction) is a big stepping stone for me. I’m so appreciative of this and so proud of my time in Cincinnati.”
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
Lou Piniella highlights
∎ Won 1,835 games, ranking him 17th all-time among big-league managers
∎ As a player, he was the first ever batter in Kansas City Royals franchise history, batting leading off for the expansion team in its inaugural game on April 8, 1969
∎ He was an American Legion teammate of future Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa’s growing up in Tampa, Florida
∎ The 2001 Seattle Mariners managed by Piniella won 116 games, tying them with the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the most single-season victories in MLB history
∎ One of three people to ever win both Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards, joining Frank Robinson and Ozzie Guillen
Lou Piniella statistics with Reds
486 games as manager (three seasons)
255-231 record
8-2 postseason record
91-71, 1990
74-88, 1991
90-72, 1992
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Lou Piniella’s spring training speech shaped 1990 Cincinnati Reds
Reporting by Jason Williams, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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