December 7, 1973: The Yankees trade pitcher Lyndall "Lindy" McDaniel to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Lou Piniella.
This was a rarity in baseball: A great trade for both teams. With Sparky Lyle now the main man out of the Yankee bullpen, McDaniel, then approaching his 38th birthday, had become surplus to requirements in Pinstripedom. In Kansas City, he only pitched 2 more seasons, but he mentored their young pitchers, including Dennis Leonard, Paul Splittorff, Doug Bird and Steve Mingori. Without that tutelage, the Royals never would have made the postseason 6 times in 10 years between 1976 and 1985.
As for Lou: When he reported to Spring Training at Fort Lauderdale, Florida in March 1974, he was met by team owner George Steinbrenner. George didn't have a crewcut himself, but he hated long hair. And Lou had long hair. George told him to get a haircut.
Lou was no dummy: He told George that many great figures in history had long hair, including Jesus. George was no dummy, either: He had a response ready. He said, "Come with me." They walked over to the hotel pool, and George pointed: "Walk across that pool. If you can, you can keep your long hair."
Lou got a haircut. Well, he may have cited the central figure in the Bible (other than God Himself), but he didn't lose his strength like Samson. For the next 11 seasons, Lou batted .295 as a Yankee -- .291 overall for his career. He peaked at .330 in 1977. He was never a big home run hitter, but 7 times he had at least 68 RBIs in a season.
He always seemed to step up his game late in the season, terrorizing the Boston Red Sox (especially in the comeback year of 1978), the Royals (batting .305 in 5 ALCS) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (batting .319 in 4 World Series). In his 10 full seasons, the Yankees reached the postseason 5 times and nearly did so 2 others; without him, they didn't make it between 1964 and 1995.
He is now best known as a manager. Although he couldn't get the Yankees into the postseason despite close calls in 1986, 1987 and 1988, he managed the Cincinnati Reds to the 1990 World Championship, the Seattle Mariners to their 1st 4 postseason appearances (1995, 1997, 2000 & 2001), and led the Chicago Cubs to back-to-back postseasons (2007-08).
Last week, he missed being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager, by 1 vote. Chosen instead was Jim Leyland, whose postseason success rests on the steroid-boosted shoulders of Gary Sheffield (1997 Florida Marlins) and Iván Rodríguez (2006 Detroit Tigers). Sweet Lou never had to cheat.
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December 7, 1973 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 7 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Buffalo Braves, 113-108 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Dave DeBusschere, in what turned out to be his last season, had maybe his best game, scoring 41 points and grabbing 21 rebounds.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 116-112 at the Boston Garden.
* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 113-102 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 96-91 at the Cleveland Arena.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 116-86 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Capital Bullets (they renamed themselves the Washington Bullets the next season), 114-92 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Charlie Scott led all pro scorers on the night with 40 points.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-111 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
There were 5 games in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets beat the Memphis Tams, 138-102 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Carolina Cougars beat their arch-rivals, the Virginia Squires, 115-110 at the Greensboro Coliseum.
* The Indiana Pacers beat their arch-rivals, the Kentucky Colonels, 105-97 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Rockets (they became the Nuggets a year later), 116-94 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.
* And the Utah Stars beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 121-113 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.
There were 3 games played in the NHL:
* The Detroit Red Wings and the St. Louis Blues played to a 1-1 tie at the St. Louis Arena.
* The California Golden Seals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the Atlanta Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-0 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Vancouver Blazers, 3-1 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Toronto Toros, 7-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.
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