It’s impossible to tell the story of baseball without uttering Lou Piniella’s name.

He spent 18 years as a player, suiting up for the Yankees, Royals, Indians and Orioles and compiling a career .291 average in more than 1,700 games.

Piniella then managed for 23 years including four on the North Side of Chicago, at the helm for the Cubs from 2007 through the middle of the 2010 season.

He oversaw a Cubs team that made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons in 2007-08 and won a World Series ring as the skipper of the 1990 Reds.

All the while, Piniella was one of the most quotable guys in the game, prone to hilarious one-liners and a unique perspective.

In honor of the baseball legend, we’re revising some of Piniella’s best quotes.

Quote:

“Statistics are like bikinis – they show a lot, but not everything.”

Context:

This one might be his most iconic – and hilarious – quote.

“It’s a very true statement,” Piniella said. “Statistics are very misleading. I look at statistics when the game is on the line and when the pressure is on. The players can pad their statistics when the game has aready been decided and you don’t win pennants or World Series that way. You need big-game players and big-game moments. The statistics that really, really count are the ones that help you win baseball games and those pennants and World Series.”

He would know – Piniella won two World Series as a player (1977 and 1978 Yankees) and one as a manager (1990 Reds). 

He also was the skipper of the winningest team in history (2001 Mariners – 116 wins) and won more than 1,800 games in his managerial career.