Celebrating Pi Day

Today is March 14th, or as we Americans abbreviate it, “3/14.” Since those numbers also represent the first 3 digits of pi (3.1415926536…), math nerds have proclaimed this date to be “Pi Day.” This is my contribution to the festivities.

In MLB history, there have been 95 players whose last names have started with the letters “Pi.” Most famous of these is probably Mike Piazza

; at least, that’s whose player page comes up when you search for “The Pi” on Baseball-Reference . Other notable “Pi” last names include Vada Pinson , Lou Piniella , and Wally Pipp . Here are some active players with Pi surnames: Juan Pierre , Felix Pie , Michael Pineda , and A.J. Pierzynski .

There’s also Max St. Pierre

, whose last name doesn’t start with “Pi,” though the main part of it does.

In MLB  history, there have been 20 players with first names that start with “Pi.” Here they are:

• Pink Hawley
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  , Pinky Hargrave
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  , Pinky Higgins
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  , Pinky Jorgensen
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  , Pinky May
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  , Pinky Pittenger
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  , Pinky Swander
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  , Pinky Whitney
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  , and Pinky Woods
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• Pip Koehler
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  and Pit Gilman
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• Pinch Thomas
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  and Ping Bodie
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• Pickles Dillhoefer
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  and Pie Traynor
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  (a Hall of Famer!)
• Pid Purdy
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  , Pidge Browne
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  , and Pidgey Morgan
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• Piggy Ward
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• and finally, the best Pi name of all: Pi Schwert
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Amazingly, all 20 of these first names are nicknames. Of the 20 players above, only 2 have first names that actually start with “Pi”: Pitkin “Pit” Gilman and Pius “Pi” Schwert. None of the nicknames are based on “Pi” middle names, either. In addition to Gilman and Schwert, there are 5 other MLB players whose first names start with “Pi”:

• Reno Bertoia
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  (real first name: Pierino)
• Percy Coleman
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  (real first name: Pierce)
• Pete LaForest
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  and Pete Lamer
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  (real first names: Pierre)
• Phil McCullough
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  (real first name: Pinson)

Let’s get back to Pi Schwert for a second, since he’s the only MLBer named “Pi.” As you’ll recall above, the first 6 digits of pi are 3.14159. Well, our friend Pi played two seasons in MLB. He played 3 games in ’14 and in ’15 added 9 more games. He played catcher (numerical code: 2), and finished with 6 career runs, 5 career hits, 3 career doubles, and 6 career RBIs. Put all that together and you’ve got 3.1415926536, or pi rounded to the 10th decimal place.

Here’s to Pi (the number and the player)! Happy Pi Day!