Piet played for the
Pittsburgh Pirates,
Cincinnati Reds,
Chicago White Sox, and
Detroit Tigers. He truncated his
surname to Piet because Pietruszka couldn't fit on the
Forbes Field scoreboard. An all-around player, Piet was second in the
National League in
stolen bases (19) in 1932, and played the most games (154) of any player in the NL that year. In 1933, his
batting average (.323) was the third highest in the NL. After retiring from baseball, he went on to found a car dealership in
Chicago, whose slogan was "Shop for it anywhere, you'll buy it at Piet". In 744 games, Piet batted .277 (717-2585) with 352 runs, 23 home runs and 312 RBI in an eight-year major league career. ==Illness and death==