That's good to know. So some Sweet Lou's actually made it inside the restaurants (I love BK, but I use that term loosely
) in some areas that year. I'm pretty sure the promotion didn't have specific start and end dates (that the public was made aware of), as the cards just suddenly appeared and then quickly disappeared.
Here's a proposed timeline of events:
1. Burger King starts issuing Yankees cards (a 22 card set plus checklist - no Lou Piniella)
2. George 'The Boss' Steinbrenner complains to BK/Topps, outraged that his favorite player wasn't included in the set (paraphrasing from Sparky Lyle's brief account in "The Bronx Zoo")
3. Topps prints (sheets of only?) Piniella cards and...
4. BK releases #23 cards in packs in some specific areas of the tri-state area (wow, I just realized that all states except for Maine, Hawaii and Alaska could be part of a tri-state area, but I digress) in the waning days of the promotion
5. Promotion dies out, leaving tons of Piniellas undistributed and subsequently warehoused and/or destroyed
Corrections, theories and other input welcomed.