Sweet Lou to Retire
The 2010 Major League Baseball season will, in fact, be the last for Lou Piniella.
Currently the manager of the Chicago Cubs, Piniella announced his retirement on Tuesday.
Chicago entered play on Tuesday at 42-52 and 10.5 games out of first place in the National League’s Central Division.
His departure will bring an to end a colorful career – both as a player and as a manager.
Piniella was a star outfielder for the New York Yankees during their terrific stretch from 1976-78 – a run that included three trips to the World Series and a pair of titles.
One of Sweet Lou’s greatest achievements during his 22 years as a big league manager was leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 1990 World Series championship sweep over the heavily-favored Oakland A’s.
And let’s not forget that successful tenure in Seattle. I still have memories of an early-April day in 1993 when former Walla Walla Community College baseball coach Ken Johnson and I attended the Mariners’ first-pitch luncheon. There was electricity in the room when Piniella was introduced to the overflow crowd by legendary M’s broadcaster Dave Niehaus and was given a standing ovation.
Among Piniella’s accomplishments in the Emerald City were an American League Division Series triumph over the Yankees in 1995 and a 2001 campaign in which the Mariners won 116 games.
I’m hoping the Cubs will pick up their play and that Lou Piniella will have a solid ending to his career. He deserves nothing less.
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