Farewell, Lou Piniella

The date was September 4th, 1964, and Lou Piniella, donning a Baltimore Orioles jersey, stepped up to bat for the first Major League appearance of his life. Nearly 46 years later, he sat in front of the Chicago media and delivered one of the most heartfelt and tearful goodbyes to baseball of all time.

Despite playing in the Majors for 16 years, most people seem to remember Piniella for his managerial career, which began in New York in 1986 when Piniella got his first stint with the Yankees. After three seasons in the Big Apple, Piniella relocated to Cincinnati to coach the Reds to an eventual World Series title in his first season as Reds' manager. That would be the only championship of his managerial career (he won two playing with the Yankees as a left fielder).

His longest tenure as manager came in Seattle, in which Piniella stayed for ten years from 1993-2002. In this decade of work, Piniella twice recieved the Manager of the Year award, the second of which coming after leading the Mariners to 116 wins, tying a franchise record. After his time in Seattle, he managed for the Devil Rays, who had struggled year after year. Piniella led them to a franchise-tying 70 wins, and for the first time in a long time, they didn't finish last in their division. After tensions rose, Piniella decided to discontinue his time in Tampa, and that is when he departed to Chicago, the last managerial stop he would ever make.

He had a good time in the Windy City, although he wasn't met with much success. Of his final four seasons as a manager, his best was 2008, when he received NL Manager of the Year honors after leading the Cubs to the best regular season record in the National League. Despite an apparent destined season to end the championship drought at exactly a century, the Cubs were eliminated from postseason contention courtesy of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2008 NLDS, and in sweeping fashion no less. One billy goat curse, a couple trades and two years later, here we are, watching Piniella step down from the postgame podium for the last time in his life.

On July 20th, Piniella told the Cubs that he would retire at the end of the season. This plan was cut short, as Piniella found himself having to miss multiple series' to visit and aid his ill mother in Florida. Worrying about his mother and the team, especially in the state of disarray they've found themselves this season, was simply too much, and Piniella announced he would put his retirement into effect immediately following the conclusion of Sunday's game with the Braves.

So at the final pitch of Sunday's 16-5 drubbing by the Braves, nearly every inhabitant of the Friendly Confines stood and cheered for one of the greatest faces of managerial baseball in this generation. With a tip of his cap to Braves manager and friend, Bobby Cox, from across dugouts, Piniella proceeded into the Cubs locker room for the last time, and then the hard part began.

"This'll be the last time I put on a uniform," Piniella said with tears streaming down his face. "It's been very special for me."

I've never delivered a retirement speech, but I can imagine that the hardest part of the whole process is sitting in front of the media for the last time. I imagine his career flashing before his eyes like a montage in his head while he tells the world of how he will never sit in a Major League dugout ever again. It's never easy, but his mother needs him, and he certainly has his priorities in order. Piniella is 66 years of age, so I hope that he has taken everything out of the game that he's ever wanted to.

Success isn't unknown to him, as he has racked up 1,835 wins in 3,548 attempts (.517 winning %) throughout 23 seasons as a manager. And with three total championship rings and three Manager of the Year awards, Piniella can walk away from the game with more than a few good memories. He's ranted at the media yet also laughed with them, he's defended his players like they were his children, and he has respected the integrity of the game like he made the rules himself.

I find it easy to dislike all the teams Piniella has played for, and I also find it easy to dislike all the teams Piniella has managed. But the one thing I don't find easy is disliking Piniella himself. As one of the faces of the Cubs franchise the past four years, I never had any special devotion to him. But now that he's gone, Chicago finds itself in a state of shock to look at the Cubs dugout and not see the famous skipper from Tampa.

It will be a healing process for Cubs fans and the organization itself, now in a sense of urgency to find the next manager of the future. But they have waved farewell to "Sweet Lou", as will I, for although I have no allegiance to the Cubs, I must admit that I hold him in the highest of reguards. As Cubs fans think back to the good times he has brought them, we can all say together: Farewell, Lou Piniella.

**Quotation and statistics courtesy of Comcast Sportsnet Chicago**