Sports column: Right time, wrong circumstances for Piniella

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

They were supposed to be tears of joy, not tears of sadness. Tears in October, not in August.

But there Lou Piniella sat, having witnessed yet another, albeit final, shellacking handed to his Chicago Cubs and trying unsuccessfully to fight back tears just hours after announcing he was going to retire — a decision that was to take effect immediately after last Sunday’s game.

It has been a rough year for Piniella, to say the least.

Call this the season from hell. Even by typical Cubbie standards, this has been one of the most disappointing and depressing seasons.

But while his team has been mired in a season-long slump, been broken up by trades and seen more than a dozen rookies don big-league uniforms before September, it has been the health of Piniella’s family that dealt the deciding blow.

After announcing on July 20 that he intended to retire at the end of the year, Piniella missed three games in late July to attend his uncle’s funeral and another four in early August to take care of his ailing 90-year-old mother. But upon receiving word of his mom’s failing health, Piniella decided he couldn’t hold retirement off any longer.

Nor should he.

This man has given nearly 50 years of his life to the game of baseball. It’s time Piniella does what he has to do and be with his family.

Although the Cubs never achieved their ultimate goal under Piniella, the strides they made were numerous.  Piniella brought a confidence, or as he called it, a “Cubbie swagger”.

Payroll increased. Their marketability went up. And expectations soared.
It was the infamous 2003 season that made Cubs fans pine for a winner, but it was Piniella’s back-to-back division titles in ’07 and ’08 that made Cubs fans expect a winner. For the first time in a century, Piniella managed to do what no other Cubs manager could by reaching the playoffs in consecutive seasons. He raised the bar to unprecedented Cub-levels, and for that he should be remembered.

And while Piniella will certainly be remembered as one of the best Cubs managers, a strong case can (and will) be made for his Hall of Fame credentials, cementing his often-fiery and always-passionate legacy in baseball lore.

Piniella’s 1,835 wins ranks 14th all-time among managers. Of eligible candidates, only Gene Mauch has won more games than Piniella and has yet to find his way into Cooperstown. And although Mauch won 1,902 games, he lost 2,037 games — a lower winning percentage than Piniella.

During his managerial career, Piniella won 90-plus games with four different teams, including the Yankees, Reds, Mariners and Cubs. He is one of only five managers to have won at least three Manager of the Year awards. And to top it off, he won the 1990 World Series as a manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

Piniella, who had clearly mellowed out during his tenure with the Cubs, represented the organization with nothing but class and dignity.

When Piniella was introduced as the new manager in 2006, he clearly stated his intentions:  “I was brought here to win.”

Ultimately, however, he and his team fell short of the promised land they had planned to conquer.

The expectations were high. The hope was even higher.

There was going to be a champagne shower. A big parade in downtown Chicago. An unheralded celebration unlike any other.

Now, it’s nothing but another disappointment. Another year of futility. Another “Cubbie occurrence.”

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.