Lou Piniella, known throughout his 18 year playing career (his last 11 seasons with the Yankees), as “Sweet Lou” for his sweet swing and who formerly managed the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Devil Rays was hired Monday to manage the NL Central Division cellar-dwelling Chicago Cubs.

Piniella was an outfielder and designated hitter and compiled 1,705 hits and a lifetime batting average of .291 during his playing career.

As a manager, he had distinguished records with the Yankees and the Seattle Mariners.  In 2001, he led the Mariners to record-tying tie a 95-year-old major-league mark with 116 wins by going 116-46.

Piniella gets a 3 year contract worth $10 million to manage the Cubs who have a long  futility string, their last pennant was in 1945 and their last world championship came in 1908.

Piniella replaces Dusty Baker, another veteran manager who came to the Cubs with a strong resume. Baker departed after four years when his contract was not renewed following a 66-96 last-place finish in the NL.

Now Piniella gets a chance where so many of his predecessors have come up short.

For Cubs fans, once again in 2007, “hope springs eternal.”

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 10:57 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.