Tag Archives: Lou Piniella

If you haven’t heard already, Lou Piniella retired from baseball today.  He had planned on stepping down after the season but, because of his mom’s health problems, he retired after the Cubs game today.  Being the youngest of the writers here, I’m probably the least qualified to write a post about him but it felt right to write something about it.  Maybe another one of the guys will give you a memory or two sometime.

Why does it feel right to write about Lou?  It’s not like it’s affecting any of my teams.  Well, I think Piniella holds at least a little bit of a spot in most Mariner fans hearts.  He was here for the best years our baseball team gave us.  No, it wasn’t all because of him that the Mariners went to the playoffs four times in his tenure but he was certainly a large part of it.

Again, I don’t remember a ton about Lou.  I was 13 when he left the Mariners and no one can be a very knowledgeable fan at that age.  But, if I had to pick one thing that Lou taught me about baseball it would be that baseball is entertainment.  It’s an easy concept but one that people simply forget until they see a team, like this years Mariners, that is boring beyond belief.  What happens when a baseball game bores you on TV?  Most people simply just turn it off.  Baseball takes patience because it doesn’t yield as many “Did you see that?!” plays as football or basketball does.  There’s a reason fans ‘oooh and awww’ over a pitcher throwing a fastball high and tight to a guy.  Rarely does that pitch hit the guy, but it’s sometime the most breathtaking and startling moment in a baseball game.  Now, I’m not saying that baseball bores me, it doesn’t, but it’s not exactly fast-paced.

There are a few ways to bring excitement to baseball games: Continue reading →