Sweet Lou

The Seattle Mariners were eliminated from postseason contention this past week for the 14th consecutive year! Not only is that pathetic in this country, it's pathetic even by foreign baseball standards, as the Yokohama Bay Stars of the Japanese League made their 1st Playoff appearance in 11 years, so that means that the Mariners have the longest baseball playoff drought in the World! But that is besides the point of this entry, I want to write about the man who was the head of the 1995, 1997, 2000 & 2001 Mariners playoff teams: Sweet Lou Pinella.

Lou Pinella was, is, and always will be, the greatest manager in Seattle Mariners history. Lou managed with a lot of attitude,

players on both sides loved him & of course he had the guts of a burglar when the game situation called for it.

Of course I would be stupid to not mention that Lou threw the best tantrums I have ever seen a baseball manager have, outside of the late Billy Martin, who managed & heavily influenced Lou when he was a star for the New York Yankees. Lou provided Major League Baseball's Archives with more tirades than anyone. For example this one from his 1st year as Mariners manager...

Lou's 1st ejection as Mariners Manager

Finally, my favorite Lou tirade didn't come from on the field, it came during an interview. In 1998, a young, brand new reporter for FOX Sports Net Northwest named Rich Waltz had the very unfortunate task of interviewing Lou after pitcher Bobby Ayala blew a 5 run lead at the Kingdome (Sorry I don't remember who they were facing, I think it was Detroit...) Oh, and did I mention this was Rich Waltz's 1st day working for the Mariners? He asked Lou what he thought of Ayala's performance, and well...Lou just EXPLODED in anger! He started swearing like crazy. It was AWESOME!!!!!!! But wait! There's more! Rich had to give the tape to Executive producer Mark Englebrekt, who just laughed & according to Rich, said "Get used to it.". The next afternoon, after pitcher Paul Spoljaric blew a 7 run lead, Rich Waltz had to go back to Lou's office after the ballgame & here is how that conversation went down...

Lou Pinella: ARE YOU GONNA TALK ABOUT THE GODDAMN F***IN' BULLPEN AGAIN????!!!!

Rich Waltz: No Lou I am not going to talk about the bullpen again...

In other words, I guess he learned his lesson.