Shortly after regaining the ability to breath normally, I flipped on the television (in those days it was three channels and two others with 'snow') and caught NBC's Game of the Week.  The Baltimore Orioles were visiting the New York Yankees.  The game was different than most I had seen.  A player who I only knew from recent baseball cards was participating in his final game.  Lou Piniella was making his final appearance as a player.  I knew very little about him but recalled numerous accolades. 
   
I pulled his cards out that summer and looked at his statistics.  They were not attractive by any means, so I wondered what the big deal was all about.  A handful of years later, I began to understand why.  Eighteen months later he became manager of the Yankees.  Lou was one of my oldest "collection players" and the first to become a manager.
   
My "collection players" consisted of players who impacted me as a child and later as a teen.  With the advent of cable, numerous players from the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs fit into the list.  In my younger days, I looked up to those players as heroes.  As I crossed the age of more and more of those players, a realization emerged.  By a number of avenues I discovered these players were not heroes, they simply played a game I enamored at a younger age.

   
Almost three hundred players are in the "collection", ranging from Jim Kaat, who began his career in 1959, to Jamie Moyer, who saw action in 2010.  Moyer suffered a season-ending injury and will miss the entire 2011 season.  A return in 2012 would place him at 49 years old.  Chances are slim he will ever see action again.  Moyer began his career with the Cubs and outdueled legend Steve Carlton in his first major league game.
   
Sometime in roughly 2031, there will be an aging veteran who either pitched against or batted against Moyer; who hurled against Carlton in '86.  Carlton pitched as a middle reliever in a late September game against the San Francisco Giants.  The starter for the Giants was Warren Spahn.  Spahn began his career in 1942 and left baseball to serve his country in World War II.  One day in the early 2030's where we may have flying cars as the Jetsons did, a young baseball fan will connect the 40-something veteran with Moyer, Moyer to Carlton, and Carlton to Spahn, almost a 100-year span.  If Moyer never pitches again, my "collection players" will end this year.  Seven decades is not a bad run though.

Piniella did not garnish much attention with the Yankees in his first managerial stint, although he posted winning seasons in 1986-87.  The AL East was the monster division in the 1980's and a 89-73 record in '87 provided only a 4^th place finish.  In those days Yankee owner George Steinbrenner replaced managers as fast as we changed light bulbs.  Piniella surfaced in Cincinnati shortly after the Pete Rose scandal became public.  He guided the Reds to a 1990 World Series victory over the heavily-favored Oakland A's.  Lou spent only three years with the Reds but I learned quickly why he stuck around the big leagues so long.  Lou had a passion for the game which could not be taught.  He did take it to extremes at times; fighting with players (see Rob Dibble), berating umpires, and throwing bases across the diamond (bases are not exactly easy to pull from the ground).
   
Lou spent ten years with the Seattle Mariners (1993-02) and turned the team from perennial doormats to playoff contenders.  After Seattle was 'left for dead' after Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, and Alex Rodriguez's departure, he led Seattle to a 2001 record of 116-46; a record which may never be matched.  Not only did he bring respectability to Seattle, he engrained a determined fighting spirit.  Lou always hated being taken away from his family due to his 'travel job' but his family understood and supported him.  It was widely speculated (Sports Illustrated being one) Lou was a heavy smoker during the baseball season but a non-smoker while around his family (if so is a astounding feat within itself but remember, he was termed as 'tough as nails' in his '84 finale).

   
Lou had a homecoming in 2003 when he took over the Tampa Bay Rays (was born and raised in Tampa).  Lou's affinity to losing is somewhat like a parent discovering a burglar stole their child's Christmas presents on Christmas morning.  He left Tampa after the 2005 season and it appeared his managerial career had come to a close.  It took a lure of immortality to bring him back.  Only two years earlier, Terry Francona, one of my "collection players", a solid player from the 1980's who never got the chance to crack the "then-vaunted" Montreal Expos line-up took over the Boston Red Sox as manager.  In his first year, he "86'd" the Red Sox curse.  The next year, Ozzie Guillen eradicated the Chicago White Sox World Series drought.  The Cubs, last World Series winners in 1908, came a'calling.  The Cubs were not the Red Sox, the Sox had numerous chances throughout the years to end 'the Curse'.  The Cubs had the 1945 Curse of the Billy Goat, the 1984 Leon Durham bobble, and the three heart wrenching losses to the Giants in '89 (not to mention the 1969 Black Cat meltdown).

   
A World Series for Cub fans would be fifty-times the joy as the U.S. soccer team winning the World Cup.  Lou could not pass this up.  He produced two pennants in 2007-08 but saw his team swept 3-0 each time in the NLDS.  2009 produced a near .500 season and 2010 looked very bleak.  Many baseball pundits blame the ownership on overspending for aging veterans.  With some notice Lou stated during the '10 season, it would be his last.  His mother was in failing health and he decided to end his career as a manager on August 22^nd  with the Cubs well out of a playoff spot possibility.  The end came against the Braves, as Bobby Cox was concluding his career as well (see April 2010 of the People News).  I did not watch the World Series and would have to take a minute to remember who won but I can recall watching Bobby and Lou's last game immediately.  I watched those games, first since post-2007, not for the players or the outcome but to see two old-school players bow out gracefully.
   
It was 26 years later I truly understood why Lou's last game as a player was recognized with so much fervor.  Lou was signed to a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians, roughly a month after my mother graduated high school.  His last managerial game came when I am approaching 40.  I guess he was what you call a baseball 'lifer'.

Lou brought an intensity to the game few ever have and is one of the last 'old-school' managers.  By that I mean, not caring how star-studded a player is and letting him/them know 'I am the manager and if you do not like it kiss my butt'.  There are not many of those left, off-hand all I could name is Jim Leyland and 'maybe' Tony LaRussa.  Sweet Lou you will be missed.
   
In about a week the Hall of Fame voters will decide who is in the Class of 2011.  I would like to think Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar are givens but you never know 'for sure'.  Barry Larkin and Jack Morris will receive strong consideration but will fall well-short.  If you want to see the difference between a player being tested positive for steroids and a player who has not, watch the votes for Jeff Bagwell and Rafael Palmeiro.  If Mark McGwire cannot make it in, Palmeiro can kiss that dream bye-bye.  Bagwell will receive a considerable amount of votes but will not be a 1^st time nominee.  Within the next 20 years look for 200-win pitchers to get more consideration than once realized-except maybe Roger Clemens.  Greg Maddux will be due for consideration soon.  1^st ballot nomination is a given, the question is will he receive more % votes than anyone else in history.

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