Posted by Travis Rodgers on Jul 21, 2010

Sweet Lou Will Be Missed #MLB

Sad day for MLB and fans of MLB who like to watch grown men lose their grip on reality when an umpire makes a mistake. Lou Piniella announced that he is going to retire as a baseball manager at the end of this season.

Too bad. Really.

Lou is one of, if not the, last ‘old school’ baseball manager. I’m not talking about ‘old school’ in the ‘if a guy hits a home run and watches it too long, our pitcher is going to try and take his head off’ kind of old school. Ozzie Guillen is still around to do that. I am talking about a guy who not only wants his team to play the game ‘the right way’ but a guy who throw a temper tantrum in front of 50,000 in the seats and another 10 million on TV, and not think twice about it.

Lou Piniella, gone after this season. Bobby Cox, the all-time leader in managerial ejections, gone after this season. And for the record, you can have most hits, most strikeouts, most home runs, or most wins. Give me the most ejections title. Very cool.

Tommy Lasorda, Earl Weaver, Billy Martin, all long gone. Who is going to be the one to come charging out of the dugout, belly flopping all over the place, throw their cap on the ground, kick dirt like an infant, scream into another man’s face like a drunken fool, rip bags out of the ground and throw them across the field, and look like they are about to stroke out, all because someone missed a tag?

The modern manager is tactical, even keeled, and media savvy. They think before they act. They know if they go ape, it will be run endlessly on highlight shows. It is a dying art. Bud Black is not going to pick up second base and heave it into the outfield. Mike Scioscia may have his share of arguments, but he is never going to throw his cap and kick dirt.

Baseball needs it. The players aren’t on the right drugs anymore. No one likes to watching pitching, and a 60-year old man acting like a 5-year old is often times the best part of any given ball game.

You will be missed Lou. Not your strategy, not your baseball acumen, but you utter shamelessness when it came to acting the fool.