Comments on: Sweet Lou

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:54:56 +0000

Loouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!

Yes, I vividly remember sitting at the Stadium with my mom, having to answer her bewildered,”

“Why are they booing?”

“No, mom, they’re not booing!–they’re Loooouing!”

And I remember my best friend and I somehow made up this absurd, meaningless chant (probably while playing Stat-o-Matic?): “Looouu Piniella, Loooouuu Gehr-IG–LOUIE IS THE NAME! Looouu Piniella, Loooou Gehr-IG–LOUIE IS THE NAME…” and on and on til we stopped.

I’ll sure miss the tantrums.

Fare thee well, Sweet Lou.

By: nettles

nettles — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:51:30 +0000

Who are these “Portland Braves” of which you speak?

Sweet Lou played in ’66-’68 for the Portland Beavers.

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:45:44 +0000

[9, 10, 11] Thanks.

So, it is not entirely a surprise that he would make his coaching retirement announcement mid season.

By: rbj

rbj — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:43:40 +0000

[10] Yeah. Sort of like Junior retiring. Mike Schmidt also retired mid season.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:11:33 +0000

[8] He hadn’t been playing much and was dealing with a bad shoulder, so he just retired and became a first base coach/hitting instructor.

By: RagingTartabull

RagingTartabull — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:56:58 +0000

[7, 8] even though that was before my time (like 3 weeks before my time) I think I remember reading something that Lou was released but told that there would immediately be a place for him upstairs. Kinda similar to what happened with Murcer or Rizzuto with broadcasting.

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:33:05 +0000

[7] I checked his gamelogs for 1984. I’m curious, why was his last game on June 16, in the middle of the season? Did he announce his retirement, or was he released?

I can’t believe that I don’t remember at all even though I followed the team pretty closely as a teen.

By: rbj

rbj — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:04:47 +0000

That’s Lou?

I remember his last game as a player, when the Yankees were desperately trying to get him one last AB — I believe he grounded out, for an 0-5 day.

By: Sliced Bread

Sliced Bread — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:26:02 +0000

slightly off topic, here’s a clip of Bill Murray jumping into a dumpster pool (a dumpster filled with water and choice litter) outside Letterman’s studio yesterday.

http://tinyurl.com/2a639g4

as he takes the plunge, Murray shouts “Lou Piniella!”…
Cubs fans.

By: Yankee Mama

Yankee Mama — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:19:18 +0000

What a hottie! Who knew? He looked intense even then.

I must admit that when Lou was the manager of the D Rays, I had perverse pleasure watching him leer at his pitchers on the mound, like a bull eye-balling a red cape. He has always despised pitchers. When Zambrano had his I-need-anger-management moment, I noticed that Lou’s look was more like, “Ok, I’m am effin done with this crap. Get me outta here.”

Hence, I was not at all surprised when he announced his retirement. I will always miss his antics. He certainly entertains.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:16:51 +0000

Yup, 1966, Oregon.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:11:59 +0000

Great photo find, Alex. That has to be Lou from his minor league days.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:08:56 +0000

No, I think it's Freddy Mercury.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:36:08 +0000

who the hell is that? Henry Mayo Flynn?