Piniella Takes Umbrage With the Word "Quit"

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 7, 2010 7:40PM

Sun-Times Cubs beat writer Gordon Wittenmyer had a chance to speak with former Cubs skipper Lou Piniella at this week's winter meetings in Tampa, FL. Reflecting on his tenure as Cubs manager, Piniella felt the need to stress to Wittenmyer that he didn't quit on the team in the weeks leading up to his retirement in August. Piniella admits that his announcement to retire was another distraction for a team that struggled with distractions most of last season (among other things).

Piniella said the deaths of an uncle, late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and the illness of his mother all at once took a toll on his focus.

‘‘When I was there in New York [as a player, manager and general manager], George was never sick, never had a cold. All of a sudden he passes away. Then about the same time, my uncle dies. And I was very close to him. Then my mother gets very sick and is in the hospital.

‘‘I kept quiet, and tried to keep it quiet. I didn’t want it to become an issue. But it became an issue. It affected things.’’

Critics on Piniella cite his 5-25 record leading to his retirement and the 24-13 record Mike Quade guided the Cubs to after as fuel for the "quitting" bandwagon. Piniella gave Quade a lot of credit for turning the Cubs around at the point of the season when most of the team would've simply wanted to play out the string.