Piniella Mastery Lauded Mariners’ Skipper Named A.L. Manager Of The Year

Seattle Mariners manager Lou Piniella was named the American League Manager of the Year Monday by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

But Piniella, who guided his team to its first-ever postseason appearance, wouldn’t accept the prestigious award solely on his merits as a manager. He shared the accolades with the organization, his players and the baseball fans of Seattle.

“The most gratifying thing for me as a manager was to see how the city of Seattle responded to this team,” Piniella said from his home in Tampa, Fla. “… You know when you have 58,000 people there for three or four weeks, it’s something to remember.”

Piniella, 52, not only became the first M’s manager to receive the annual award, he also became the first to win it without receiving the most first-place votes.

He got nine and 86 points. Boston’s Kevin Kennedy was second at 74 points, with 11 first-place votes. Cleveland’s Mike Hargrove was third with 71 points.

In winning the West, the M’s were 79-66 despite missing star Ken Griffey Jr. more than half the season with a broken wrist.

The Mariners won it with the third-greatest comeback in major league history after trailing California by 13 games on Aug. 2.

“The players deserve the credit

for getting the job done on the field, my staff for getting them ready, and at the same time the front office and ownership deserve it for getting me the personnel,” Piniella said. “It was a good story for baseball because this organization hadn’t won before.”