On This Day In Cubs History: Lou Pinella Takes Home Third Manager of the Year Award

On Nov. 12, 2008, Chicago Cubs manager Lou Pinella won Manager of the Year honors for the third time.

One of the most successful managers of his era, the Chicago Cubs were lucky to ink Lou Pinella as their manager before the 2007 season.

To that point in his career, Pinella was already a winner of over 1,500 games, a World Series title and two Manager of the Year awards. 

One of those honors came in 1995, when he led the Seattle Mariners to their first ever playoff berth. That young team had a litany of future Hall of Famers like Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez and Álex Rodríguez.

Though no one knew it yet, that team probably should have been even better.

Six years later Pinella took home those same honors again in 2001 when he led the Mariners to a Major League record 116 wins. This time the only Hall of Famers were Martinez and Ichiro Suzuki. That team, like the 2008 Cubs, were led to greatness by Pinella.

Those '08 Cubs led the National League with 97 wins without one future Hall of Famer on their roster. Unfortunately, they were swept out of the playoffs in the National League Division Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Pinella never again made the postseason with the Cubs or anyone else.

On Nov. 12, 2008, Pinella was awarded Manager of the Year for a third time for his efforts in the regular season, making a good Cubs team, great.

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