Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella retired Sunday after his team lost 16-5 to Atlanta, ending a 48-year Major League Baseball career six days shy of his 67th birthday.
Piniella had said last month he would be leaving at the end of the season but said Sunday before the game that he could no longer wait to leave because he wants to spend time with his ill mother.
"My mom needs me home and that's where I'm going," Piniella said.
Piniella missed four games earlier this month to spend time with his mother in Florida and decided dividing his focus was no help for either the team or himself.
"She has had a couple other complications and rather than continue to go home, come back, it's not fair to the team, it's not fair to the players," Piniella said. "So the best thing is just to step down and go home and take care of my mother."
The Cubs have struggled through a difficult season, entering Sunday's home game at Wrigley Field at 51-73, 20 1/2 games behind the pace-setting Cincinnati Reds in the National League's Central division.
Cubs third-base coach Mike Quade was made interim manager of a team that two years ago had the National League's best record.
"I wish we would've played better for him," relief pitcher Sean Marshall said.
Piniella entered his final game with a career record of 1,835-1,712 that included a 316-292 mark with the Cubs, who won division crowns in 2007 and 2008 but missed the playoffs in 2009 and slumped more this year.
Piniella, who began 18 seasons as a player in 1962, managed the Cincinnati Reds to a World Series crown in 1990 and also managed the New York Yankees, Seattle and Tampa Bay.
Copyright 2010 AFP American Edition
