NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Lou Piniella, the legendary Seattle Mariners manager, has again fallen one vote shy of earning a spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The 80-year-old Piniella was named on 11 ballots from the 16-person Contemporary Baseball Era committee.
Twelve votes were needed to earn election from the committee, which voted Sunday to kick off the MLB winter meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville.
In 2018, Piniella was a finalist in a previous iteration of the committee, but he also fell one vote short then.
This year, Piniella was one of the eight finalists the committee considered among managers, executives and umpires.
Jim Leyland was the only person to receive the requisite votes Sunday. Leyland was named on 15 of 16 ballots to earn election. He becomes the 23rd manager in the hall.
Piniella will have another chance to be included on the Contemporary Baseball Era committee ballot in 2026.
Piniella spent 23 years as a major-league manager, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a World Series championship in 1990.
He arrived in Seattle three years later and led the Mariners to the franchise's first postseason berth in 1995.
Over 10 seasons in Seattle, Piniella's teams posted a record of 840-711 (.542). Twice he was named the AL Manager of the Year with the Mariners (1995 and 2001), and led the club to four postseason appearances.
He is the all-time winningest manager in club history and one of 11 members of the Mariners Hall of Fame.
Piniella had a career managerial record of 1,835-1,713 over 23 seasons with the New York Yankees (1986-88), Reds (1990-92), Mariners (1993-2002), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2003-05) and Chicago Cubs (2007-10).
He is also one of four people in MLB history with at least 1,500 managerial wins and 1,500 hits as a player, along with Hall of Famers Joe Torre and Fred Clarke, as well as Dusty Baker.
Retired in Tampa, Fla., Piniella has had some health scares in recent years, including a mini stroke in 2017 and then prostate cancer.
"But I'm still here," he told the Tampa Bay Times in a story published last week. "And I'm thankful to God. I'm thankful."
