CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs picked Mike Quade as their new manager Tuesday, choosing to go with the guy who ran the team well for the last six weeks of last season rather than a higher-profile name.
The 53-year-old Quade, the team's third base coach the past four years, was given a two-year contract and there's a club option for 2013. He served as interim manager after Lou Piniella abruptly stepped down in late August, leading the team to a 24-13 record.
The job will be his first as a major league manager.
The hire is the first under new owner Tom Ricketts, who watched the Cubs finish out of the playoffs yet again. Chicago's infamous World Series championship drought now stands at 102 years.
The Cubs finished the season at 75-87, in next-to-last place in the NL Central and a far cry from what a team with a payroll of about $145 million to start the season had expected.
Saying he needed to be with his ailing mother back in Florida, Piniella stepped down Aug. 22 after the Cubs went into a 5-20 skid that left them at 51-74. He was in the final year of his deal and had put together three straight winning seasons, but could not get the Cubs out of their funk.
There was speculation that general manager Jim Hendry might hire Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, currently coaching at Triple A Iowa, or maybe bench coach Alan Trammel or a former major league manager like Eric Wedge or Bob Melvin.
Instead, Chicago went with Quade, who managed more than 2,300 minor league games in the Montreal, Philadelphia, Oakland and Cubs farm systems before arriving in Chicago.
The Chicago-area native was originally selected by the Pirates in the 22nd round of the 1979 Draft out of the University of New Orleans and spent four seasons as an outfielder in Pittsburgh's minor league system before entering the coaching ranks.
He received his first managerial position in 1985, with Single-A Macon. He was promoted to Piniella's staff after a running the Iowa Cubs from 2003-06, a stint that included two first-place finishes in his four seasons.
