CHICAGO -- On the last weekend of the regular season, Lou Piniella was part of the television broadcast team for the St. Louis Cardinals' final game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

"[Tony La Russa] says, 'What are you going to do next year?'" Piniella said. "I said, 'We'll see.' He said, 'Whatever you do, don't end up in our division.'"

Well, Tony, Sweet Lou is now in Chicago.

Piniella, 63, was officially named the new Chicago Cubs manager on Tuesday, agreeing to a three-year contract plus a club option for a fourth year. It is his fifth team, and Piniella arrives with 1,519 career wins. He was surprised to hear it's been 98 years since the Cubs won a World Series.

"Has it been that long?" Piniella said.

Just ask a Cubs fan.

"They hire managers to win," Piniella said. "The challenges here, if you look at the history, you say that's a challenge. I don't look in the past. I'm a very positive person. I try to stay as positive as I can all summer. I encourage my players to play hard and do good. The challenges here are a little more pronounced, a little more urgent. You've got to win. I was brought here to win."

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry and interim team president John McDonough promised Piniella they would provide the resources to help turn the team around from a last-place finish in 2006. Hendry and Piniella first met in Tampa, Fla., on Oct. 5 and talked at least four hours.

"The question I asked more than anything else is, how do I fit in there, and [Hendry] said, 'We want to win,' and that's really what I wanted to hear," Piniella said. "The other question I asked was as an organization are we going to throw the resources to get there, and the answer was obviously 'Yes.'"

Hendry was told by McDonough and Tribune Co. executives not to worry about what it cost to hire the right manager.

"They said, 'Don't worry about the money, get the best guy. Let the world know we're going to get after it -- we're not going backwards, we're going forward,'" Hendry said.

Piniella won the job over former Arizona manager Bob Brenly, former Cubs Joe Girardi and Ryne Sandberg, and Minor League coaches Mike Quade and Pat Listach. Sandberg was a late addition to the mix, but didn't have the experience the Cubs were looking for. Both Girardi and Sandberg are well aware of the team history, both real and imaginary.

"There's no curses -- come on," Piniella said when asked if he believed the Cubs were cursed. "It makes for good copy. We'll dispel these curses here in short order."

Piniella took last season off after three years managing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in his hometown.

"I missed the competitive nature of it," he said. "I didn't miss the stress associated with it, that I can tell you. I felt that if I was going to do it again, no sense waiting any longer."

His longest tenure was in Seattle, but he left because he needed to be closer to home to attend to family matters. Piniella couldn't turn the expansion Devil Rays around, and left after three years.

"I learned I had a lot more patience than I thought I had," he said of his experience with the Devil Rays. "It was tough on me. I'm not used to losing, I've never lost anywhere. I'm talking 90-something losses, like we had over there. It wasn't easy. Losing is draining. The new ownership that took over the ballclub, their interest was winning down the road and I didn't fit in that equation."

Piniella joked that the umpires missed him, which is one reason he was coming back. He did stay on the fringe with FOX TV, and broadcast three Cubs games. His impressions of the team?

"They had some young pitching that had some talent," Piniella said. "At the same time, they walked a lot of people and in a ballpark like Wrigley, walks score. When young pitchers walk a lot of hitters and they strike out a lot of hitters, there are going to be some foul balls, so basically you're talking about a pitch count in the low 100s by the sixth inning, so you're pitching with three innings in your bullpen all the time."

Asked about how to improve the team's on-base percentage, Piniella said, "My philosophy is to get eight midgets up there who walk all the time."

Later, Piniella apologized for the comment, saying he didn't mean to offend anyone and the reference was linked to Eddie Gaedel, who had an at-bat for the St. Louis Browns.

Piniella won't be able to keep No. 14 -- that number is retired in honor of Ernie Banks. He opted for No. 41, a number he wore in Cincinnati because Pete Rose had No. 14 there.

Piniella has 19 years of managerial experience with four teams, and a career .517 percentage as manager (1,519-1,420 record). He was named American League manager of the year in 1995 and 2001, and guided the Cincinnati Reds to the World Series in 1990.

"My kids said, 'Dad, if you get an opportunity here, you better take it. Dad, this is the Cubs, this is Wrigley Field, this is Chicago,'" Piniella said. "Anyways, here I am. I got the blessing of the whole family. This is a challenge. I like challenges. We're going to work hard to get the job done."

Hendry liked Piniella's ability to understand the "whole package" of a Major League team, including the importance of the scouts and player development. Piniella was general manager of the New York Yankees under George Steinbrenner.

"The guy's done it all," Hendry said.

Hendry first saw Piniella when he was 6 years old and Piniella was a star high school basketball player in Tampa.

"He was a winner then," Hendry said. "That's what he is."

Other managers have claimed they can turn the Cubs around. In 2003, Dusty Baker guided the team to within one game of getting to the World Series for the first time since 1945. Why is Piniella different?

"I've got extreme confidence in my ability, No. 1," he said. "I know you've had some good managers here in the past. Sometimes things don't go the way you'd expect. Look, when the bosses are behind it, like they are here, it makes things a whole lot easier. The Tribune Co., the president of the club, the general manager, they're all on the same page. We're going to bring some talent in here to help this situation out and then it's my job to get it to mesh and play like a winning cohesive unit, and I really haven't had that problem anywhere I've been."

On Tuesday, when he walked into Wrigley Field with Anita, his wife of 39 years, and agent Alan Nero, Piniella said it felt different.

"I feel a little more responsibility already," he said.