After 65 years, Yosh leaving Cubs clubhouse

Longtime Cubs' clubhouse manager Yosh Kawano is leaving the Wrigley Field clubhouses after 65 years of service.

He will continue his relationship with the team in a capacity to be determined. Kawano will be honored with a first-pitch and pregame ceremony later this season at Wrigley Field.

"Yosh Kawano has dedicated his life to the Chicago Cubs and we salute his 65 years of devotion to this franchise," Cubs GM Jim Hendry. "While he will not be with us on a daily basis, he will always be a member of the Cubs family and we look forward to honoring him later this season."

Kawano joined the Cubs organization in 1943 as a Wrigley Field clubhouse attendant. He became the club's equipment manager in 1953, a position he held for 46 years through the 1999 season. He was named home clubhouse manager, emeritus, in 2000 and has since been an assistant in the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field and at Cubs Spring Training in Mesa, AZ.

The celebration of Kawano's career later this season will be one of several honors received by Kawano throughout the last quarter century. The Cubs clubhouse was named in Kawano's honor in 1984. In 1996, Kawano was inducted into the Cubs' Walk of Fame. A banner of Kawano, mixed with additional banners honoring legends in Cubs history, currently hangs in Wrigley Field's concourse.