Joe Maddon, World Series winning baseball manager

Episode notes

(Photo: David Banks/Getty Images)

Joe Maddon has worked in baseball his whole life. First as a ballplayer, then in pretty much every other job you can have, starting with junior scout and ending with major league manager.

He’s won three manager of the year awards – two with the Tampa Bay Rays, and one with the Chicago Cubs. He led the Cubs to their first world series win in more than a hundred years.

He was famous for being a distinct hybrid of old-school and forward-thinking. On the one hand, he’s a baseball lifer. On the other, his propensity for the unusual is legendary. He introduced themed costume days to his teams’ schedules. Once when he was managing the Chicago Cubs, he set up a visit from some actual, live bear cubs. 

Maddon started his pro career with the Angels, and he worked for the team for thirty-five years. As a player, a coach, a scout – basically everything you can do for a team. He was even interim manager of the team on two different occasions. But to become a manager full-time, he had to leave for Florida and the Rays. 

In 2020, with those three manager of the year awards in hand, he came back to Anaheim. The prodigal son. But it didn’t go how anyone hoped. Only two and a half seasons in, he was fired. And that’s how, at age 68, he ended up unemployed. For pretty much the first time in his baseball life.

Recently he co-wrote a book with Tom Verducci – it’s called “The Book of Joe: Trying Not to Suck at Baseball and Life.” It’s part memoir, part inspirational text, part practical guide on how to build better baseball teams. 

Joe joins us to talk about his memoir and some of his more unusual techniques he used as a coach. Plus, what it was like to realize he was a better coach than he would ever be a player of the game.