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CHICAGO — Joe Maddon loved creating mantras during his years as one of baseball’s more innovative managers. He would focus on a theme or phrase that his players could embrace and use to reinforce their focus each day with their larger goals in mind.
The 2008 Rays rallied around the “9=8” — nine players pitching nine innings to become one of eight teams to reach the postseason. The ’16 Cubs’ “Try Not to Suck” slogan can still be seen on T-shirts around Wrigleyville. There was “Make the simple better” and “Envelop the target”. A strong run on the line was succinctly summed up with “Homage to the 90s.”
Now may be the time to “honor the 70s”.
Maddon, who wore No. 70 during his managerial career, is slated to enter the Hall of Fame on the Modern Baseball Era ballot. A three-time Manager of the Year (2008, ’11 and ’15), Maddon helped lead the Rays to their first winning streak before leading them to a World Series victory that ended a 108-year title drought.
This year’s ballot recognizes managers, executives and umpires, including Sandy Alderson, Dusty Baker, Bruce Bochy, Lou Piniella, Brian Sabean, Ted Turner and Bill White. A 16-member panel of Hall of Fame players, Major League executives, members of the media and historians will review candidates who must receive at least 75% of the vote to be elected. The results will be announced on December 6.
This entire group has shaped baseball over the past few decades, and Maddon fits right into the mix as he deserves to be a Hall of Famer.
In 19 seasons as a manager with the Rays (2006-14), Cubs (’15-19) and Angels (2020-22, plus stints in 1996 and ’99), Maddon compiled a 1,382-1,216 win-loss record. He is one of 35 managers with at least 1,300 wins and just 16 in that group with a .532 or higher winning percentage. Made the playoffs eight times (four each with Tampa Bay and Chicago), won two pennants and one World Series.
And stints with the Rays and Cubs followed a familiar pattern.
Tampa Bay lost 95 games in 2005 before hiring Maddon away from the Angels, who kept him in their organization for 31 years as a Minor League player, coach, instructor and then Major League coach. Before joining the Rays, Maddon worked as a bench coach under manager Mike Scioscia and was part of the Angels team that won the 2002 World Series.
Then in 2008, Maddon helped a young Tampa Bay team — rebranded as the Rays after being known as the Devil Rays — to a 97-win season, a division title and an American League pennant. That ’08 team beat the White Sox and Red Sox in the playoffs before losing to the Phillies in five games in the Fall Classic.
“After 108 years, it’s pretty cool that the Cubs are winning,” Maddon said during an interview with Marquee Sports Network earlier this year. “But the Devil Rays, to the point where we got to in 2008 (if you were there in ’06 and ’07) [when Tampa Bay lost a combined 197 games] and we’ve seen how it is, it’s almost a more dramatic turn.
Maddon won 754 games with the Rays, setting a club record before Kevin Cash surpassed him on Tampa Bay’s roster. After the 2014 season, Maddon opted out of his contract with the Rays and the Cubs, then managed by Theo Epstein – signing a five-year deal with the manager as the Norths turned the corner during a rebuilding period.
The Cubs went 89-101 in the 2011-14 seasons, prompting Maddona to commit to another draft. The ’15 team was comprised of impressive up-and-coming players from young position players and combined a front office group with plenty of key veterans.
The ’15 Cubs reached the National League Championship Series and signaled to the baseball world that this was a team on the rise.
The Cubs defeated Cleveland in a classic World Series to end Chicago’s long wait for World Series glory. Maddon helped lead the North Siders back to the playoffs in ’17 and ’18, but the team couldn’t recapture the magic of ’16. Maddon finished with 471 wins (fifth most in team history) and a .581 winning percentage (best since Frank Chance’s .664 from 1905-12) with the Cubs.
“When you do what we do,” Maddon said, “it’s a validation of all the time you spend on a Little League bus, in an instructional league where it’s 110 degrees, patting somebody on the back or having a not-so-fun discussion, and you learn how to do all these different things.
“And then you get to the Major League level, a team that hasn’t won in over 100 years, and you bring those sensibilities and methods here, and it’s become what it’s become … it’s humbling, man. It’s humbling. And again, it’s a validation of the methods, and it’s also a validation of my best mentors.”