Joe Maddon reflects on glory days with Cubs in "The Book of Joe" with co-author Tom Verducci
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Joe Maddon's name will forever be etched in the annals of Chicago and American sports lore, after leading the Cubs to their historic 2016 World Series title, ending the franchise's 108-year championship drought.
Now the former Cubs manager is telling his story and imparting pearls of wisdom from the diamond with the help of esteemed baseball writer, Tom Verducci, in a new book "The Book of Joe: Trying Not to Suck at Baseball and Life," which was released this week.
The book is part memoir, part motivational guide, covering Maddon's five seasons as the Cubs' manager. In addition to his mantra of "try not to suck," it also includes other popular "Maddonisms," such as "do simple better," and "don't ever permit the pressure to exceed the pleasure."
How did he come up with the concept to write "The Book of Joe" with Verducci?
"Tom and I got together after the 2019 season, and we were talking about doing a book, and with that … the primary concept, and you can see that too, is to compare and contrast managing in the 1980s and the present time. That was number one," he said. "Number two, take all the different sayings, or Maddonisms, and try to extrapolate on them, develop them."
Maddon said he recorded about 100 hours for the book while riding his bike in Arizona during the pandemic, and gave the recordings to Verducci every day. Verducci would then give him feedback and ask him about specific topics.
"Like I said, Tom's a brilliant writer, and what he did with what I said in the recordings, combining with his research and his own thoughts, I thought he did a wonderful job with it," Maddon said.
The book recounts not only Maddon and the Cubs' rise to glory with the 2016 World Series title, but also his less-than-glorious departure from the North Side after the 2019 season. What went south between him and then-Cubs president Theo Epstein, besides early playoff exits in the three seasons after that historic World Series run?
"It's just a matter of philosophically different there at the very end, and that's what it really comes down to," he said. "I'm harboring no ill feelings whatsoever. Theo and I are still friends. [New Cubs president Jed Hoyer] and I talked after I'd been let go. That's not the point. I mean, people choose to do different things after a period of time. We had a great run. To be invited to be there for five years as manager was life-altering for me and my family. So I'm always indebted in that."
Maddon said, in his final season with the Cubs, Epstein and Hoyer – who at the time was general manager, and later replaced Epstein as Cubs president – wanted to take a different approach than he did as the Cubs tried to get back to the World Series, but kept falling short.
"I wasn't able to really do my normal things regarding the program, and just the setup of scheduling, and different items. So it was time. It's cool. I wish I'd stayed there longer, don't deny it. But that particular group, that group was fabulous. And it's going to be very difficult to replicate that in the near future," he said.
After leaving the Cubs, Maddon spent 2 ½ seasons managing the Los Angeles Angels, before he was fired this past June. With the White Sox now looking for a new manager, have they reached out to Maddon about returning to Chicago?
"They have not spoken with me at all," Maddon said. "I am interested in any job, pretty much, but the caveat is I really want to work with somebody that wants to put baseball before data and analytics. I want a greater balance in the game. I'm into the numbers, I want the information, but I think it's overtaken the game itself, and part of the disconnect with the fans, and the way the game's being played, and why we are researching so many alterations to have people actually watch it again, I think has something to do with the methods being employed."
Simply put, Maddon said "let baseball be baseball again."
"I want analytics to be part of it. I don't want them to be in the clubhouse before the game at all," he said. "Yes, I want scouting information, but not to the point where it becomes intrusive."
You can watch the rest of Ryan Baker's interview with Maddon in the video player above.
