Chicago City Wire

Joe Maddon is a career baseball man, and he’s not ready to call it a career.

Behind the bench, he has won 1,382 games and has helmed teams that have gained eight playoff berths, two pennants and the World Series title. He gets along well with the media and knows how to tell a story. He shares several in his new book, “The Book of Joe: Trying Not to Suck at Baseball and Life,” written with acclaimed sportswriter and author Tom Verducci.

Maddon, 68, worked as a scout, camp coordinator, minor-league manager, major-league coach, interim manager, and, finally, manager of a big league team. He has worked with many of the game’s greats, and he and Verducci provide numerous tales of life on and off the diamond.

But the game has changed, and not for the better, in Maddon’s view. He said one change he dislikes is how managers have to answer to the front office staff, including direct orders on lineups and who can play in a game. The old-time managers would not have responded well to that, Maddon said.

“It just wouldn't happen. I mean, it couldn't happen. At that time, everything was structured,” he told Chicago City Wire. “Baseball was baseball. It was run by baseball people.”

An old-school approach has Maddon preferring old-time players who learned to master every facet of their game. Maddon said players were required to try to do everything well then — hit with power, field, play defense, throw and run well. Now, the game is being broken down into specialties.

Coaches had more authority to teach and help players develop necessary skills before they were promoted to the big leagues. But that is disappearing, Maddon said.

“You knew you had earned your opportunities, nothing was ever given. And the guys today, if they spend two months in AAA and do well, they expect a call-up,” he said. “Gosh, you could have spent two years hitting .300 in the Pacific Coast League and never get a chance in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s into the ‘90s. So that's the part that's drastically changed and that's the part that's missed. And there's a charisma that's involved in that. There's characters involved in that that the game doesn’t necessarily breed anymore.”

Maddon said players were taught and prepared better in the past, with such longtime baseball men as Cal Ripken Sr., Hub Kittle, George Kissell, Ron Plaza — and Maddon — running camps to teach fundamentals.

“The game was taught properly and it was broken down. And, there's another part mentioned in the book and I have a concern with this: Who's passing the game along to the next generation of coaches, not even the players, because the minor leagues, to me, there's so many wonderful, really good, experienced baseball men out there that are able to teach the game and teach it well,” he said. “They're unemployed and they can't get a job because the methods that are being sought after, where you're supposed to be able to get information and present it to minor league players, just not necessarily wisdom and experience, that's going away. I was the beneficiary of some great, I mean great, coaches that permitted me to get to the point where I am right now and understand the game as well as I do.”

Maddon was surprised to see Angels executives spend more time in the clubhouse, dressing in the same room as the coaches. That’s another change he doesn’t support.

“So really it does discourage open conversation among coaches, regardless if you’re friends, whatever. There’s still a superior-to-an-inferior situation going on there where people that are actually in charge will intimidate conversation,” he said. “Even if they're not right there, you're still not going to say certain things, and you're always going to be looking over your shoulder to make sure if you want to say something confidential to somebody else, or just vent.”

Missing managing

Maddon was let go by the Los Angeles this season and he misses managing.  “It's all about getting your group to this time of the year, getting into that playoff weather,” he said. "It’s the most fun time of the season. And you put it out there, everything you've worked on comes to a head at that moment and you try to be the best and play the last game of the season and win it. I do miss that. The playoffs are really a spectacular time of the year.”

The Angels had a winning record before they lost 12 in a row. Maddon thinks he had a chance to steer them out of that ditch and get them into the postseason tourney.

“I don't know. That was the concept. We started out so well and then hit that one skid and then it was over,” he said. “They probably had the best start they'd had in a long time. And then a myriad of things went wrong. The bullpen was struggling. ... It was just a lot of guys having a bad moment and then you don’t win games and that's just part of the thing. That's why you play 162."

He managed two of the greatest players in the game, 2021 American League MVP Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese star who is both one of the best pitchers in baseball and one of the most powerful hitters, and center fielder Mike Trout, who has three MVP awards and been named to 10 All-Star Games but a scant three-game postseason record.

Trout is a generational talent and Ohtani a two-way talent for the ages, a superstar at bat and on the mound.

The Angels had been cautious with how they handled Ohtani, allowing him to pitch 10 games in 2018, none in 2019 and just two in 2020. In 2021, he persuaded the team to allow him to pitch regularly in the rotation and be the full-time designated hitter.

Ohtani responded by hitting 46 homers, knocking in 100 runs and stealing 26 bases while going 9-2 on the mound with an era of 3.18, throwing 130.1 innings and racking up 156 strikeouts with just 44 walks. He was the one of the most dangerous hitters in the league and one of the best pitchers, earning the MVP award.

Ohtani had another amazing season in 2022, hammering 34 homers with 95 RBI while being even better as a pitcher, going 15-9 with an era of 2.33 and amassing 219 strikeouts with again just 44 walks, this time in 166 innings.

Maddon said he was confident the 6-5 Ohtani, a truly gifted athlete, could handle the double duty. Angels general manager Perry Minasian agreed to turn him loose.

“I wanted to do it the year before and we couldn’t. My first year there, it was difficult, he was coming off of injuries and it was hard to put it all together,” Maddon said. “But one of the first things I talked to Perry about the next year, 2021, is, how do you feel about this? Because I really want to see him do this and Perry felt the same way. So it's an easy conclusion. He needed to do that. That's why he signed up. That’s why he came to the United States. That's why he came to the Angels, to fulfill his destiny.”

’Get out of the way’

He said Ohtani had to be allowed to perform to his full abilities. He is a unique talent, doing things no other player has before, or had the ability to do, Maddon said.

“That's part of our issues. I bring this up in the book more than one time, that we have this tendency to get in the way of other people's greatness because of our methods, our thoughts, how we think things are supposed to be done,” he said. “And you're really subtracting from this genius talent that this guy is. So get out of the way. Get out of the way. There’s too much interference in the game. Analytics has cause way too much interference.

“We've gotten away just from the game itself, and that's what I really discuss a lot,” he said. “When a player or a person is great, do not interfere with their greatness.”

Ohtani is a tremendous hitter and pitcher, and he also is one of the fastest players in the game. The Angels use him as a designated hitter, but Maddon said he would be a Gold Glove outfielder and could play first base or third base effectively, too.

“Oh, my God. He could play anywhere. Absolutely,” he said. “Be a great, great outfielder. I've seen him shag in batting practice.”

Trout is 31 and starting to show signs of his age. He missed most of the 2021 season, and although he hit 40 homers in 2022, his speed has dissipated and he is increasingly battling injuries.

By all measurements, Trout is one of the greatest players of all time, but he has received far less attention than many other stars. His lack of exposure in October, when the bright lights are on, is a factor, Maddon said.

“Yeah, that's part of it. The fact that the Angels play on the West Coast, they're on late at night, a lot of folks don't get an opportunity to see them,” he said. “So the abilities of Michael and Shohei, people might watch a video or a replay or whatever, but a highlight. They never really get to watch it or see it in person. That's the part that's difficult because the game needs attractive players and people like these two guys.”

Joe Maddon knows. He’s seen great players and dominant teams, and hopes for one more chance to work with stars, teach young players and lead a team to a World Series crown. Maddon still has a passion for the game he loves, and that hasn’t changed over all these years in baseball.