CHICAGO -- Joe Maddon loved to come up with mantras during his years as one of baseball’s more innovative managers. He would zero in on a theme or phrase that his players could embrace and use to tighten their focus each day while keeping their bigger goals in mind.
The 2008 Rays rallied around “9=8” -- nine players working hard for nine innings to become one of the eight teams to reach the postseason. The ‘16 Cubs had “Try Not to Suck,” a slogan that can still be spotted on shirts around Wrigleyville. There was “Do Simple Better” and “Embrace the Target.” Running hard up the line was summed up succinctly with, “Respect 90.”
Now, it might just be time to “Respect 70.”
Maddon, who wore No. 70 during his managerial career, is up for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame via the Contemporary Baseball Era ballot. A three-time Manager of the Year recipient (2008, ‘11 and ‘15), Maddon helped usher the Rays into their first era of winning before later leading the Cubs to a World Series triumph that snapped a 108-year title drought.
The case for the Hall is strong for Maddon, but it is worth noting that he is part of a deep list of candidates.
This year’s ballot -- recognizing managers, executives and umpires -- also features Sandy Alderson, Dusty Baker, Bruce Bochy, Lou Piniella, Brian Sabean, Ted Turner and Bill White. A 16-member panel consisting of Hall of Fame players, Major League executives, media members and historians will consider the candidates, who need at least 75% of the vote to be elected. The results will be announced on Dec. 6.
That entire group shaped baseball over the past several decades, and Maddon fits right into the mix as being worthy of the Hall of Fame.
Over parts of 19 seasons as a manager with the Rays (2006-14), Cubs (‘15-19) and Angels (2020-22, plus interim stints in 1996 and '99), Maddon compiled a win-loss record of 1,382-1,216. He is one of 35 managers with at least 1,300 wins and only one of 16 in that group with a winning percentage of .532 or higher. He reached the playoffs eight times (four times each with Tampa Bay and Chicago), won two pennants and one World Series.
And the 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 had him in their organization for 31 years as a Minor League player, coach, instructor and then Major League coach. Prior to making the move to the Rays, Maddon served as 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 the American League pennant. That ‘08 team took down the White Sox and Red Sox in the playoffs before losing in five games to the Phillies in the Fall Classic.
“The Cubs winning it after 108 years is pretty cool,” Maddon said during an interview on Marquee Sports Network earlier this year. “But the Devil Rays, to the point where we got in 2008, if you had been there in ‘06 and ‘07 [when Tampa Bay lost a combined 197 games] and saw what that was like, that is even almost a more dramatic turnaround.”
Maddon won 754 games with the Rays, setting a club record before Kevin Cash surpassed him on Tampa Bay’s list. Following the 2014 season, Maddon opted out of his contract with the Rays and the Cubs -- led by Theo Epstein at the time -- swiftly signed the manager to a five-year pact as the North Siders were turning the corner on a rebuilding period.
The Cubs had lost between 89-101 games across the 2011-14 seasons, giving Maddon another project to take on. The ‘15 team, however, featured an impressive up-and-coming core of young position players, and the front office had anchored the group with plenty of key veterans.
The ‘15 Cubs reached the National League Championship Series, letting the baseball world know that this was a team very much 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 to the playoffs again in ‘17 and ‘18, but the team was unable to recapture the magic of that ‘16 run. Maddon ended with 471 wins with the Cubs (fifth-most in team history) and a .581 winning percentage (best since Frank Chance’s .664 mark from 1905-12).
“When you do what we did,” Maddon said, “it’s a validation of all the time you spent on a Minor League bus, on an instructional league field when it’s 110 degrees, whether it’s patting somebody on the back or having to have a discussion that’s not as fun, and you learn how to do all these different things.
“And then you got to the Major League level, a team that hasn’t won in over 100 years, and you bring those sensibilities and those methods here, and it turns into what it turned into … it’s very humbling, man. It’s very humbling. And again, it’s a validation of methods, and that’s also validation of all my mentors, and I’ve had some of the best that ever existed.”