Joe Maddon

Joe Maddon
Tampa Bay Rays — No. 70
Manager
Born: February 8, 1954 (1954-02-08) (age 55) Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Bats:	Throws:
MLB debut
1996 for the California Angels
Career statistics
Games	544
Win-Loss record	260-291
Winning %	.472
Teams
California / Anaheim Angels (1996, 1999) Tampa Bay Devil Rays / Rays (2006-present)
Career highlights and awards
2008 AL Manager of the Year

Joseph John Maddon (born February 8, 1954) is the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays in Major League Baseball, having been appointed to that position on November 15, 2005. He previously served as interim manager of the Anaheim Angels in both 1996 and 1999, and was a long-time bench coach for the team.

Early life and career

Maddon attended Lafayette College, where he played baseball and football. He is a member of Zeta Psi fraternity, and graduated in 1976.

He is a former minor league catcher, who never advanced higher than A ball, which he played for four seasons. In his four seasons, he never had more than 180 at bats, and the most home runs he ever hit was three for Salinas in 1977. He never made it to the major leagues as a player.^[1]

He served in the Angels organization for 31 years.

Managerial career

He managed each of the six years from 1981-86 in the minor leagues, but managed his team to a losing record each season.

Maddon was considered a leading candidate for the Boston Red Sox manager job in 2004, which went to Terry Francona. His signature thick-rimmed glasses have led to giveaways featuring mock pairs, and tributes from Angels players wearing the glasses when playing against the Rays. Sportswriter Peter King once said that Maddon has an uncanny resemblance to 1930s-1960s movie star Spencer Tracy.

In 2008, Maddon led the Tampa Bay Rays to their first playoff win and first World Series appearance, in which Tampa Bay held home-field advantage against the Philadelphia Phillies. It completed a full-circle turnaround for the Rays, who had the worst record in Major League Baseball in 2007. Because of this, on November 12 of that year, he was given the American League Manager of the Year Award.^[2]

Maddon is known for platooning players and having multiple batting lineups.^{[citation needed]}

The manager became engaged to his girlfriend of four years, law school graduate Jaye "Don't call her law school dropout" Sousoures, in June 2007 in Boulder, Colorado, on a side trip during a Rays road trip to the Colorado Rockies. He married her in November 2008. He has two children with his first wife: a daughter, Sarah; and a son, Joey. He also has a grandson, Tyler; and granddaughter, Coral Ray.

Maddon volunteered his time on December 30, 2008 for a fundraiser to support the "Castle" auditorium renovations.

On May 25, 2009, the Tampa Bay Rays and Maddon agreed to a contract extension that would keep him manager of the Rays through 2012. He had been in the final year of the initial contract he signed when he first became manager of the team. The Rays stated that there was "never a question" on whether to keep Maddon or not after the conclusion of the 2009 season. Maddon was quoted as saying, "This is where I belong. This is where I want to be. I really have to use the word love when I talk about this organization."^[3]

On July 14, 2009 Maddon managed the American League All-Star team to a 4-3 victory. Controversy accompanied his failure to take advantage of multiple opportunities to pick second baseman Ian Kinsler as a reserve on the team, even when Dustin Pedroia and Evan Longoria bowed out, despite Kinsler having narrowly come in second in the fan voting, the player voting, and the Sprint Final Vote competition. Instead, for example, while avoiding picking Kinsler to replace fellow second baseman Pedroia, Maddon went with one of his own, choosing Tampa Bay's first baseman Carlos Peña, who was leading the league in homers but batting .228 (and who had come in fourth in the Final Vote competition, behind Kinsler).^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} Simlarly, a final opportunity presented itself when Evan Longoria withdrew because of a finger infection; but again Maddon (a former Angels coach) chose someone else as a replacement, this time Figgins of the Angels, who had come in third in the Final Vote competition (behind Kinsler).^[9] Bleacher Reports' Andrew Nuschler observed: "Maddon spent his tenure as the AL All Star manager finding new and inventive ways to give Ian Kinsler the middle finger."^[10]

See also

• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2006
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2007
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2008

References

External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career managing record
• Maddon to be hired as (Devil Rays) manager