The Book of Joe
Trying Not to Suck at Baseball and Life
1 of 1 copy available
No one sees baseball like Joe Maddon. He sees it through his trademark glasses and irrepressible wit. Raised in the "shot and beer" town of Hazleton, PA, and forged by 15 years in the minors, Maddon over 19 seasons in Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Anaheim has become one of the most successful, most colorful, and most quoted managers in Major League Baseball. He is a workplace culture expert, having engineered two of the most stunning turnarounds in the past quarter century: taking the Rays from the worst record in baseball one year to the World Series the next and leading the Cubs to their first World Series title in 108 years.
Like his teams, Maddon defies convention. He is part strategist, part philosopher, part sports psychologist, and part motivational coach. In THE BOOK OF JOE, Maddon gives readers unique insights into the game, including the tension between art and data, the changing role of managers as front offices gain power, why the honeymoon with the Cubs did not last, and what it's like to manage the modern player, including stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Yu Darvish, and Kris Bryant.
But you expect even more from a manager who meditates daily, admires Twain, and has only one rule when it comes to a team dress code: "If you think you look hot, wear it!" And Maddon delivers. Built on-old school values and new-school methods, his wisdom applies beyond the dugout. His mantras about leadership, mentorship, team building, and communication are meditations on life, not just baseball. Among those mantras are:
"Do simple better."
"Try not to suck."
"Don't ever permit the pressure to exceed the
pleasure."
"See it with first-time eyes."
"Tell me what you think, not what you've heard."
THE BOOK OF JOE is Maddon at his uniquely holistic best. It is a memoir of a fascinating baseball journey, an insider's look at a changing game, and a guidebook on leadership and life.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
October 11, 2022 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781549156168
- File size: 389705 KB
- Duration: 13:31:53
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
October 1, 2022
A winning manager reflects on changes in Major League Baseball, many of which devalue managers. If there's an unstated theme to this likable memoir, it's that things happen when they happen, sometimes without rhyme or reason. Maddon worked his way around the field before heading several clubs, including the Chicago Cubs, which he guided to their first World Series win in more than a century. Yet, as sportswriter Verducci (whose previous book, The Cubs Way, covered that win) writes in the preface, Maddon never played a minute of major league ball and "logged twenty years in the minors as a player, manager, and instructor before getting a major league job." He was working at a liquor store and contemplating a move to play in Italy when the call came from the California Angels to come aboard as a scout. Four decades later, Maddon recalls, what got him there was positive thinking: "I never lost sight of my dreams, and my self-confidence has held up in spite of many obstacles." Maddon has often found himself swimming against the stream: For one thing, though "an early adopter of the use of computers in baseball," he resisted the siren call of the quants to let numbers do all the talking, insisting that instinct--"thinking in advance"--be a key component of the manager's analytical toolset. "Never forget the heartbeat," he told his players. You can't argue with Maddon's wins, but you can also see why he was ground down by a system that came to be almost entirely numerical--not just on the field, but also on the bottom line--and in which risk and daring are forgotten. Near the end of the book, he quips, "you can make all the right decisions in the world, and it can come out wrong." Fans of the diamond will find this assembled wisdom to be both pleasing and instructive.COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
-
October 1, 2022
Joe Maddon is one of the most transformative managers in baseball--or any team sport, really--having turned the moribund Tampa Bay franchise into a perennial contender and having led the famously hapless Chicago Cubs to their first title in 108 years (but who's counting?). In addition, in 2021, as manager of the Anaheim Angels, he simply let Shohei Ohtani be himself, which in turn led Ohtani to 46 home runs, 100 RBIs, a 9-2 pitching record, and, oh yeah, the American League MVP Award. "Never interfere with the player's potential to be great," Maddon offers. He's also one of the best interviews in the game, which veteran baseball writer Verducci (Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, MLB network) turns into gold in this blend of biography, managerial insight, life lessons, and treatise on motivation. Even casual fans will enjoy this one.COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
-