Cubs' Joe Maddon looking forward to returning to Tampa Bay
Joe Maddon got a few hellos out of the way in July, when the Tampa Bay Rays visited Wrigley Field.
But things get real this week when Maddon goes "home" to Tampa-St. Petersburg, where the Cubs will play a two-game series against the Rays Tuesday and Wednesday nights at Tropicana Field.
Maddon managed the Rays for nine years, compiling a record of 754-705 and guiding them to the 2008 World Series.
An out in his contract enabled him to join the Cubs after the 2014 season, and he is on the verge of leading them to the postseason for the third straight year, and as defending world champions.
The Cubs left Chicago after Sunday's game to spend Monday in the Tampa Bay area, where Maddon still has a residence.
The dynamic has changed in the wake of Hurricane Irma, and Maddon and his foundation have donated time, food and money to the area.
So going back won't be all about baseball.
"Post hurricane, the way that all of this has unfurled with all that had gone on and just being really concerned, and apparently, everything turned out OK," Maddon said. "So that is very helpful regarding the thought. But beyond that, really eager to go back, just to get home. I haven't been back there during the summer in a bit. And then actually go back to the Trop, I think it's good to go back to the Trop."
Maddon came up through the Angels system, working his way up to the big-league club and serving two stints as interim manager. He admitted feeling uncomfortable returning to Anaheim with the Rays, but he said he'll feel more comfortable with this homecoming.
"It's not unlike when I left the Angels and went to the Rays and then going back there for the first time - really awkward," he said. "It'll be different this time. I think having broken the ice with the Angels is going to be very helpful going back and visiting with the Rays. I'm really honestly am looking forward to it. There are so many friends in that building. I'm looking forward to driving over the causeway there, the Gandy Bridge, I love that. Hopefully I'm not going to get a ticket. It's possible on the way back, especially."
Maddon earned a reputation in Tampa as being good at working with young players on a small-budget team. Getting the Rays to the World Series (they lost to the Phillies) also was a major accomplishment.
But as far as his "legacy" is concerned, Maddon turned the talk in a different direction.
"The only thing I've really focused on regarding my legacy to this point is that fact that I think I really altered dress codes," he said. "I thought about that today, the fact that when I first came on board, everybody was always … you go to these job interviews and they want to know what your dress code is going to be. And I always thought that the dress code was one of the most absurd things ever invented in major-league baseball, because they would wear all these expensive suits in the hope of winning 'because I wore an expensive suit.'
"And I never understood that. I never understood why it was so important to go from a clubhouse to a bus to a tarmac to a plane to a tarmac to a bus to a hotel lobby to your room and why it was so important to dress up.
"If I leave any kind of a legacy within this game, I would hope that I would be pointed at in regards to changing the dress code."
Of course there are other things, not the least of which is winning. But Maddon also pointed to things as basic as changing work habits and the work environment.
"The lack of batting practice, altering the work day prior to a game, even when I ran instructional leagues, it was important to me to alter the method on a daily basis just so that the guys would not get mentally bored with the whole thing," he said. "The other point would be showing up at the ballpark, what time. It's absurd, first-one-there, last-one-to-leave. I think that is the most incredibly inane concept ever … Those are the kind of things that I really wanted to eradicate."
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