Joe Maddon

Joseph John Maddon (born February 8, 1954) is an American former professional baseball manager and coach.

He has managed the Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Maddon began his professional career playing in Minor League Baseball as a catcher, signing with the California Angels organization as a free agent in 1975.

Maddon never advanced higher than Class A, in which he played for four seasons.

He graduated in 1976.

He is a member of Zeta Psi fraternity.

He began his career for the Quad Cities Angels in 1976, hitting .294 in 50 games and 163 at bats.

He followed up with two seasons for the Salinas Angels and a final season with the Santa Clara Padres.

In his four seasons, he never had more than 180 at bats in a season, and the most home runs he ever hit was three for the Salinas Angels in 1977.

Overall, he hit .267 with 5 home runs in 514 at bats.

In 1979, after spending four seasons trying to make it as a catcher in the Angels organization, Maddon decided to give up his playing career and become a coach.

He started as a scout and would continue on to such positions as manager in the Angels farm system and Minor League roving hitting instructor.

As a minor league manager, he had a .450 record in six seasons.

He managed in the minors from 1981 to 1986, each team having a losing record.

His stops included managing the Idaho Falls Angels of the Rookie League (1981), the Class A Salem Angels (1982–1983), Class A Peoria Chiefs (1984), and the Class AA Midland Angels (1985–1986).

After serving as Minor League roving instructor from 1987 to 1993, Maddon was promoted to the big league club as a coach.

He also served under Marcel Lachemann from 1993 to 1994.

While he served as bench coach under McNamara and Collins, he rotated positions often.

After playing and coaching in the minor leagues, Maddon began his MLB coaching career with the Angels in 1994 and served under managers Buck Rodgers, Marcel Lachemann, John McNamara, Terry Collins, and Mike Scioscia.

He served two stints as interim manager during this time.

Maddon served as a major league coach for the Angels from 1994 to 2005.

He held such positions as first base coach, bench coach, and interim manager on three occasions following the hospitalization of John McNamara in 1996, the suspension of Terry Collins in 1998, and Collins' eventual departure in 1999.

He finished with a combined record of 27 wins and 24 losses as interim manager.

He finally found stability when the Angels hired Mike Scioscia in 1999.

He served as Scioscia's bench coach from 2000 to 2005, winning a World Series ring in 2002.

By the time Maddon left Anaheim, he had spent 31 years overall with the Angels organization.

His father died in 2002.

Maddon attended Lafayette College, where he played baseball and football.

Maddon was considered a candidate for the Boston Red Sox manager job in 2004, which went to Terry Francona.

On November 15, 2005, Maddon was hired to manage the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The Rays went .380 in Maddon's first two seasons.

The Rays were in yet another re-building phase, this time under the management of General Manager Andrew Friedman.

Tampa Bay held the lowest payroll in baseball at $44 million.

He managed the Rays from 2006 through 2014, winning the 2008 American League pennant.

He received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Lafayette College on September 2, 2010.

After opting out of his contract following the 2014 season, Maddon joined the Cubs.

He led them to the 2015 National League Championship Series and was named the 2015 National League Manager of the Year.

In 2016, Maddon managed the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908.

He managed the Cubs through 2019 and managed the Angels from 2020 to 2022.

The son of an Italian father, Joseph Anthony Maddon (who shortened the family name from Maddonini), and a Polish mother, Albina Klocek, Maddon grew up in an apartment over his father's plumbing shop.