Oct. 24 Joe Maddon workout day interview

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Updated: October 24, 2016

THE MODERATOR: First question for Joe Maddon?

Q. Two-part question for you: First of all, your thoughts on Terry Francona as a fellow manager? And secondly, like players do coming up in the ranks, they have players that they’ve looked up to and kind of mold them into who they are. Is there a manager or managers that maybe you’ve looked up to that you kind of were molded by?

JOE MADDON: Well, Tito and I got to be friends just through managing against. When he was with Boston, I was with Tampa Bay, we did a lot of talking. There were different times when they were attracted to some of our free agents and we talked about that. But, I mean, I’ve gotten the same impression that everybody else has, he’s gregarious, easy to get to know, a good friend, and a very good manager.

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So we got to know each other on that level. It’s not a social kind of a thing. We’ve never gone out. I’ve never had a chance to play cribbage with him. I guess he likes to play cribbage. But he’s a wonderful man, and he’s done a great job in a couple different places, so I’m very happy for his success.

Beyond that, the influences, you know, when it comes down to manager, it started for me, I think in the Minor Leagues when I actually became a coach was Gene Mauch, probably was the first one to make an impression on me in the Angels organization in the early ’80s. I always thought if Gene said something, it had to be true. There was no reason to dispute it. He’s also the kind of guy if you were sitting in a room and your back was toward the door and he walked in, you could feel him. That’s just who he was. He had that presence about him.

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But his ability, his common sense was crazy good. I just really enjoyed listening to what he had to say. And he would always throw little jabs at me, little different things, and he made me think about stuff. And I loved him for that.

So he made the first impression. The other guy who is not a manager was Bob Clear. Nobody knows Bob, Bob’s no longer with us. But Bobbaloo taught me pretty much how to teach in the game of baseball. He was with the Angels for a hundred years and then started out with the Pirates and knew all these, Clemente and all the dudes back in the day. And Bobbaloo was the best. Bobbaloo was the best. He was the best, and I know the Cardinals talk about their group of coaches reverently, and I think Bobbaloo, if you had talked to anybody that was with the Angels in the late ’70s or ’80s, they’ll tell you about Bobbaloo.

Beyond that, you have an amalgam of everybody you’ve met. I really believe that. You take from the people you think are good, but I think more importantly you take away from the people that aren’t so good. “I never want to be like that.” And I’ve been in that moment, too.

But most influential is that. And beyond that, just a lot of it has a lot to do with reading. I think reading and reading and attempting to read people. I’ve had a chance to manage in different outposts, and I think that is the most important thing. To be in this position right now, I rely on my experiences a lot, Idaho Falls; Salem, Oregon, and Midland, Texas, and every place in between that. Instructional leagues, being back fields, trying things out where nobody can see it, and if you screw up, who cares. All that kind of stuff, I think it matters.

So I’m really grateful for the fact that took me so long to become a manager, because I think all the experiences I’ve had have permitted me to think the way I do right now.

Q. How much do you want your guys thinking about what this means to the city of Chicago and baseball history as opposed to just focusing on winning four games?

JOE MADDON: I think that would be something that’s, you know, post-mortem. After you’ve actually done it, that’s when you really dwell on that particular thought. In the meantime, I promise you, our guys are going to be in the present tense. I think we all have a tremendous amount of respect for history and what’s happened before us or not happened before us. But, you know, you go in that room right now, they’re very young. Really not impacted by a lot of the lure, I don’t think, other than the fact that we are impacted by our city and our fans and the people that attend our games and the conversations that we have, absolutely, an impactful moment.

But I don’t think when there’s a groundball hit to Addie, he’s going to be worried about stuff like that. Or there’s a 3-2 pitch to KB down and away. They’re going to be in the moment. That’s what we’ve done, and that’s all I preach. So at the end of the day, hopefully they’ll be able to get this done, and at that point you can really reflect on everything and interact with the folks and really try to get down to the root of all of this. But in the meantime, man, I really anticipate and expect our guys to stay right in the moment.

Q. Players get asked this all the time about feeling pressure. I was just wondering from your standpoint, from the manager’s standpoint, do you feel pressure in the situation you’re in right now with the magnitude of everything that’s happening?

JOE MADDON: I’ve said it probably a hundred times this year, I think it’s great. I really addressed that point in Spring Training. In Spring Training, there was an inordinate amount of expectations and pressure that was heaped upon us, and I tried to convince our guys that’s a good thing. Why would you ever want to do anything or be part of a situation or moment that did not have great expectations? And I think they’re synonymous terms. Expectations and pressure probably become synonymous. And why would you ever want to run away from that? The alternative right now I could be in Tampa cooking steaks in my backyard, making sure DirecTV is working properly. And I’d much prefer this reality.

So I plan to enjoy it. I want our guys to enjoy the moment. I want them to take mental snapshots of everything that we’re doing out here.

It’s really difficult to get to this position. It’s very difficult. This is, for me, fortunately my third time I’ve had a chance to do this, where our players, a lot of them, it’s the first time. Most of them, it’s the first time. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Go play your game. It’s another game.

I think when you go through that first moment slapping hands on the line, people screaming, towels waving, yeah, you’re going to get a little bit of that rush. But once the first pitch is thrown, it’s just like football, when you get that first hit, you can be throw-up sick in the locker room, but after you get hit the first time, you’re not even thinking about it. I think that’s the same thing that’s going to happen there with us. You should be a little bit — you should have butterflies, absolutely. There should be a high level of nervousness or eagerness. But, what else would you rather be doing?

Q. In your time coming up, was the old timers you’d speak to, the Jimmie Reeses of the world, do you have any appreciation for what baseball was like in the mid ’40s or even earlier? And the enormity of time and how much the game has changed since the last time the Cubs were in this position?

JOE MADDON: I have somewhat, of course you have to live it to really understand it. But I’ve had great mentors, and you say that, I think of Gene Thompson. Gene was a scout I grew up with. Geno played for the Cubs and the Reds back in the day. Thornton Lee. I knew Mr. Hubbell, Carl Hubbell. I had a chance to sit with Mr. Hubbell at Fitch Park in Mesa, and I’d actually see his little Ford Fiesta, whatever he’d be driving between Phoenix and Tucson to go scout games at U of A. Mr. Hubbell driving this little car down Interstate 10. So I had chance to visit with all these guys.

Mr. Campanis, Mr. Campanis and I used to have a lot of conversations. He was running a Palm Springs team, and I was a Minor League farm director with the Angels when I was trying to fill up a team and actually signed his grandson Jimmy at one point. And on and on. I mean, …

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