Update p 2: Tony LaRussa Retires

[planet planet]

Maddon grew up in rural PA, and I don't remember any mention of being a Cards fan in the chapter dedicated to him in The Other 2%. Not 100% sure about the latter though.

All you have to do is google "Joe Maddon Cardinals fan" and it pulls up all the articles.

[docellis]

I know I should shut up about Maddon but hiring him would take the sting out of TLR actually going on to another franchise to do something.

January 28, 2009, 6:29 PM
Meet Joe Maddon, Cardinals Fan
By ALAN SCHWARZ
.....
“I’ve been a huge Cardinals fan since 1963,” Maddon said proudly in a telephone interview from his home in California. Maddon and his father, Joe, had made the pilgrimage from Hazleton, Pa., to Yankee
Stadium for a Yankees-White Sox game, and at a souvenir stand outside the center-field bleachers, Big Joe asked 8-year-old Joe if he wanted a hat. The blue cap with the red “StL” beckoned him.

“From then on it was the St. Louis Cardinals in baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals in football – I was hooked,” Maddon said.....

[AdmiralKird]

I think you could get John Madden much easier.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Maddon grew up in rural PA, and I don't remember any mention of being a Cards fan in the chapter dedicated to him in The Other 2%. Not 100% sure about the latter though.

All you have to do is google "Joe Maddon Cardinals fan" and it pulls up all the articles.

What do I look like, a guy that's not lazy?

[vinsanity]

Maddon grew up in rural PA, and I don't remember any mention of being a Cards fan in the chapter dedicated to him in The Other 2%. Not 100% sure about the latter though.

All you have to do is google "Joe Maddon Cardinals fan" and it pulls up all the articles.

What do I look like, a guy that's not lazy?

An imaginary stuffed tiger.

[JL21]

http://www.bradenton.com/2009/07/12/156 ... aning.html

The summer of 1964 is best remembered by most members of the Maddon family as the summer the roof leaked. The guys who came to fix it were New York Yankees fans, and they got a kick out of the 10-year-old Maddon boy who wore the St. Louis Cardinals cap and thought Curt Flood was a better center fielder than Mickey Mantle.

You kidding me, kid?

That would be Joe, who spent the summer nights of his childhood listening to Cardinals games on his transistor radio, turning the radio this way and that to keep the KMOX signal.

“And at the most critical moment, it would fade out,” Maddon said.

Anyway, little Joe followed his Cardinals that summer all the way to October when they took down the mighty Yankees in the World Series, an event that sent Joe through the streets of Hazleton, Pa., in search of a certain group of roofers.

The little pest with the Cardinals cap had the last laugh, and he let them know it.

Tonight, after the Tampa Bay Rays wrap up this three-game series with the Oakland A’s, that little Cardinals fan now all grown up and managing the Rays, will board a charter flight to St. Louis.

On Tuesday, he will manage the American League team in the All-Star Game, his reward for guiding the Rays to the World Series last October.

Joe Maddon, All-Star manager.

“Unbelievable,” Maddon said.

Joe Maddon managing the All-Star Game in Busch Stadium, home of his once beloved Cardinals.

“Really unbelievable,” he said.

Maddon became a Cardinals fan the day his dad took him to see the Yankees play the Chicago White Sox in the summer of 1963.

“Wanna hat?” dad ask as they walked past a concession stand on their way out of Yankee Stadium.

“Sure,” son said.

Maddon picked the blue Cardinals cap, because he loved the logo.

“I could draw that logo from memory on all my notebooks,” Maddon said.

[Fat Strat]

I think you could get John Madden much easier.

A couple million dollars to the Rays is like a couple thousand dollars for all of us. They'll be drooling over it.

[skmsw]

For a long time, I was a huge TLR fan. I'm happy for him that he pocketed one more WS, and I'm happy for him that he is ready for the next phase of his career (or his life). Congrats and best wishes. If it were five years ago I would have been able to say I'd miss him and I'm sorry to see him go. No can do now, but, I still offer my full appreciation and gratitude for the decade or so that he was a huge asset.

I'm pretty confident that Joe Maddon and Ron Gardenhire simply are not available. I think in general it is unrealistic to think the Cards will be including any managers already employed by another team in their search.

If Valentine or guys of his ilk really aer seriously considered ... oh boy, immediate danger signs that the "organizational problems" (if we're allowed to perceive any, coming off a freshly-winted WS Championship) extend well beyond TLR. Hopefully his name is floated out there as pure speculation, or by his boosters .... his name was associated with the BoSox vacancy too, and that was good for a hearty laugh in the Fenway catacombs. Am guessing hopefully that that's all this is too.

If the Cards were to hire Tito -- my self-imposed exile as a Cards fans would probably be over. He'd be a great choice in my opinion, and evidence of a good organizational decision.

Those who think Tito is old school, or push-button, or a hollow figurehead for a high-power front office -- In my opinion you're mistaken on all counts. He was very much a part of all the discussions about team direction and organizational strategy. He was an ex-player with a lot of understanding of and respect for and value of the baseball lifers and scouts, BUT was also very sabr-savvy. He was not Art Howe, just being told what to do even though he did not understand it or disagreed with it.

I think that the Cubs gig is at least as attractive as the Cards gig for at least a major segment of the candidate market. Substantially bigger market, probably better pay, new owner looking to shake things up, one of the best-regarded GMs looking to shake things up, much larger payroll to work with, living in a destination city. Meantime, coming to STL there are certainly many positives, but also, huge footsteps to fill, a team that may have gotten hot at the right time and over-achieved (e.g. set up for a regression), and maybe a team in it's first season in a decade without AP.

Throw the Sox opening in there, and for some candidates, you'll quite likely have as many candidates for whom the STL gig would be third choice, as you would where STL is the runaway first choice.

[docellis]

I just don't want Francona. Maybe it's the fried chicken and beer. Maybe it's the tremors from 2004 and crying every night.

I just don't want him.

[JL21]

Maybe Maddon has interest, maybe he doesn't, but I think it's comical to assume that the Cardinals could just throw some money the Rays way and everyone would say "Sure, you can have our manager, who's the consensus best manager in the game. After all, you are the St. Louis Cardinals(!!!) and we all know that you deserve everything you can get."