The Book of Joe: Trying Not to Suck at Baseball and Life

Joe Maddon, three-time MLB Manager of the Year, shares baseball enlightenment in his book, "THE BOOK OF JOE." He offers unique insights into the game, including the tension between art and data, the changing role of managers, and the modern player. Maddon's wisdom applies beyond the dugout, with mantras about leadership, mentorship, team building, and communication.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 384 pages
Publication date: 09 November 2023
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

No one understands 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 has become one of the most successful, most colorful, and most quoted managers in Major League Baseball. Over 19 seasons in Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Anaheim, Maddon 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-t.

Dimension: 216 x 135 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538751800