Cubs manager Joe Maddon was once dubbed “the ambassador of all good times” by former Rays pitcher Jamey Wright, alluding to Maddon’s ability to keep things light during the long, hard grind.
One of Maddon’s traditions with Tampa Bay was coming up with a new slogan every year, which he typically announced at the beginning of spring training and reinforced on T-shirts handed out to players and staff.
Maddon brought that tradition with him to Chicago, and it has been an unqualified success in his first three seasons at the helm.
So what will Maddon come up with in 2018?
“I was actually going to ask him that,” Ben Zobrist said Friday night at the Cubs Convention. “I was like, ‘What have you been reading?’ Because I know usually it’s something he finds while reading.”
Maddon is keeping his slogan top secret for now. There’s a month to go before pitchers and catchers report to camp in Mesa, Ariz., and he prefers to make a big splash there.
But Maddon admitted last week he’s been reading Walter Issacson’s best-selling biography on Leonardo da Vinci, calling da Vinci “the first super utility guy” because of his many talents.
Zobrist, who is entering his 12th season with Maddon as his manager, speculated Maddon “is going to get something from that — something about inventing or painting.”
Before a spring training game against Team Italy last year, the Cubs lineup card included a da Vinci quote written in Italian:
“La semplicita e l’ultima sofisticazione.”
According to Maddon, it meant “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Coach Brandon Hyde said he found the quote while “Googling” and included it because it sounded like Maddon’s philosophical mantra “Do simple better.”
Maddon’s slogans are as big a part of his being as his signature glasses.
In 2008 with the Rays, Maddon introduced his most famous slogan, “9=8,” a cryptic message that meant nine players playing nine innings together would lead to the Rays being one of eight playoff teams in October. The ’08 Rays made the postseason for the first time in franchise history before losing to the Phillies in the World Series.
The sequel to “9=8” in 2009 was “9>8” in 2009, implying they were now ready to go from being a World Series contender to the best team in the eight-team playoff field. In 2010 the mantra was “WIN,” a play on former President Gerald Ford’s “WIN” slogan that stood for “Whip Inflation Now.” Maddon’s acronym stood for “What’s Important Now,” meaning a championship.
In 2011 it was “There Is Another,” and in 2014, Maddon’s last year in Tampa it was “Eat Last,” a phrase lifted from a book entitled “Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t.”
When he bolted the Rays for the Cubs in 2015, using an escape clause in his contract, Maddon started out with the relatively low-key “Respect 90,” referring to the need for the players to go all-out on the bases every at-bat. It was a yawner, and some players still stood at the plate watching home runs.
After the Cubs unexpectedly made the National League Championship Series in 2015 and were christened NL favorites the next year, Maddon came up with “Embrace the Target.” He was trying to implant the notion that every Cubs player should simply accept the fact they’re supposed to win and go out and prove they were deserving of all the preseason attention.
Instead, it was another Maddon slogan that took off. The thematic motif of 2016 turned out to be “Try Not to Suck,” a phrase some players insist was originally coined by catcher David Ross.
The politically incorrect slogan quickly turned into a ubiquitous T-shirt that was briefly banned at Busch Stadium, where security guards made Cubs fans either take off the shirts or turn them inside out before entering.
The phrase was etched in colored chalk on the walls of Wrigley Field during the Cubs’ postseason run to the 2016 championship, and a photo of that wall was blown up and plastered in the hallway outside the Cubs clubhouse last year.
Dozens of Cubs fans wore their “Try Not to Suck” T-shirts at this weekend’s Cubs Convention, and the mantra is now the title of an upcoming biography of Maddon, co-written by ESPN reporter Jesse Rogers.
“Everyone remembers ‘Try not to suck,’” Zobrist said. “You can’t top it.”
Zobrist wasn’t too keen on last year’s slogan, “Be Uncomfortable,” a plea to Cubs players to stay out of their comfort zone after winning it all the previous year.
“I forgot about that until I pulled my T-shirt out again,” he said, laughing. “Then I was like ‘Oh, yeah, that was the theme.’ And we were.”
The slogan backfired, as the Cubs got off to a bad first half and looked anything but comfortable until their second-half wake-up call. Maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Do the Cubs even need a catchy slogan? Has Maddon finally jumped the shark after the overwhelming success of ‘Try Not to Suck’?
Zobrist insisted it’s imperative.
“We still need him to give us the pathway, and he likes to do that by talking about a theme,” he said. “Something like that that gets our minds headed in the right direction heading into the season. I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say.
“I always enjoy it. I think it could be more important this year than ever to have something that we can really latch on to, after underperforming last year and feeling like we have so much more to do. We fought through a lot of stuff, showed a lot to win the division and get to (the NLCS). But in the end I think we just ran out of fumes. We didn’t have enough gas in the tank to go all the way back.
“I don’t think it’s going to take much to motivate this group this year at all. But Joe is going to have to give us that pathway, that guide, and it’s going to work I think.”
Maddon drew plenty of criticism in last year’s postseason, but the front office believes it’s unwarranted. There’s only one thing they want him to change.
“I hate the gray hair,” general manger Jed Hoyer said. “I want the white hair back. That’s my only criticism of Joe. It’s not the same. It bothers me.
“So I’m not going to criticize him other than to say ‘I don’t like the hair.’”
