The Book of Joe

Trying Not to Suck at Baseball and Life

By: Joe Maddon, Tom Verducci

Narrated by: Will Collyer

Lessons in baseball enlightenment from three-time MLB Manager of the Year Joe Maddon.

No one sees 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 over 19 seasons in Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Anaheim 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-time eyes.”
“Tell me what you think, not what you’ve heard.”

THE BOOK OF JOE is Maddon at his uniquely holistic best. It is a memoir of a fascinating baseball journey, an insider’s look at a changing game, and a guidebook on leadership and life.

Critic reviews

"It’s hard to love baseball these days with all its strikeouts, lockouts and equations that don’ allow for the human heart. In THE BOOK OF JOE, Joe Maddon and Tom Verducci have given us a reason to fall in love all over again. This is a portrait of the artist as a baseball man: a lifer who vanquished the curse of the Cubs, who pulls no punches about the modern game he helped to create, who loves flamingos because of their ability balance on one foot, who issues a clarion call for baseball to regain its footing—'the balance between data and art.' THE BOOK OF JOE is a perfect baseball book, as invaluable as it is unique."
—Jane Leavy

"Peanut butter and Jelly. Macaroni and cheese. Now, a third perfect combination: Joe and Tom. No one thinks about baseball more interestingly than Maddon. No one writes about baseball better than Verducci. Their book is a mind-opening immersion in the game as it unfolds in its grinding, yet exhilarating, granularity. For fans weary of data-saturated baseball talk that is about as fun-filled as a calculus class, this book is an irresistible invitation to again fall in love with the game as it is lived." —George F. Will

"Joe Maddon and Tom Verducci provide the ultimate insider’s guide to how the role of manager has changed in baseball. But THE BOOK of JOE is so much more. Maddon’s journey is chock full of fascinating stories and life lessons that everyone will enjoy. From riding minor league buses to breaking the curse in Chicago to balancing data and art in a numbers-driven game, THE BOOK OF JOE is a page-turning read. If you wonder what happened to the soul of baseball, you’ll find it here."—Joe Torre

"In THE BOOK OF JOE, America's finest baseball writer teams with one of the game's most interesting and accomplished managers to trace the long and winding baseball road he has traveled, and the unique outlook he developed along the way." —Bob Costas

“THE BOOK OF JOE is a can’t-miss: life lessons from a winding half-century in the game from Joe Maddon, baseball’s philosopher-manager, and an entertaining, interstitial history of the sport’s evolution into the analytics era from Tom Verducci, the most elegant baseball writer of his generation. Perfect combination.” —Howard Bryant

“If you love baseball, you have to read this book! Funny, poignant, and brutally honest, it is sports writing at its very best.”—Admiral William H. McRaven, USN (Retired)

Enjoyable listen of a baseball life lifer

Will always appreciate Joe for what he did with the Cubs. And I learned some things about leadership during that run and from the book.

I do think that the game changed and sometimes managers are limited by those changes, but I also think sometimes Joe failed to see a need for him to change. The style was perfect for a young Cubs team as he deflected lazy questions about past failures, but the group seemed to become entitled and overly confident in 2018. That wouldn’t have necessarily required a philosophy overhaul, but it needed adjusting.

The book is a good insight into his perspective. And he’ll be in the Hall of Fame, deservedly.

Good book, but not great as Joe.

As a Chicago cub and Tampa Bay rays fan, I really respect Joe and his approach to baseball. The book was very good, but I wish Joe read the audio. Also more of his in-game philosophy and less stories of managers in the past would have been better. All in all, a great read

Theo - YOU Suck

Great insight on so many levels. Baseball acumen has now doubled. Men and their egos, for shame - especially you Theo. Obtain exit interviews just to support your agenda. What a crap business. You get to go on with prestige. I knew it. I could feel it and I was right about you. I speak as a fan, not for JM. How do you ignore his 2nd half winning pct? You’re supposed to an analytical guy??
Many interesting tidbits here about significant events.

Long long ride to the Show

Excellent book my God Joe had to pay his dues along the way never gave up obviously in love with the game,of Baseball! Amazing insight on how analytics are now dominating the game, Nice to see a guy that paid his dues get rewarded in life! I think a high percentage of people would’ve gave up their dreams. Look for a steady better paycheck. I commend Joe .

Interesting listen

I learned a lot about Maddon in the book. I found his story to be quite compelling. My only issue was some of the tangents made certain parts of the story hard to follow.