Joe Girardi

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Joe Girardi

Catcher / Manager

Born: October 14 1964 (1964-10-14) (age 45)
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 4, 1989 for the Chicago Cubs
Final game
September 28, 2003 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Career statistics
Batting average	.267
Hits	1100
RBI	422
Teams
As Player Chicago Cubs (1989-1992, 2000-2002) Colorado Rockies (1993-1995) New York Yankees (1996-1999) St. Louis Cardinals (2003) As Manager Florida Marlins (2006) New York Yankees (2008-present)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion in 1996, 1998, 1999 Caught David Cone's perfect game in 1999 All-Star (NL): 2000 2006 NL Manager of the Year

Joseph Elliot Girardi (born October 14, 1964 in Peoria, Illinois) is the current manager of the New York Yankees. During his playing career, he was a catcher for the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was also manager of the Florida Marlins in 2006, where he was awarded National League Manager of the Year.

A native of East Peoria, Illinois,^[1] he attended Spalding Institute (now merged into Peoria Notre Dame High School) in Peoria, Illinois, where he played quarterback for head football Coach Tommy Kahn and was the catcher for Coach David Lang's baseball teams. He went on to play baseball at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering, and he was initiated into the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity.

1 Playing career
2 Broadcasting career
3 Coaching career
4 Managerial career
- 4.1 Managerial record
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Playing career

He began his major league playing career in 1989 with the Chicago Cubs, staying with them through 1992. He was taken by the Colorado Rockies in the expansion draft before the 1993 season, serving them through 1995. He was traded in 1995 to the New York Yankees for pitcher Mike DeJean. Girardi is best known as the Yankees' regular catcher during that period, earning three World Series rings in 1996, 1998, and 1999. In 1999, Girardi also caught David Cone's perfect game.

In 2000, Girardi left the Yankees and returned to the Chicago Cubs, where he was named to that year's All-Star team, his only All-Star appearance. He played with the Cubs again in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, Girardi played for the St. Louis Cardinals.

As a Cub, Joe Girardi announced to the fans at Wrigley Field that the game on June 22, 2002 versus the Cardinals had been canceled, though he did not announce that the cancellation was prompted by Darryl Kile's death. Girardi tearfully gave the news at 2:37 p.m. CDT, broadcast nationally on FOX: "I thank you for your patience. We regret to inform you because of a tragedy in the Cardinal family, the commissioner has canceled the game today. Please be respectful. You will find out eventually what has happened, and I ask that you say a prayer for the St. Louis Cardinals' family".

During his tenure with the Cubs, Girardi had a minor feud with teammate Sammy Sosa. It started when he asked Sosa to turn down his trademark boombox in the Cubs locker room due to a migraine headache. Sosa angrily declined and turned it up, only to follow by dancing to the salsa music in an angry taunt. This was prior to allegations of a similar incident involving teammate Kerry Wood destroying the boombox.

[edit] Broadcasting career

After a spring training stint with the Yankees in 2004, Girardi retired and became a commentator for the YES Network, and hosted the kids-oriented Kids on Deck. He received positive reviews for his abilities as a broadcaster, and was offered an expanded role on 2005 Yankee broadcasts. Girardi, however, decided to become a coach instead.

Girardi worked games 3-5 of the 2006 World Series for MLB on Fox as part of the network's pregame and postgame team, along with host Jeanne Zelasko and regular analyst Kevin Kennedy.

After fielding managerial offers for the 2007 season, Joe Girardi instead came to terms with the YES network to return to the broadcast booth for 60 plus games as a Yankees analyst, and co-host a new show on the network, Behind The Plate, with John Flaherty, also a former Yankee catcher. ^[2] Girardi also served as color commentator for the No.2 booth (Usually with Thom Brennaman) on MLB on Fox.

[edit] Coaching career

In 2005, after rejecting an offer to become the bench coach of the Florida Marlins with a guarantee to become the team's manager in 2006 (although he would eventually get that job anyway), he became the Yankees' bench coach. He even managed a game during a Joe Torre suspension, which the Yankees lost against the last place Kansas City Royals. Girardi remained the host of Kids on Deck in 2005, having shot his shows before Spring Training. YES promoted Kids on Deck during games by showing Girardi on camera sitting in the dugout during breaks in the game.

[edit] Managerial career

After the 2005 regular season, Girardi was named the manager of the Florida Marlins, replacing departed manager Jack McKeon. His first notable action as manager was to prohibit facial hair, which is a policy similar to that of George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, although mustaches were permitted by Steinbrenner.

As a first-time manager for the Marlins, Girardi guided the team into a surprising wild card contention (finishing with a 78-84 record) even though the team had the lowest payroll in Major League Baseball ^[3], at approximately $14 million for 2006. Despite the success Girardi achieved in his first year as manager, he was nearly fired in early August in St. Louis when he got into a vocal (and visible) argument with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. According to eyewitnesses and footage captured, the Marlins owner began heckling the homeplate umpire during a game. When the umpire warned Girardi about the harassment, Girardi and his bench coach Gary Tuck then turned to Loria and told him to "shut the fuck up." The owner did cease the verbal assault but the relationship was never the same after that and rumors swirled that whether Girardi became Manager of the Year or got the team into the playoffs or not, he would be fired. In fact, Loria had to be talked out of firing Girardi immediately after the game. ^[4]

Earlier in the season, he threw Marlins pitcher Scott Olsen against the dugout wall after Olsen complained about not being given enough time to warm up on the mound by the umpire. This episode was also seen on TV.

On October 3 2006, the Marlins announced that they had fired Girardi, presumably because of his rift with Loria, though some say that rift actually started earlier in the year when the Marlins cut personnel and went with cheaper players, a move that some say angered Girardi because he was told when he got hired that the team's aim was to win and and get quality players, not to get the cheapest product possible on the field. Girardi at no time ever made a comment about the situation but maintained instead that he appreciated the opportunity to manage the club, a move that was seen as classy across the Major Leagues and kept him at the top of most everyone's managerial wishlist. At first, Girardi was thought to be among the leading candidates to replace Yankee manager Joe Torre after a bitter postseason loss, but Torre remained with the Yankees. He was also a candidate for the Chicago Cubs manager position, interviewing for the position just days after leaving the Marlins. In fact, his publicly stated desire to replace Cubs manager Dusty Baker while the 2006 season was still in progress may have been another factor in his dismissal from the Marlins. With his playing experience in Chicago, he was considered a front-runner for the position even before the season was over. However, the Cubs chose to go with veteran manager Lou Piniella. Girardi took himself out of the running for the Washington Nationals managerial job shortly thereafter and returned to the broadcast booth for the YES network in 2007, doing this, he said, because it otherwise would have meant a third move in as many years for his family. Despite Girardi's firing, he was rewarded for his relative success with the Marlins in 2006 with the National League Manager of the Year Award and The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award for the National League.

In February 2007, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jon Lieber disclosed that Joe Girardi had called him during the 2006 season to tell him that the Marlins hitters had said all of Lieber's pitches "looked flat." Lieber began pitching better soon after that conversation, and later that season twice led the Phillies to victory over Girardi's Marlins. Girardi maintains that he merely gave encouragement to Lieber, not specific pitching advice. Girardi and Lieber played together for the Chicago Cubs in the early 2000s.

In June 2007, Girardi was interviewed for the Orioles vacant managerial position (left vacant by the firing of Sam Perlozzo). On June 21, Girardi's agent informed news outlets that Girardi would be passing on the Orioles' offer to become their next manager. Many opined that Girardi would be the next Yankee manager. On October 22, Girardi was the first to interview for the Yankee Manager job, with Don Mattingly going on October 23, and Tony Pena going on October 24. Girardi was reported to be the Yankee's managerial choice on October 29, 2007,^[5] and he officially accepted the deal on October 30. The contract is a 3-year deal, reputedly worth around $7.5 million. ^[6]

Since number 25 (the number he wore during most of his Yankees playing career) is currently being worn by All-Star Jason Giambi, Girardi instead chose to wear number 27 as the new manager of the New York Yankees(2008). He also selected the number to signify that he wants to lead the Yankees to their 27th world championship.^[7]

[edit] Managerial record

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
Team	Year	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
FLA	2006	162	78	84	.481	4^th in NL East	-	-	-	-
NYY	2008	???	??	??	??	?^th in AL East	-	-	-	-
Total		162	78	84	.481		-	-	-	-

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Ronald, Blum. "Girardi snags job offer", Peoria Journal Star, The Peoria Journal Star, Inc., 2007-10-30, p. A1. Retrieved on 2007-10-30. "Girardi, an East Peoria native who played for the Peoria Chiefs, was the 2006 National League Manager of the Year with Florida, plus he has a pin-striped pedigree."
^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2660849
^ http://russells.freeshell.org/ddollars/team.php?team=marlins&name=Marlins
^ http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/15220846.htm
^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3085167
^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3086315
^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3089844

[edit] External links

Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
Baseball-reference.com – Major league career managerial statistics

Preceded by Willie Randolph	New York Yankees Bench Coach 2005	Succeeded by Lee Mazzilli
Preceded by Jack McKeon	Florida Marlins Manager 2006	Succeeded by Fredi González
Preceded by Bobby Cox	National League Manager of the Year 2006	Succeeded by Bob Melvin
Preceded by Joe Torre	New York Yankees Manager 2008-	Succeeded by '

v • d • e Florida Marlins managers
Lachemann • Rojas • Boles • Leyland • Boles • Pérez • Torborg • McKeon • Girardi • González

v • d • e

New York Yankees managers

Baltimore Orioles (1901-1902)
McGraw • Robinson

New York Highlanders (1903-1912)
Griffith • Elberfeld • Stallings • Chase • Wolverton

New York Yankees (1913-present)
Chance • Peckinpaugh • Donovan • Huggins • Fletcher • Shawkey • McCarthy • Neun • Dickey • Harris • Stengel • Houk • Berra • Keane • Houk • Virdon • Martin • Lemon • Martin • Howser • Michael • Lemon • Michael • King • Martin • Berra • Martin • Piniella • Martin • Piniella • Green • Dent • Merrill • Showalter • Torre • Girardi

v • d • e Current Major League Baseball managers
AMERICAN LEAGUE
EAST DIVISION 47 Trembley (Baltimore) 47 Francona (Boston) 27 Girardi (N.Y. Yankees) 70 Maddon (Tampa Bay) 5 Gibbons (Toronto)	CENTRAL DIVISION 13 Guillén (Chi. White Sox) 22 Wedge (Cleveland) 10 Leyland (Detroit) 22 Hillman (Kansas City) 35 Gardenhire (Minnesota)	WEST DIVISION 14 Scioscia (L.A. Angels) 53 Geren (Oakland) 8 McLaren (Seattle) 38 Washington (Texas)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
EAST DIVISION 6 Cox (Atlanta) 33 González (Florida) 12 Randolph (N.Y. Mets) 41 Manuel (Philadelphia) 14 Acta (Washington)	CENTRAL DIVISION 41 Piniella (Chi. Cubs) 12 Baker (Cincinnati) 15 Cooper (Houston) 3 Yost (Milwaukee) 7 Russell (Pittsburgh) 10 La Russa (St. Louis)	WEST DIVISION 3 Melvin (Arizona) 13 Hurdle (Colorado) 6 Torre (L.A. Dodgers) 20 Black (San Diego) 15 Bochy (San Francisco)