Bear with me on this gentleman, maybe Jeremy can help out via Comments because he’s into baseball, I’m a casual fan at best. Joe was selected as a favor to my friend Helen but he has morphed into a good choice.
Currently, you probably know him as the Yankees’ manager and most people are rejoicing over the Detroit Tigers taking them out of the playoffs. Despite this, he has had a pretty winning record running this team for the last three years.
Before coaching, Joe had a pretty good 15-year career as a catcher with three World Series titles to his name, all with the Yankees. He also played for the Cubs, Rockies (based upon the years, he was a victim of the expansion draft) and Cardinals. So I can like him because he was mostly a National League guy. I may not dig baseball as much as hockey or basketball but one thing I am set on is a dislike of the American League’s teams, they have the same pathetic vibe as the NFL’s AFC. The DH rule is cool though.
Another cool fact I stumbled upon was his alma mater, Northwestern University which is considered popular by its association with another alumnus, Stephen Colbert. According to the bio I pulled up, Joe has a degree in Industrial Engineering so his long sports career may have been a happy accident and/or he was planning on getting a real job. Most jocks I went to Marquette with often avoided “harder” degrees since they had delusions of making it to the Pros.
Thumbs up to Mr. Girardi. May he have a successful run as a manager and I think it would be cool if he went on to be a game-show host like another Italian ex-catcher…Joe Garagiola.
Joe was never a great offensive player, but his defensive prowess is absolutely legendary. Catchers are often wrongly given the rap of being squirrelly and dim-witted since they’re willing to take the physical beating that goes with their position, but usually the catcher is the smartest player on the field. He has to know the hitting tendencies of every player in the league, which pitches they like and hate, which parts of the strike zone they like and hate, which part of the field they tend to hit the ball to, and position all of his teammates correctly and call the correct pitches to take advantage of that. It takes an almost encyclopedic mind.
And Joe was one of the best. Later in his career, he helped mentor up-and-coming rookies on his methodologies, the most famous and successful case being the Yankee’s current catcher Jorge Posada. And during his career, Girardi caught two no-hitters: Doc Gooden’s 1996 no-no; and David Cone’s 1999 perfect game. Like many pitchers who’ve thrown gems, both men give Girardi a great deal of the credit for their performances.