When asked about the return of Aroldis Chapman to the New York Yankees, and the controversy surrounding the polarizing relief pitcher, Manager Joe Girardi gave a very Joe Girardi answer.
By contrast, in response to a query about the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series, the former Cubs catcher gave a more human and less corporate answer. Girardi is a native of Peoria, Illinois (where a minor league team affiliated with the Cubs โ 1985-1994, 2005-2012 โ is located) and he grew up bleeding Cubbie blue.
As a player, he came up through the Cubs system and made his only all-star appearance as a player, in 2000, with the Cubs. Hereโs what he said on various topics.
Girardi watched the Cubs win the World Series at home in New York, and he articulated his personal reaction and individual experience as it happened:
โI used to sit around our house, growing up as a boy, dreaming of playing for the Chicago Cubs one day, watching games with my father at night, when they were on the road of course, not during the day,” the four time World Series champion said.
โObviously just a great season for them, and itโs not always easy to win when youโre the team thatโs expected to win and they were able to accomplish that. Happy for those guys, for the city of Chicago, I know theyโve been waiting a long time, my father waited a long time and didnโt get to see it. He gets to see it from up above.โ
โThis is a huge baseball story, and weโll start again in April, and people will expect them to do it again, thatโs how it works in this world.โ
The 2006 National League Manager of the Year recalled taking in theย delayed, extra innings game seven clincher, which was of course well past midnight in the eastern time zone.
โIt was pretty late and I went to bed, rain delays and late starts and trying to keep my eyes open, it was pretty difficult,” Joe Girardi said.
“I was dozing in and off and then I saw them win and the hit that Ben Zobrist got and to see the emotion out of (Anthony) Rizzo I thought was priceless.โ
Asked if he then texted congratulations to Cubs Manager Joe Maddon, or any message to Indians Manager Terry Francona, Girardi said he had not, stating that itโs much more important to say something in person than over and text, and that he plans to do so when he sees both of them in person.
Girardi answered a question pertaining to Chapmanโs claims that Cubs Manager Joe Maddon misused him in the World Series:
โItโs difficult for a manager because youโre going to do what you think is right at the time, youโre not always going to be able to predict whatโs going to happen an inning later, two innings later, three innings later
“I wasnโt involved in the situations so I canโt really comment on that, but we do everything we can to keep our players healthy and we’ll continue to do that:
Joe Girardi on Chapman returning to the Yankees:
โBullpens need to be a strength today, the teams that have a lot of success, have very strong bullpens and bringing back Aroldis Chapman really adds to that. We saw what he was capable of doing here, he fit in here, he liked it here.โ
Joe Girardi also covered another Chicago baseball topic brought up, Chris Sale moving from the White Sox to the Yankees’ main rival, the Boston Red Sox.
โObviously they have improved their club in adding him,” Girardi responded.
“Heโs an outstanding pitcher, heโs had a ton of success in Chicago, been a Cy Young candidate every year, thatโs who this guy isโ
Before beginning his Major League Baseball playing career, Girardi was a star in the Northwestern Wildcats program. The former industrial engineering student has returned to Evanston several times to serve as an honorary captain for football, including the Wildcats 2011 Big Ten finale.
Joe Girardi is close friends with Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald, and Fitz discussed their friendship following the Wildcats upset win over the #23 Pittsburgh Panthers in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.net, partnered withย FOX Sports Engage Network.ย andย News Now.ย Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribuneโs RedEyeย publication.ย
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country.ย Follow him onย Twitterย andย Instagramย and Sound Cloud
