Joe Girardi

Joe Girardi is a former MLB player and manager who spent 15 seasons playing in the major leagues, including parts of seven seasons with the Chicago Cubs.

Girardi began his career as a Cubs draft pick, getting selected in the fifth round of the 1986 MLB Draft out of Northwestern. He spent four years in the minor leagues before getting promoted to the majors on Opening Day 1989. His first tenure with the Cubs was relatively uneventful, as he played in 304 games from 1989-92 while slashing .262/.306/.323 with just three home runs, producing 1.7 WAR as one of Chicago's primary catching options. The North Siders did make the playoffs in his rookie campaign on 1989, though Girardi notched just one hit in four games as the division-winning Cubs were beaten in the NLCS in five games by the San Francisco Giants.

After the 1992 season, the Cubs left Girardi unprotected in the MLB Expansion Draft, and the Colorado Rockies selected him with the 19th pick of the first round. He wasn't all that much better on the Rockies, batting .274/.323/.371 across three seasons in Colorado, making yet another (lackluster) playoff appearance in 1995.

The Yankees finally freed Girardi from the Rockies' clutches, and though he only played four seasons in the Bronx, they were wildly eventful. He won three World Series (1996, 1998, 1999) and caught both Dwight Gooden's no-hitter and David Cone's perfect game. His RBI triple against old friend Greg Maddux in Game 6 of the 1996 World Series was one of the most important events of the late-90s Yankees dynasty.

After his postseason heroics in New York, Girardi returned to the Cubs in free agency for one final hurrah. He was named an All-Star in 2000 as an injury replacement for Mike Piazza, and ultimately finished his career with the Cubs (across both tenures) batting .259/.310/.332 with 3.5 bWAR. He left the franchise after the 2002 season to join the St. Louis Cardinals, though he lasted just 16 games there in 2003 before getting released and ultimately retiring from playing.

Of course, that was just the beginning of Girardi's story, as he went on to have a very successul coaching career, beginning in Miami. Despite winning the 2006 NL Manager of the Year award, the Marlins fired him after just one season in which the team went 78-84. He remains the only manager in MLB history to win the award with a losing record.

Things turned around from there, as he returned to the Yankees in 2008 following Joe Torre's dismissal. He won the 2009 World Series there and won the AL East three times in his 10-year tenure as the Yankees' manager. Ultimately, between Miami, New York, and the Philadelphia Phillies (2020-22), Girardi posted an 1,120-935 record as a manager.

Following his firing from Philadelphia, Girardi returned to the Cubs as a broadcaster on Marquee Sports Network, where he continues to appear to this day. He also appears on the YES network during select Yankees broadcasts.