Girardi on managing and his time off

[Jon]

Cubs.com[/url]"]EVANSTON, Ill. -- Joe Girardi went back to school Tuesday, visiting Northwestern University, his alma mater, where he was presented with a Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Science.

 

"You think about industrial engineers as being problem solvers, and in baseball, that's all you do," said Girardi, who spoke to about 100 people. "There are situations that come up all the time that you use things that you learned in school on how to solve problems.

 

"For me, a lot of it involved statistics, because I was a catcher, and it was my job to try to figure out how to get hitters out," he said.

.............

At Northwestern, Girardi was a two-time all-Big Ten selection at catcher, and was a three-time Academic All-America. He joked that while Northwestern created many opportunities for him, it also led to some problems.

 

In a game at Coors Field in 1995, Rockies manager Don Baylor walked to the mound and told Girardi that he was tired of seeing "Academic All-American" on the scoreboard.

 

"Would you just figure out how to get these hitters out if you're so smart?" Baylor said.

.............

"I do want to manage again ... but you know, I'm having the time of my life with my five-month-old daughter and my 7- and 5-year-old," Girardi said. "I would have been in Spring Training if I wouldn't have been fired, and I wouldn't have been able to enjoy some of the things that I'm really enjoying with my family.

No wonder he didn't land the Cubs or Nationals gig.

[ConstableRabbit]

Yeah, I was so hungover that I missed it. Oh well -- I got to meet him at the Convention a few years back.

[shnsajax]

Makes you wonder about Don Baylor a little bit more. I would gladly take back Dusty before that crap again.