Good Story on Joe Girardi!

[CalifYanksFan]

Total Baseball





Sunday, March 04, 2001, 17:37 ET
Girardi's success tied to inpiration from parents
NANCY ARMOUR, AP Sports Writer
MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- There was no such thing as wasted time when Chicago Cubs catcher Joe Girardi was growing up.
His father, Gerald, always worked two jobs. His mother, Angela, was up at 5 a.m. every day to do laundry and make lunches before going to work.
"We used to get mad at her because she'd wake us up," Girardi recalled with a smile.
But Gerald and Angela Girardi wanted better for their five children than they had, even if that meant sacrificing sleep and free time. Their hard work was a labor of love for their children, an inheritance more valuable than any sum of money they could leave.
Gerald Girardi is almost 70 now, and Angela has been dead nearly 20 years. But the examples they set, the lessons they taught, are as real to their children today as when they were growing up.
"He's definitely a leader in that clubhouse," Cubs manager Don Baylor said of Joe Girardi. "He's not that rah-rah guy that sometimes guys say leaders are. He leads by example, all the time, on and off the field."
The three World Series rings Girardi won during his four years with the Yankees would make him an obvious choice for a team leader. But he was a leader long before he won his first ring.
It's not a role he's ever sought. It's simply who he is.
"The work ethic I learned as a child at home, that was bred in me and that I saw every day in my house, kind of lends itself to people putting me as a leader," he said.
The fourth of five children, Girardi grew up in Peoria, Ill., a middle-class, industrial town. His father's main job was as a salesman, but that was just his day job. He ran a restaurant, tended bar, even laid bricks on the weekends occasionally.
Angela Girardi ran the household -- doing the laundry, cooking the meals -- besides working full-time as a child psychologist.
"There were a lot of mouths to feed, college educations," Girardi said. "My parents did everything they could to give us a better life."
But the Girardis weren't the type of parents who simply handed things to their kids. They taught their children to earn what they had.
When Gerald Girardi went to lay bricks on the weekends, he usually took his children with him. When Joe played baseball at Northwestern, he didn't slack off with an easy major like some athletes, graduating with a degree in industrial engineering.
He was a three-time academic All-America, too.
"I could always count on him in Colorado to have guys participate in certain things off the field," said Baylor, who also managed Girardi when they were with the Rockies. "And he was always a leader in that regard, too, because he was always a part of it.
"When he left, I lost a lot."
Baylor was reunited with Girardi last season, when the catcher signed with the Cubs as a free agent. Though he'd won three World Series in four years with the Yankees, he and his wife, Kim, wanted to be closer to home.
They had a baby daughter, and they wanted her to be able to see her grandparents on a regular basis and sleep in her own bed every night.
Plus, with Jorge Posada emerging as the Yankees top catcher, Girardi figured to get more playing time with the Cubs. He had one of his best seasons offensively, and had just five errors.
But during the offseason, the Cubs signed Todd Hundley.
"There is no jealousy about who plays more," Girardi said. "Don has a job to do and I have a job to do. So whoever he writes in that lineup, that's who he believes is the man to play that day.
"But that doesn't mean I'm not going to do everything in my will to put something in his mind to put my name in the lineup."
That strong-willed determination is another Girardi family trait. When Girardi was 13, his mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and given six months to live.
But she lived six years, telling everyone she wanted to stay alive long enough to see her two sons get into medical school and watch her daughter finish college.
She died a month after her daughter was graduated. Her two sons were in medical school.
"I think her will to live and her will to give us the best is what I have in me," Girardi said

[Chris]

With a .2something BA but a quiet and dedicated way of doing his job and teaching his job, the impact he had on our Yankees wil be felt for years to come.

[Nome]

This man will be back in a Yankee uniform. Not as a player though.

[Luvtino]

Another total class act. I agree he will be a Yankee again someday.

[#1YankeeLover]

Oooh, now I really miss him!! I'm glad he's happy, though!

-#1YankeeLover

[CarolR]

I miss him too. I never get over trades for some reason---

[bombergirl]

JoeG wasn't traded, he had a one-year contract in 1999, and he signed with the Cubs after that season. Anyway, I liked the article, Russ. It seems the man had a solid home life growing up, and great parents (which also seems to hold true for many other Yankees). I think I heard something before about his mother dying young of cancer, but I didn't know she lived much longer than doctors thought. I'm happy that he and his wife was blessed with a child, and that he got a chance to move back home. I do hope though that he comes back to the Yankees one day in some capacity.

B "wishing JoeG well" G

[JeanC]

Girardi while he was a Yankee became like the cornerstone of the team someone to rely on and base their pride on!

I truly miss him but I know that he will be back again someday in a greater capacity then when he left!

I hope that being near his family will have strengthened him even more as a family man. As a man for young Yankee Players and Fans to look up to as what a Fine Example of being A Yankee Legend should be!

[ab25]

thank you for posting that link. Girardi was definitely my favorite yankee when he played here... he is the only player that I have an autographed ball from, and it's one of my most prized possessions.... (and when I got it i had a choice between that and one that had both wells and cone's signatures, in addition to a few others...)

[#1PaFan]

Thanks for the article Russ. Joe really is one of the good guys. A real student of the game, look for his career in baseball to continue LONG after his playing days are over.

I agree with Nome--I think we haven't seen the last of Joe in pinstripes.

[Bluesexy's daddy]

Thanks for a great article.

If Girardi wants to stay in baseball after his playing career ends I am sure that he will find plenty of teams that will want him as a coach.

I wonder how many coaching offers Albert "cracked" Belle will get. .....ZERO.