Major League Baseball

"I get so annoyed when you get around a lot of baseball people and basically all they can do is regurgitate previous thoughts. They don't think of anything original. Tell me a better way."

"More than anything else, I'm trying to get us to play the game the way it was played in 1920. I'm a traditionalist. I want to play in the simplest way. I believe that. I think people are really reading it the wrong way. I want my defense to play catch. I want my pitchers to have command of the fastball first. I want my hitters to have a two-strike mentality. But I don't think I feel vindicated by our success. I think its validation. You wait a long time for this, and now you have a chance to do it. I believe in what we do. What we do is well-thought out. Sometimes we get it right on the field, but it's always intuitive."

"The culture here had to be changed," Maddon said. "If you go to a different country, you have to learn to eat different food. You have to learn a different language, different dress, different customs. We had to change all of that. Why did I think it was going to work? I don't know. I just had a lot of confidence that everything I had thought about could work. That's what we had to do here. I mean, you have to remember, I've had a lot of this brewing in the kettle for 30 years." - On coming to the Rays as Manager

"He doesn't ram things down your throat. He's always communicating, always teaching, but he's very easygoing. He just keeps preaching that we should believe in ourselves. He's not like any other manager I've had." - Scott Kazmir

"He has the personality of a teenager. He fits in well with us." - Scott Kazmir

"He never thought he wouldn't make it, even when he was waiting in the minor leagues for the chance. Then, he gets this opportunity, and I say to him, 'You're crazy. You're about to go into a division with the Yankees and the Red Sox?' And he looked at me and said, 'Everything will be all right.'" - Dave Cassarella

"How much credit a manager should get has always been a mystery to me. But I can honestly say that Joe has had a bigger impact on this team than any manager I've been associated with." - Gerry Hunsicker

"Joe's brilliance is that he knows what needs to be tinkered with and which deep-rooted fundamentals to leave alone. He's unique because of his ability to be progressive and traditional." - Mike Scioscia

"They'll come down with bags of sandwiches. Some guys will yell out, 'Hey Joe, it's me, Sharky!' And Joe will walk over and they all know him and he remembers them. It happened everywhere, guys with names like Sharky, bringing Joe sandwiches, and yet, he relates to the modern player. Joe relates to the modern player better than anyone that's ever been here, and that includes Lou(Piniella)." - Rick Vaughn,Tampa Rays Communications Director

"We've done some unorthodox things around here. Now we get into situations where we're all like, How's Joe going to handle this one? We might see something we've never seen before." - Trever Miller

"You have to be committed to the belief that what you're doing is best for your situation. And what you've done outside the box could quickly become the norm. I'm sure his response is the same as ours was: Move forward with what you think is best. Besides, how can you get on a guy who wears such stylish glasses? They look great." - Billy Beane