Continued: Rays' Maddon is Joe the Philosopher

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ST. PETERSURG, FLA. — The Tampa Bay Rays will have a new dress code today when they fly to Philadelphia.

Manager Joe Maddon keeps changing it. Just for fun.

They've had the "Ed Hardy Road Trip," where players and coaches wore their own variations of the artistic T-Shirts, with jeans and sport coats.

Now, as the World Series moves to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Saturday, Maddon figured his players should go with khaki pants and blue blazers.

"Going to Philadelphia -- preppy kind of a situation," Maddon said. "I just thought I'd give the guys a taste of that."

Yes, there's a method to Maddon's madness. There's a reason his peers voted him Sporting News American League Manager of the Year, an award announced Thursday.

Before Game 2, Maddon offered some insightful answers into how the Rays have changed their culture after 10 consecutive losing seasons.

"I thought we totally were a low-trust organization," Maddon said. "There was no accountability whatsoever. There was no consistency, from what I can gather. If I wanted to create a mission statement ... it's about accountability, consistency, trust.

"I kept talking about fundamentals, which I totally believe in. I really knew that to get it to change, you have to change people and the way people thought."

The Rays signed veterans Troy Percival and Cliff Floyd, and those two were outspoken from the start of spring training.

"All of a sudden, you have these two guys with great pedigrees that walk into your clubhouse and validate most everything you're attempting to do."

Maddon's philosophies alone don't explain the reason the Rays went from a 66-victory team in 2007 to 97 wins this season. They are enormously talented now, too.

But those talents have been blended by Maddon, 54, a former minor-league catcher who got his first managing job at Class A Idaho Falls in 1981.

Maddon insists he wasn't an avid reader in school, but he used those long minor league bus rides wisely.

"The first book that made an impact on me was in the '80s," he said. "I think it was 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen Covey. I read that, and it really piqued my interest in reading more, whether it's Napoleon Hill, whether it's Dale Carnegie, going way back.

"Basically, if you read everybody else's stuff, they're plagiarizing [Carnegie] in some form," Maddon added, referring to the author of the landmark "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

"Even the novels that I've read -- I don't care if it's something by Leon Uris or Pat Conroy -- you're always looking for something within history where a group was changed in a positive way. And then when you get the opportunity to do it yourself, how do you influence in that direction?"

There's more to Maddon than philosophical mumbo jumbo. He was the bench coach under Angels manager Mike Scioscia for six years before landing the Rays job in November 2005.

For example, lots of teams have used a big infield shift against Phillies slugger Ryan Howard. Only about half have used a similar shift against his teammate, Chase Utley.

"If you look at the spray chart, and you notice that balls are not in a certain area, why do you cover it?" Maddon said. And you see ones that are inundated with red lines, why don't you cover it more?"

Let's not overstate it. Maddon hasn't revolutionized the managing job or anything. But it sure is enlightening listening to him explain his views.

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