SPORTS USA TODAY ❚ TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020 ❚ 3C
MESA, Ariz. – Chipper Jones has
never been afraid to speak his mind and
that’s what ESPN is counting on, sign-
ing him to a contract that was an-
nounced Monday afternoon.
Jones, 47, enters the ESPN broadcast
booth as an analyst for the network’s
Wednesday night and holiday games,
with an eye at becoming part of the Sun-
day night crew in the future.
The game is reeling in the aftermath
of the Astros’ cheating scandal and at-
tendance has gone down four consecu-
tive years.
Baseball, now more than ever, could
use an influx of personality.
“I understand where everyone is
emotionally towards the game right
now,” Jones told USA TODAY Sports.
“Scandal after scandal. Black eye after
black eye. We’re all kind of frustrated
with it. If I didn’t have allegiance to the
Atlanta Braves, and the relationship
with guys, I probably wouldn’t watch
much of the game, either.”
Jones, an eight-time All-Star with At-
lanta, believes he can offer viewers a
fresh perspective. He hopes that he and
John Sciambi, who broadcast Atlanta’s
games for three years when Jones
played, can regale view-
ers with their colorful
banter when the game
gets dull.
But it’s left to be seen
whether Jones’ more tra-
ditional perspective res-
onates with viewers as
Major League Baseball tries to market
itself toward a younger audience. Don’t
expect him to tout MLB’s “Let the kids
play” campaign or do a deep-dive into
advanced statistics.
“I’m old school,” Jones said. “The ‘Let
the kids play’ thing rubs me the wrong
way. I’m from the Bobby Cox school of
things. The flair, the amount of mustard
and ketchup, it’s hard to watch.”
And analytics?
“We used data and information as
much as anyone when I played,” Jones
says. “But now that a lot of smart people
are saying it, it kind of turns off the old
school guys.”
When it comes to the Astros scandal,
Jones is upset Houston resorted to
cheating considering how talented the
team was.
Yet he also has sympathy toward the
players, particularly the rookies and
young players in 2017 who might have
known it was morally wrong but felt
powerless to stand up and say so.“I do understand how that fraternity-
type pecking order goes in MLB club-
houses,” Jones said. “If you have coach-
es and players with a lot of cachet be-
hind them, they do what they do and
other players are going to follow. So I
kind of get it.
“It will be interesting to see how
teams handle it. The players always po-
lice the game. I could see retribution
throughout the year.”
Despite the anger toward commis-
sioner Rob Manfred for not disciplining
the Astros’ players involved in the sign
stealing, Jones declines to join. If the
players were not granted immunity, he
believes no one would have ever found
out the truth.
“I know a lot of people are upset with
MLB, but I think they had to do it that
way,” Jones said. “If not, we may never
have known what happened. It would
have been ‘no comment’ or ‘hey, it
wasn’t me.’ ”
And if not for former Astros pitcher
Mike Fiers blowing the whistle, perhaps
the Astros don’t go down, either. There
is no known whistle-blower in the Red
Sox investigation, which has impeded
honest testimony.
Jones still isn’t sure how he feels
about Fiers going public.
“I probably would have handled itdifferently than he did,” Jones said. “I
probably would have gone to my superi-
ors in the organization and let them go
to MLB. And once subpoenaed by MLB, I
would have told my story. But I can’t
fault him if organizations are going to
this length to cheat. It needs to stop.
“That’s what’s so shocking about this
is the brashness, how cavalier it was.
Rosters get turned over, and the word
gets out eventually. But this was a
concerted effort. This wasn’t a guy
bringing his VHS camera from home.
This took funding from an organization
to set this up. This is cavalier A-1 she-
nanigans.”
Still, Jones is convinced the game
will overcome this. It just takes time.
And some luck.
“I’m not worried about it, the game
has a way of bouncing back,” Jones said.
“In my career, we survived the strike.
We survived steroid issues. Now we
have to deal with a different scandal.
But time heals all wounds.
“Hopefully some of the game’s su-
perstars take this opportunity to lift the
game up and get everyone invigorated
and captivated.
“I’m hoping I can help, too. Really, I
always wanted to be on TV.
“Now I guess I get to see if I’m any
good at it.”Hall of Famer Chipper Jones joins ESPN
Bob Nightengale
USA TODAY
JonesThree races into the NASCAR Cup Se-
ries season, Alex Bowman has had a
near-miss and a dominating victory. But
he isn’t going to feel secure about his fu-
ture.
Bowman, 26, is in his third full sea-
son driving the No. 88 Hendrick Motor-
sports Chevrolet, and it is a contract
year.
“Every year is a contract year,” Bow-
man said after winning the Auto Club
400 on Sunday. “Every year of my life in
the Cup Series has been a contract year.
I’ve had contracts and two weeks before
Daytona read a tweet that said I’m not
going to Daytona. There’s never a situa-
tion that I feel completely comfortable
in.
“I feel like if somebody doesn’t want
you driving their race car, you’re not go-
ing to be there driving it. I’m as motivat-
ed as ever, doing everything I can to try
to be the best on and off the racetrack as
I can be.”
In January 2016, Bowman learned
through reading Twitter that he was los-
ing his job at Tommy Baldwin Racing.
Later that season, he became Dale Earn-
hardt Jr.’s substitute driver after Earn-
hardt suffered a concussion, and Bow-
man replaced Earnhardt in the No. 88
upon his retirement.
Bowman faced the question in the
post-race news conference at Auto Club
Speedway about whether Sunday’s win
will help him at the negotiating table.
Crew chief Greg Ives joked that Bowman
is going to need “multiple wins,” and
they’ll work on doing that.
From his first to second season with
Hendrick, Bowman improved his finish
in the standings as well as his top-10 and
top-five finishes. He now has two wins
in 156 starts. After leading 200 laps last
year, Bowman has led 113 in the first
three races this season.
“Hendrick Motorsports is where I
want to be,” said Bowman. “It’s where
I want to stay for the rest of my career.
It’s just where I’ve always wanted
to be.
“Hopefully we can make that hap-
pen. But like you said, it’s a contract
year. But honestly, every year of my ca-
reer has been a contract year, so it’s not
much different than last year.”No letup for Alex Bowman after NASCAR win at Fontana
Kelly Crandall
Racer Magazine
USA TODAY Network
Alex Bowman is congratulated by Jimmie Johnson (48) after winning the Auto
Club 400 Sunday at Auto Club Speedway. KIRBY LEE/USA TODAY SPORTSMESA, Ariz. – It was 12:07 Monday
afternoon when Angels manager Joe
Maddon strolled into the Cubs spring
training ballpark, accompanied by an
ESPN TV crew and with cameras flash-
ing every step he took down the right-
field line.
He stopped in front of the Cubs dug-
out, greeted a media mob, spoke for 21
minutes and then it began: a procession
of his former players and coaching staff
coming over to greet him.
There were long embraces and con-
versations, the most prolonged with
Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant. New
Cubs manager David Ross, one of the
2016 World Series heroes, stopped and
talked for 10 minutes.
Finally, at 12:57, just eight minutes
until game time, Maddon finally made it
back to his own dugout, with fans
standing and cheering and chants of
“Thank you Joe!” coming from the
stands.
It was as if he never left, engaging re-
porters with his disdain for the Ameri-
can League style of play, ridiculing the
importance of exit velocity and launch
angle in analytics, believing that video
is overrated and praising the virtues of
Bryant, who’s on the trade block.
This was Maddon’s first appearance
against the Cubs since being fired at the
end of last season, ending the greatest
five-year run by a manager in franchise
history, bringing the Cubs their first
World Series title in 108 years.
His only regret during his entire stay?
Opening a restaurant in Wrigleyville
in mid-May last season and closing it
seven months later, saying he should
have put it in downtown Chicago.
Maybe Maddon’s Post would be
thriving if Maddon still was in Chicago,
but his blissful marriage with the Cubs’
front office started to fall apart in 2018
when they lost Game 163, and then the
wild-card game, followed by their late-
season collapse last year when they
failed to make the playoffs.
Maddon blamed the front office for
interfering with his managerial style,
saying it was too controlling.
The front office blamed Maddon for
being too lenient, resulting in sloppy
play and underachieving performances.
They went their separate ways after
the season, with Maddon interviewing
only with the Angels and Ross inter-
viewing only with the Cubs.
“It’s like being married, stuff happens
along the way,” Maddon said. “There are
internal discussions, and then it might
be best to do something else. But you
can still be friends with your former
partner. There’s nothing adversarial.
“It’s just the method of the world to-
day that everybody is looking for adver-
sarial. It’s not. It was a great moment.
We did wonderfully together. It was a
great marriage. A great union. And I was
grateful for it.”
The Cubs’ players certainly aren’t
choosing sides and weren’t about to
criticize their current employers, but
they made it clear Monday in their ac-
tions and words that Maddon was un-
fairly cast as the scapegoat.
“He just gets a bad rap for a lot of
things,” Bryant said. “I think a lot of the
bad things are just solely placed on him.
We had opportunities. We’re profes-
sional ballplayers. It wasn’t like Joe was
like, ‘Hey, don’t do this. Don’t go out and
don’t hit.’ It wasn’t that way.
“And I know he’s not going to be thatguy to say that because he’s not going to
say anything bad about his team be-
cause he loves all of us. Joe is one of my
absolute favorite people of all time.
“He just gets a bad rap.”
If not for Maddon, Cubs players kept
insisting Monday, the franchise’s World
Series curse would never have ended.
He was the one who kept them at ease,
permitting them to relax as the pressure
built throughout the season.
“He was the absolute perfect guy for
that job at that time,” Bryant said. “If it
wasn’t for Joe getting us to a place going
out there and playing freely and relaxed,
I don’t think we would have been able to
win the World Series with a bunch of 23-
year-olds and 24-year-olds.
“I think we all carry that with us in
how we approach the game now in how
relaxed and how much fun this team has
on and off the field with one another be-
cause of Joe.”
Even now, with the zoo animals and
magicians and wacky T-shirts andtheme road trips gone, Ross said Mad-
don’s style will be an indelible part of
him.
“He talks a lot about something I be-
lieved as a player coming in and trying
to be the same person every day, and not
riding the highs and lows,” Ross said.
“He came in every day with the same at-
titude and convictions of what I believe.
That is really powerful coming from a
manager.”
Maybe now, after all of the drama, ev-
eryone can go back to focusing on life in
Chicago without Maddon. They can re-
member the good times. The transition
from being lovable losers to World Se-
ries champions.
“I think it’s good for both sides to just
move on and stop talking about one an-
other,” Bryant said. “I’m sure Joe wants
the same thing. He’s in a new organiza-
tion. He has his way of doing things that
worked for us and got us a World Series.
He’s going to continue to be that way
and just move on.”
Maddon said he even reached out to
Cubs president Theo Epstein the other
day, saying they should catch up before
the end of spring training and grab a few
adult beverages. You know, just like the
good old days.
The relationship between Maddon
and his former players is too strong for
anyone to try to end it. You understand
Maddon’s significance in their lives
when even Rizzo’s parents go to an An-
gels game to see Maddon, exchange
emotional hugs and greetings, and even
bring pictures of their great times to-
gether.
“We’re connected to Joe forever,” Riz-
zo said. “What he did, and what he ac-
complished here, and what we accom-
plished, connects us forever. He’s the
manager that broke the biggest curse in
sports’ history.”Bob Nightengale
Columnist
USA TODAYAngels manager Joe Maddon, left,
greets Cubs first baseman Anthony
Rizzo before Monday’s spring training
game. RICK SCUTERI/USA TODAY SPORTS