In appreciation of Joe Maddon

Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty ImagesFirst, let me tell you what this article is not.

It is not the place to discuss Joe Maddon’s strategic choices, whether you liked them or didn’t.

It is not the place to discuss Maddon’s successor. I’ll have something on that later today.

I’m writing this in celebration of Joe Maddon and the five years we were lucky to have him leading our favorite baseball team.

We knew things were going to be different in Chicago when Joe ended the news conference introducing him as Cubs manager in November 2014 this way:

That made him one of us, even before he’d even set foot on Wrigley Field as Cubs manager. What other Cubs manager would have done that? Rick Renteria? Dale…