The Hazleton Way: Why Joe Maddon fights for his hometown

HAZLETON, Pa. – Joe Maddon could just write a big check, ask Anthony Rizzo to sign some baseballs and have the clubhouse guys send boxes of Cubs gear back to this blue-collar city.

That could be it, taking the tax write-off and spending the offseason driving around the country in an RV, drinking red wine somewhere in Europe or just hanging out at Ava, the manager’s trendy restaurant in Tampa.

Maddon grew up on the playgrounds here, going to Our Lady of Grace and watching his father, Joe Sr., run the plumbing shop beneath their family’s apartment. He had spent enough time in places like The Battered Mug, a bar in the old Irish section of town, and Third Base Luncheonette, where his mother,…