Background and career
Joseph Elliott Girardi (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Girardi played the catcher position for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals during a big league playing career that spanned from 1989 to 2003. He won three World Series championships with the Yankees in the 1990s and served as the catcher for both Dwight Gooden's no-hitter and David Cone's perfect game. Girardi became the Yankees' bench coach in 2005. In 2006, he managed the Florida Marlins and was named the National League (NL) Manager of the Year, but was fired after just one season with the team. Girardi managed the Yankees from 2008 to 2017, winning the 2009 World Series over the Phillies. He served as a color analyst for MLB Network and Fox Sports for two years before being named manager of the Philadelphia Phillies in October 2019; he was fired midway through their 2022 pennant season. He has also served as an analyst for Cubs telecasts on the Marquee Sports Network and for Yankees telecasts on the YES Network.
Girardi, the third son of Jerry, a former blue collar worker and United States Air Force veteran, and Angela Girardi, was born in Peoria, Illinois and grew up in East Peoria, Illinois. He attended high school at the Spalding Institute.
Girardi enrolled at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he attended from 1983 through 1986. He played for the Northwestern Wildcats baseball team, where he was a two-time All Big Ten selection and a three-time Academic All-American. In 1984, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named a league all-star. In 1986, he earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor, which recognizes one male and one female student from the graduating class of each Big Ten member school for demonstrating joint athletic and academic excellence throughout their college career. He was the first freshman to be elected president of a fraternity (Alpha Tau Omega) at Northwestern.
The Chicago Cubs drafted Girardi in the fifth round of the 1986 MLB draft. He spent four seasons in the Cubs minor leagues system before making his major league debut. In 1986, Girardi batted .309 in 68 games with the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. In 1989, he also played for the Águilas del Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League.
Girardi made his Major League debut for the Cubs on April 4, 1989. During his rookie year with the Cubs, Girardi batted .248 with a home run and 14 runs batted in (RBIs) in 59 games played. In 1990, he played in 133 games, batting .270 with a home run and 38 RBIs. In 1991, he played in only 21 games, batting .191 with 6 RBIs. In 1992, he played in 91 games, batting .270 with a home run and 12 RBIs.
The Cubs left Girardi unprotected in the 1992 MLB expansion draft and the Colorado Rockies chose him. During his first year with the Rockies in 1993, he played in 86 games batting .290 with five triples, three home runs, and 31 RBIs. In 1994, he played in 93 games batting .276 with four triples, four home runs, and 34 RBIs. In 1995, he played in 125 games batting .262 with a career-high eight home runs and 55 RBIs.
