Joe Maddon Signed Cubs Blue Custom Jersey Schwartz Authenticated

Add the signature of the manager who ended the longest championship drought in the history of professional baseball — in the blue of the franchise that had been waiting 108 years — to your collection with this Joe Maddon Autographed Chicago Cubs Blue Custom Baseball Jersey — Schwartz Sports Authenticated. On November 2, 2016, in the tenth inning of Game 7 of the World Series at Progressive Field in Cleveland, the Chicago Cubs scored two runs to take an 8-6 lead against the Cleveland Indians — then held on for an 8-7 victory that ended a World Series championship drought of 108 years, the longest in the history of Major League Baseball. The manager in the dugout was Joe Maddon — a man who had never played a single game in the major leagues, who had spent 35 years working in the California Angels organization before getting his first full-time managing job at age 51 with the Tampa Bay Rays, who had transformed the Rays from 68-96 in 2007 to 97-65 and the World Series in 2008 in one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in baseball history, and who arrived in Chicago in 2014 with a specific understanding of how to build a championship culture that was, in retrospect, exactly what a 108-year drought required. The blue Cubs custom jersey signed by Maddon is the championship colorway of the franchise's most celebrated season since 1908 — certified authentic by Schwartz Sports Memorabilia with a tamper-proof numbered hologram and a certificate of authenticity verifiable online.

This Chicago Cubs Blue Custom Baseball Jersey has been hand-signed by Joe Maddon. The autograph has been certified authentic by Schwartz Sports Memorabilia with a tamper-proof numbered hologram and a certificate of authenticity verifiable online.

Product Highlights

• Hand-signed by Joe Maddon — Chicago Cubs manager (2015-2019); 2016 World Series champion; three-time BBWAA Manager of the Year (2008, 2011, 2015); .581 winning percentage with Cubs — best since Frank Chance in the early 1900s
• Chicago Cubs Blue Custom Baseball Jersey — the Cubs' traditional Cubbie blue; the championship colorway of the 2016 World Series — the franchise's first title in 108 years
• Schwartz Sports Authenticated — tamper-proof numbered Schwartz Sports hologram with certificate of authenticity verifiable online
• The 108-year drought: Cubs' last World Series title before 2016 was 1908; Maddon's 2016 team went 103-58 (first 100-win Cubs season in over 80 years); defeated the Indians in Game 7, 8-7 in 10 innings
• Cubs manager records: .581 winning percentage (best since Frank Chance); 19 playoff victories (franchise record); four consecutive postseason appearances (2015-2018); most successful five-year span in Cubs history in over 100 years
• "Try Not to Suck" — Maddon's advice to Javier Báez; became the 2015-16 Cubs' defining cultural phrase; at the Grant Park championship rally: "We Did Not Suck, 2016"; proceeds from shirt sales benefited his Respect 90 Foundation
• One of only nine managers in MLB history to win pennants in both leagues; eight postseason appearances in his first 13 full seasons — only manager in MLB history to accomplish that
• Backed by our Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee

The Blue Jersey — The Colorway of the Championship

The Chicago Cubs have worn Cubbie blue as their primary color for more than a century — the same blue that adorned the uniform of the 1908 World Series champions, the same blue that was worn through every decade of the drought that followed. When Joe Maddon arrived as Cubs manager in November 2014, he put on that specific blue and committed, publicly, to ending the drought with a team built from Theo Epstein's core: Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Báez, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell, Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester. The 2016 Cubs team — the one that produced 103 wins, the franchise's first 100-win season in 83 years, a 19-game division lead at its widest, the NL pennant for the first time since 1945, and the Game 7 comeback that ended 108 years of waiting — wore that blue in every game of the most celebrated season in franchise history since Frank Chance managed back-to-back championships in 1907 and 1908. The custom blue jersey signed by Maddon is the home colorway of the franchise's most important season — the uniform worn on the bench when the manager who had never played a major league game guided a city's 108-year wait to its resolution in extra innings in Cleveland.

108 Years — What the Wait Meant and How It Ended

The Chicago Cubs had not won a World Series since October 14, 1908 — a span that encompassed two World Wars, the Great Depression, the moon landing, and the careers of every great player who ever wore Cubs blue from Ernie Banks through Ryne Sandberg through Sammy Sosa without a championship. In Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, the Cubs led the Cleveland Indians 6-3 entering the eighth inning before the Indians scored three runs to tie the game. A rain delay before the tenth inning sent both teams to their respective dugouts — and when the players returned, Maddon's Cubs scored two runs on a Ben Zobrist RBI double and a Miguel Montero RBI single to take an 8-6 lead. The Indians scored once more, but Michael Montgomery induced a groundout from Michael Martinez to end the game 8-7. Maddon described the Series afterward as "the most entertaining, difficult series to win" he had ever been part of — a description that understated what it meant to the franchise, the city, and to the players and coaches in that blue uniform. The custom Cubs jersey signed by Maddon is the uniform of the manager who oversaw the ending of the longest championship drought in the history of American professional sports — in a franchise's primary blue, in extra innings, in Cleveland, in November.

"Try Not to Suck" — The Culture That Won the Title

The most specific available expression of how Joe Maddon built a championship culture in Chicago is not a tactical decision or a lineup construction — it is a phrase that started as a joke. When Javier Báez joined the Cubs from the minor leagues in 2015, Maddon offered him a piece of advice that he has described as the most concise available statement of what he wanted his players to do when they came to the ballpark: "Try not to suck." The phrase became the team's unofficial motto — shirts were made with the slogan for every player in spring training, and the proceeds were donated to Maddon's Respect 90 Foundation. At the Grant Park championship celebration on November 4, 2016, Maddon appeared in the redesigned shirt: "We Did Not Suck, 2016." The phrase captured something specific about the culture Maddon built in Chicago: a managed looseness, a deliberate removal of the weight that 108 years of disappointment could have placed on the franchise's most talented roster in a generation. He brought magicians into the clubhouse. He organized themed costume road trips. He managed the Cubs' young core — Bryant, Rizzo, Báez, Schwarber — with the specific understanding that the players who were going to end the drought were also the players who needed to enjoy the process of getting there. The blue Cubs jersey signed by Maddon is the uniform of the manager who built that culture, wore that philosophy into every game, and was wearing it in November 2016 when the drought ended.

Schwartz Sports Authentication

This jersey has been certified authentic by Schwartz Sports Memorabilia with a tamper-proof numbered hologram and a certificate of authenticity verifiable online.

Authenticity

This jersey is certified authentic by Schwartz Sports Memorabilia. The tamper-proof numbered hologram and certificate of authenticity are verifiable online.

Specifications

Authenticity Guarantee

Every signed piece at GameDay Sports Memorabilia is backed by our Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee. If your item is ever determined to be inauthentic, we will replace or refund it — no questions asked.