As millions of people congregated across Wrigleyville and downtown Chicago on Friday for the Cubs World Series parade and celebration, Manager Joe Maddon made another perplexing move at approximately 11 a.m., yanking Kyle Hendricks from the parade route at the intersection of Addison and Broadway, after four and two-thirds blocks. To replace Hendricks, Maddon inserted Aroldis Chapman into the front parade bus, where he remained for the next five and a third miles.
“I thought Kyle was gassed after all the celebrating over the past two days, he’s not normally a party guy,” said Maddon. “Chappy is a strong dude and he was ready to go the distance, so it was the proper move at that point in the parade.”
A couple other unique Maddon maneuvers ensued during the victory speeches and trophy presentation at the Petrillo Bandshell in Grant Park, where the Cubs manager pulled the microphones away from Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon after three words apiece, replacing them with Jon Lester and Mike Montgomery, who each spoke for 10 minutes.
“Again, these moves happened organically all within the natural progression of the ceremony,” added Maddon. “It’s like asking Javy Baez to lay down a suicide squeeze with two strikes and a man at third in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the World Series. It just makes logical sense.”
