It's no surprise that Joe Maddon has a unique approach to arguing calls. (Getty Images)

Over at MLB.com, Zack Meisel has a nifty read on baseball's rich tradition of manager-umpire arguments. The piece is very worth a read, but let us highlight something that really comes as no surprise: Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon occasionally wields a unique approach to such heated discussions (thick-rimmed glasses have a strong causal relationship with unique approaches, you know). Here's what long-time umps Ted Barrett and Bob Davidson tell Meisel about their on-field Lincoln-Douglasses with Maddon.

Rays manager Joe Maddon typically employs a more caring approach to his rendezvous with umpires. After Maddon disputed a call in 2007, Barrett told him that one more word would trigger his ejection, so the skipper simply replied, "I love you." Sticking to his guns, Barrett tossed him.

"I ejected him and then realized, 'What do I put in my report, that I ejected him because he told me he loved me?' That just stumped me," Barrett said. "I had never had a manager tell me he loved me before."

Maddon also bonded with Davidson during what appeared to be a heated discussion.

"We had what looked like a nasty argument in Tampa," Davidson said, "and he was telling me how much he liked me and I was saying, 'I like you also.' We were nose and nose doing this, and then when he left, he got a standing ovation."

Honey beats vinegar, yet again.

(HT: BBTF)

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