My thoughts on Greg Maddux

by john@tireball.com
last revised: April 26, 2006A brief background
Despite living in Maryland I became a fan of the Atlanta Braves. The reason was simple. I could see more of their games on TV. We owned a satellite dish and the channel that the Oriole games came on, HTS at the time, was not on our subscription plan. My parents were not about to pay an additional 20 dollars a month just so I could see the Orioles play. Luckily for me TBS and WGN were on our plan and I got to see not only the Braves and Cubs but was blessed to see a few young pitchers by the names of Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. For the most part on this site I have managed to keep my opinion out of the way and post only the facts. This is my chance to tell you about my opinions and feelings throughout his career. Keep in mind this is my opinion and you may or may not agree with it.

The first encounter
The first time I saw Greg Maddux he was wearing a Chicago Cubs uniform and the corner of the TV had the funny little WGN logo. I couldn’t even point out the date to you. I don’t know it. I couldn’t tell you much about the game, just that he was a slender young right-handed pitcher who had a baby face.

While the first games of baseball I watched were in 1989 it was nothing more then casual catch a game here or there. 1991 would be the first season I watched a large number of games.

Before the 1992 season I remember going to Wal-Mart and getting baseball cards. One of the sets of cards I bought was the 1992 Fleer Chicago Cubs set. That set included Cubs such as Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Shawon Dunston and of course Greg Maddux. By this time I had already chosen Maddux to be my favorite player. Despite his 75 wins already, he was just turning 26 and my hope was that I would be able to follow his career for years.


1992 Fleer, my first Greg Maddux card… (that I know of at least)

The 1992 Cubs
The Cubs of 1992, like so many during Maddux’s stint with them, were not competitive. Despite he strong pitching of Maddux, Mike Morgan and Frank Castillo the Cubs were just  78-84
and finished a distant fourth in the NL East. The Cubs however did have one bright spot. Greg Maddux had put together one of the finest seasons in Cub history. His 20 wins lead the league while his 2.18 ERA was third. Aside from picking up a gold glove he had managed to collect the NL Cy Young Award.

The Atlanta Years
In 1993 Greg joined the Braves; joining two other pitchers I had greatly adorned the last few years. Tom Glavine and John Smoltz had catapulted the Braves from a perennial last place  team to back-to-back NL West titles. The Braves still seamed to run out of steam in the playoffs though. When the 1994 strike hit I was deeply saddened. By this time I had become a diehard fan of baseball. When the 1995 season finally did start I was ecstatic. The Braves that year managed to get back to the World Series and this time were the Champions. I was ecstatic. Maddux and picked up his fourth straight Cy Young and the Braves were on top of the world. This would continue for years and years to come. Despite never winning another World Series, the team finished in first the rest of his stay there.

The Trinity
While I do acknowledge his years as a Cub, I think it is obvious that his best years came as a member of the Atlanta Braves. The trio of Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz became men together and it’s likely that all will be remembered as starting pitchers on a dominant Braves team. While Maddux may of went to Chicago, Glavine to New York and Smoltz to the bullpen they will long live in my memory as the best 1-2-3 punch I’ve ever seen in rotation. I think many will agree. Maddux has over 300 wins, Glavine is closing in and Smoltz is statistically the best post season pitcher ever, move over Bob Gibson. Joe Morgan once said that “they became men together” and it’s as accurate as anything.

Going back to Chicago
When Maddux was not offered arbitration by the Braves I was a bit sad. I really wanted my favorite player to remain on my favorite team. It seemed hart to route for the Cubs again. While I didn’t hate the team they weren’t my favorite. They were also in the National League and would play the Braves. I found solace in the fact that he had been a Cub long before he  placed on the tomahawk and the fact that the Cub fans had to suffer though watching him win
a World Series with the Braves. Yes that is a bit sick I know but it helped.

Win #300
When he notched his 300th win I was happy for him. At first I was a bit disappointed in his line for the game but something Joe Buck said helped me change my mind. Buck said something to the effect of “how many times has Maddux thrown eight or nine innings allowing only one run and taken the loss” and I agreed. Sometimes it’s like that so why can’t he pick up a win here or there while having a bad outing? After all he is only human and he can’t be perfect every time out there.

Gray Ink

Greg is also tied for 5th All-Time in Gray Ink. 

All-Time and Active Leaders

For each appearance the values are below. As with the Black Ink, this method penalizes more recent players as they have 14-16 teams per league, while the older players had just 8. To get a point you must be in the top 10 in the league in that category.

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