Quotes by Greg
“I’m so glad Tom was the guy to win it. He came up through this organization and he’s seen everything that’s gone on here. Then to go through all the stuff he did last winter with the strike, it’s great to see a guy who deserves the credit finally get some.”
-Greg Maddux after Tom Glavine’s clinching WS win.“You play the game to win the World Series. Cy Young’s are nice, they really are. They’re great and I’m proud of them…but easily the biggest thing I’ve accomplished is getting that World Series ring.”
I could probably throw harder if I wanted, but why? When they’re in a jam, a lot of pitchers…try to throw harder. Me, I try to locate better.”
“There’s no secrets. To pitch, you have to do two things. You have to locate your fastball and change speeds. That’s all you have to do. If you can do those two things, you can pitch.”
“The one thing I can control are the pitches I make. I can’t necessarily control the results or the outcome of the game. I know if I make a lot of good pitches, that’s going to increase my chances of winning. Everybody says they’d rather be lucky than good. I’d rather be good than lucky.”
“You know what the secret of pitching is? Making your strikes look like balls and your balls look like strikes. So when people are telling me that I’ve got a bigger plate than everybody else, that tells me they think my strikes look like balls. That’s one of the best compliments you can get.”
“It’s nothing personal. I won a Cy Young with Javy. I like throwing to him…….If a catcher catches 120 games in a season, that’s a lot. So subtract my 35 starts from 162 games. Pitchers don’t like to change catchers during the season, and by Javy not catching my games, Bobby only has to find another 10 or 12 games to rest Javy. If someone wants to know why we win, a lot of it is how Bobby manages the team.” (from Atlanta Journal Constitution)
“Sometimes, you’re pretty fortunate on the mound,” - September 21, 2003
“You have to realize one thing, we’re getting paid a tremendous amount of money to play a game that we all played for free as kids just because we loved it so much, We get to fly on charter planes and stay in the best hotels in the best cities. We get treated so well. And it’s for playing baseball. It’s incredible, What a life this is. Who could have asked for more? We’re paid very well for the work we do, though it’s not really work. They let us play, and they let us do it on the best fields in the best cities in the country. And because we get to play, we get to meet a lot of people. I have a lot of time to go play golf, and my family is taken care of. What more could I ask?” - Spring Training 2004
“So many people want to hurry things along, I’m not willing to do that. I’m here today because I love the game and this is where I want to be. I can’t imagine really doing anything else right now. But I have been around long enough that I’ve learned that you never worry about what is ahead. You just worry about what your job is today. And today for me, that’s finding a decent tee time somewhere.” -2004 Spring Training commenting on 300 wins
“When I first came around, there weren’t a lot of guys doing what I was doing, It’s no secret anymore. You have to remember, these guys are good, too, and I’m not throwing the ball like Prior.” - 2004 Spring Training, commenting on his pitching style
“That was cool. It’s nice to hear,” he said. “You appreciate it. You just try to stay focused on what you’re trying to do. It’s nice, it’s always nice to be appreciated. I love playing the game of baseball, and I work very hard to not let things interfere with what I feel like I need to do to get ready to play. It’s nice to be appreciated. I might not show it at times, but I appreciate it. It comes and goes. You do what you can to throw it where you’re aiming. I threw some pitches where I tried to throw them and got away with some and I’ll get better next time.” - March 7, 2004; after making his return to the Cubs in a Spring Training game against the Royals
“It’s early,” Maddux said. “I think it’s the time of year that pitchers are way ahead of the hitters. It’s tough to hit. It’s really tough to hit slow pitches this early in the spring. Later on, they get a lot better at it.” (March 12, 2004; commenting on spring training)
“You pitch hot, cold, whatever,” he said. “You just try to keep the ball down and change speeds. It doesn’t matter where.
“I never worry about (pitch counts),” he said. “I worry about locating my fastball and changing speeds. Those are the only two things I worry about. I don’t worry about walks, strikeouts, number of pitches, none of that. Locating and changing speeds.”
“I honestly haven’t thought about it,” he said. “I’m just thinking about getting ready for the season. I don’t like to get ahead of myself. I feel if I start thinking about that kind of stuff I’ll get ahead of myself, and I might not ever get there. I’m just going to worry about getting ready for the season and getting ready for my start in five days and enjoy the four days before.”
“It doesn’t matter, I worry about my expectations and the expectations of my teammates. When you hear stuff like that you shut it off and don’t let it sink in. You know what you have to do to get ready and know what to expect. It’s really hard to try to please people that you don’t know.”
“Nothing hurts. That’s a good sign, As long as nothing hurts, that’s where you want to be.”
“I hope I don’t feel any different…Hopefully, I’ll have the same amount of butterflies as in the past. It’s a new team, but the same game. That’s the attitude I take. I’m doing the same thing I’ve always done, I’m just wearing a different shirt.” - April 6, 2004
“I honestly don’t worry about it. I worry about just trying to do what I can to locate my fastball and change speeds, and when I’m not doing that I enjoy the game and enjoy the time away from the park.” - Greg on 300 wins after picking up his 293rd May 31, 2004
“It takes a lot of starts. It takes a lot of starts to get there. To me, me personally, my number is 15, “I want to win 15 games this year. That means more to me than a lot of other things. To win 15 games and have a shot at the postseason. I know (300) sounds like a big number but I’m not going to view myself any different if I win 299 or 305,” he said. “I’m going to look in the mirror and see the same person. We’ll just take it for what it is. It’s not about winning 300 but about getting to the postseason. Maybe we’ll face the Braves, who knows?” - August 7, 2004
“You always have your goals and it’s always to win 20, But one of your goals is to pitch 200 innings. If you can go out there and get your 200 innings, then you have to be doing something right. Getting the 200 innings for me, personally, means more than the wins because you really can’t control the wins and losses as much as you can showing up every fifth day and getting your 200 innings.” - September 25, 2004 (after picking up his 15th win for the 17th season in a row)
“I’m a lot more comfortable now,” Maddux said Saturday after his second spring outing. It’s just little things that you take for granted. There’s no little things that are bugging me like they were last year. “You know your way around, you know where to go, where not to go, You get your routine back.” - March 12, 2005 (Commenting on his second Spring Training back with the Cubs)
“I haven’t thought about it, I don’t know. You never know. I just try to get through this year.” - March 12, 2005 (Greg on pitching past the age of 40)
“You throw pitches now that used to get fouled off and now are getting hit, That’s the difference. When you’re a little short, you’ve got to pitch better. You can still do it. At the same time you need to get away with a few mistakes here or there. When your stuff has more life on it, that’s easier to do.” - March 12, 2005 (Greg on pitching at an older age)
“It’s not about when you pitch, it’s about how many starts and innings you pitch.” - Spring 2005 (Greg on opening day starts)
“Is that the word on the street? They haven’t said anything to me. When they do [say something], we’ll talk about it, They might leave me off [the roster], too. You want to talk about that? Back in the day, I had a few” - March 17 (Greg on starting Opening day)
“I’m looking forward to it, I really admire the guy. How can you not? I learned a lot about pitching from watching him through the years.” - April, 2005 (Commenting on facing Roger Clemens)
“It’s fun to try to get a hit off him… But we’re trying to win. These guys beat us last year. We’ve got to beat them and the Cardinals this year if we want to keep playing. You’ve got to keep things in perspective and realize it’s not about us, it’s about trying to win a game… I got away with mistakes, it’s that simple… (responding to getting caught up in the moment) I really didn’t and maybe I’m an idiot for not … I was trying to win… I haven’t won a game all month. I was trying to get a win. I wasn’t really concerned about who I was pitching against until he was hitting … I know it’s kind of cool and everything, and maybe when I’m done it’ll be cool… but I didn’t want anything to get in the way of my preparation. [I wanted to] do what I could to get a win and keep us in the game and give us a chance to win, and not get wrapped up in everything.” - April 29, 2005 (following his win against Roger Clemens, first match up of 300 game winners since 1987)
“I think it {stinks}, But two hits is two hits. I’m just glad we got the win.” - April 29, 2005 (chuckling as he replied to a reporter about Clemens getting two hits in their match up)
“Sometimes you go out there and throw pitches that [Carlos] Beltran hits to the warning track instead of the first row [of the bleachers] There’s no way to explain how it happens.” - May 10, 2005 (following win against Mets)
“I don’t watch when I let them go. I’m watching the hitter. It felt good. It was nice to get some outs when you don’t expect to get outs. A couple times tonight that happened. I think almost everybody in the lineup hit a home run, too.” - May 10, 2005 (responding on how he pitches following a win against the Mets)
“Sit down, look in the mirror, and if you’re good enough to play, you play, If you’re not, you quit. It’s that simple. If I’m deserving enough to come back and play and wear a shirt with my name on the back, believe me, I want to do it. I want to play, I’d love to play for another 10 years. [Retirement] is not something that is an issue right now. What is an issue right now is me getting ready for my next start against Houston…. You have to sit down and look in the mirror, and if you’re good enough to play, you play, and if you’re not, you quit… It’s that simple. I’m doing what I can to have a good year this year, and if I feel like I’m deserving enough to come back and play and wear a shirt with my name on the back, then believe me, I want to do it… When you negotiate it’s about the money, but you don’t play the game for the money, at least not now. I’ve had my day when I’ve played for the money. Right now, believe it or not, I do like the game. I don’t know if people know that or not, but I do like the game of baseball. I look forward to coming to the park on days I’m not pitching as well… Well, I’m not getting any younger… I really want to play out this year and finish out strong, and I want to come back and play next year. If I feel like I can play this game, obviously I’m not going to play it like I did 10, 15 years ago, but if I can play it and feel like I’m one of the best five guys we put in the rotation, then I’m looking forward to coming back.” - August 11, 2005 (Responding to comments he may retire at the end of the season)
“I’ve never worried a whole lot about the outcome of games. I’ve only worried about what I have to do to have success when I’m out there. You can pitch good and lose, and you can pitch bad and win, so I worry about doing what I can to pitch good and not get caught up in the outcome, It’s tough to pitch for numbers. You’d drive yourself nuts.” - September 2005
“They can assume anything they want. I’m not,’’ Maddux said with a hearty laugh as he left a Las Vegas golf course and headed for his kids’ school Tuesday afternoon. “I just told my wife (Kathy) yesterday that I need to have a good year so someone will give me a job and I can play again next year.
“That’s my thinking. If I do well enough, maybe I get to play again. I love it. It’s fun. I’m not ready to give it up.’’
“I don’t know where it came from. (Stuff) happens, you know?’’ Maddux said. “I think what I always think when people say stuff. They’re entitled to their opinion.
“I never waste my time worrying about someone else’s opinion. I went about my business, and I’m not going to waste a lot of time trying to change people’s minds.’’
“I’d like to throw about 230 innings this year,’’ Maddux said. “I’d like to maybe be a little healthier this year than last year and if I can it’ll show up in innings.
“I had an inflamed tendon near the arch in my foot for about the first two months and I couldn’t run, so that really hurt my conditioning.
“I ran more in spring training than usual and I think I hurt it that way. Maybe this year I’ll try to do a little less distance and more sprints.’’
If the Cubs are struggling and Maddux isn’t come July, there’s going to be talk again of Maddux heading to a contender.
“That’s not something I’ve thought about, because it’s a great game whether you win or lose,’’ Maddux said. “It’s more fun when you win.
“But that’s where people kind of miss the boat. If you get a chance to go to the park and play a game every day that you’ve played since you were 5 years old and compete and have fun, winning is a luxury.
“Very few teams are going to win and make the playoffs this year. I hope we’re one of the eight and I’ll do my part to help us be one of them.’’
And in 2007?
“If someone will give me a shirt to wear, I’ll be there,’’ Maddux said. “Why not?’’
printed: February 8, 2006; Chicago Daily Herald
“Down and away … there’s no secret. Just locate the ball and change speeds.” - April 11, 2007
