12/03/24
April 14, 2008
"Greg Maddux? I bet you could catch him with your eyes closed.": What you are about to read is a story about grown men who should know better. It is included here as a means of illustrating the legend of one man and his unique place in baseball history. It should not be construed as an endorsement of the activity described, although we must admit it makes for a pretty cool story.
You people can believe what you want. You can read all the articles about Maddux's greatness printed. You might even show some video of his tremendous baseball achievements on this very site. But that will change nothing of the haunting truth. You don't EVER close your eyes around Greg Maddux.
posted by THX-1138 at 07:11 PM on April 14, 2008
Penny, figuring he'd take advantage of the situation, asked Maddux to call a game for him against the Cubs. And so, on the night of Sept. 13, Penny glanced into the dugout before every delivery and found Maddux, who signaled the next pitch by looking toward different parts of the ballpark. Penny threw seven scoreless innings with no walks and beat the Cubs 6-0. That might be the single most astonishing bit of baseball information I've ever read. Thanks for the link.
posted by wfrazerjr at 07:40 PM on April 14, 2008
Agreed, THX-1138. If one could catch Maddux with one's eyes closed, why isn't he in jail for the trail of corpses he's left in every major baseball city since his career started? Answer me that? I don't think Sherlock Holmes and Grissom from CSI, working together, could catch Maddux. His pitching, on the other hand, yeah, that is pretty amazing. One would almost call it a surgical precision, if that wouldn't be in such poor taste.
posted by Joey Michaels at 08:22 PM on April 14, 2008
(oh, and awesome link)
posted by Joey Michaels at 08:22 PM on April 14, 2008
Maddux is unbelievable and so under rated in my opinion. I have GOT to know what planet you live on where Greg Maddux is considered "underrated" in baseball. 349 wins .620 winning percentage > 3000 strikeouts 4 Cy Young Awards 17 Gold Glove Awards 8 All-Star Games 4 ERA titles Oh. You mean among serial killers. Yeah, I'll buy that.
posted by grum@work at 11:21 PM on April 14, 2008
I have GOT to know what planet you live on where Greg Maddux is considered "underrated" in baseball. I have to agree with this. On "America's Team" he was the ace of one of the best staffs in history, had constant TV exposure on TBS (not to mention playoff TV exposure), and he has been featured in National ads ("chicks dig the long ball"). Hard to find anyone that has watched a game that doesn't know who he is, and and I've never heard of ANYONE saying he isn't at least the SECOND best pitcher of his ERA, if not the BEST. That isn't exactly underrated to me. I'm a huge Maddux fan (named my son after him...and people accuse me of stealing the name from Angelina Jolie...bah!). I even did a speech on him in college making his case for the best right hander in history (and that was 10 years ago! I think my argument is more solid now :-) For some reason, my favorite part of the story is You know," Maddux said, "I really should retire." Bell, unsure if he was entering into a conversation of historical importance, stayed quiet. I can just completely picture that guy thinking to himself "Oh crap, don't say the wrong thing! You could alter the course of baseball as we know it if you say the wrong thing!" :-)
posted by bdaddy at 07:12 AM on April 15, 2008
Thanks for the fun read Chargdres! I agree wfrazejr with your pull from the article, that's amazing.
posted by BoKnows at 08:14 AM on April 15, 2008
Maddux's greatest delivery: "Chicks dig the long ball."
posted by Bill Lumbergh at 10:10 AM on April 15, 2008
"bats right, throws right, farts left" Destined to become an actual column on the backs of future baseball cards.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:11 AM on April 15, 2008
When Maddux finally does retire, I have to believe that he will instantly become the league's highest paid pitching coach. The Padres are paying him about $10 million this year, and while he is still decent as a pitcher, his real value is to help bring along Jake Peavy, Chris Young, and the Padres' other young pitchers. Peavy had an off year before Maddux's arrival, then Maddux goes to SD, and Peavy wins the Cy Young. I doubt thats a coincidence.
posted by Chargdres at 10:33 AM on April 15, 2008
What a great article. Maddux is a class act... He used to drive me crazy when he played for the Braves because I am a diehard Astros fan... It was great to read about the things he knows regarding the game... I hope he leaves when he is ready and doesn't regret it...
posted by bruce2ww at 11:24 AM on April 15, 2008
I have to believe that he will instantly become the league's highest paid pitching coach. Having Maddux as a pitching coach would be like having Rickey Henderson as your base-running coach. You'd listen to every word he'd say, but in the end you get the terrible feeling that even at his advanced age, he could still do it better than you.
posted by grum@work at 12:12 PM on April 15, 2008
Great article. At the end of the story is another link that says 17% also worth the read. No one controls a pitch better or knows a batter better the Maddux. One of the greatest ever. NIce post. To bad about all the murders. CSI will never catch Greg.
posted by Debo270 at 12:52 PM on April 15, 2008
Great, great story. I remember back in the 90s SI did a similar kind of article about him in which they argued he was the greatest every right hander. It talked about how Smoltz & Glavine, themselves likely HOFers, felt that Maddux was far beyond them.
posted by drumdance at 01:25 PM on April 15, 2008
Maddux reminds be of high school biology and disecting a frog. Only difference is opposing batters.
posted by giveuptheghost at 05:48 PM on April 15, 2008
Greg Maddux will go down as the greatest pitcher of this generation. Because he will kill and eat any one who challenges him. On a serious note, it is interesting to think about how he will be viewed in 20 years vs. Roger Clemens, he of steroid fame.
posted by Bonkers at 06:16 PM on April 15, 2008
bats right, throws right, farts left thats tame compared to story told by David Wells last year. It seems that Maddux has this habit of initiating or baptizing rookies in spring training by sneaking up on them and urinating on them in the showers. He's got that mature look of innocence but as his team mates will tell you, don't turn your back on him
posted by m8nsman at 06:46 PM on April 15, 2008
Maddux reminds be of high school biology and disecting a frog. Only difference is opposing batters. That's more of a literal connection than you think. I'm a San Diego resident, and my morning commutes are occasionally punctuated by the unpleasant sight of disemboweled corpses littered along the roadside, and torrents of blood flowing into the gutters as if all 9" of our yearly rain fell in one night, brought by a cold front from hell. The exteriors of some buildings downtown look like Jackson Pollock took up graffiti, if only Pollock's favored media were entrails and crushed bone. Occasionally the smears of blood form words, but they're not utterable by any human tongue. And those are the days after Maddux wins.
posted by LionIndex at 06:46 PM on April 15, 2008
don't turn your back on him Truer words have never been spoken.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 07:16 PM on April 15, 2008
+1 LionIndex
posted by yerfatma at 08:36 PM on April 15, 2008
Maddux looked on with a wry smile, shaking his head. The same wry smile he wore later that night, as he removed the bone saw from its case.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 02:01 PM on April 19, 2008
Thanks for posting that article Chargdres. Maddux is unbelievable and so under rated in my opinion. What command of the zone, like none other I have seen. This over his entire career, some may have done better for a season, but for the last 22 seasons he has been doing this. The fact that he is not regarded as the best pitcher over the last 20 years is due to the love of power here. He has no flash just gets the job done, over and over. His ERA numbers back in the prime are stunning when you compare them. He threw many complete games under 100 pitches. The most telling thing from the article to me was the quote from his brother about young guys coming up, how they know the drills of the game and how to take instruction, but that he and his brother were taught the game. Great pitcher and an interesting article, thanks Chargdres.