The Retiring Kind

Greg Maddux shut it down today with 355 wins, and this will let loose with the obvious First Ballot Hall of Fame talk, along with the usual rattling of statistics. But I'd like to go a little more visceral than that, simply because the numbers will always be there for us, but the sense of what he was actually like won't.

Maddux personified intelligence and control. In an era where bigger was always better and more and more of the game seemed to be about getting a guy who could throw the ball in the high 90s as often as possible, Maddux was never that guy. Instead, he just worked the plate, fielded his position flawlessly, almost never missed a start and almost always limited the damage.

In his glory years, he might have been the best pitcher there ever was, at least in terms of control. Others were more dominant, especially Roger Clemens, but unlike the disgraced Rocket, Maddux never sold his sold or tainted his legacy with the juice.

The only real flaw to Maddux's game is his playoff record. His Braves teams were there every year, but there might be something to the idea that when the hitter treated the at-bat as if it were life and death, most of Maddux's freakish concentration advantage dissipated. He leaves with just one World Series ring; had that number been five or so, he might be leaving as not just a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but maybe with an argument as the best that was ever been.

For all of his accomplishments, Maddux added one more small but telling feature: he was, by all accounts, a great teammate. You don't wander MLB for the back third of his career, with stops back in Chicago, LA and San Diego, without being easy to get along. He also clearly didn't take himself too seriously, and that, more than anything else, probably contributed to the absurd number of Gold Glove awards. In an era of larger-than-life stars, Maddux looked and acted like a regular guy or better, despite the money, despite the numbers.

We will not see his like again. Oh, and he made a great ad, too.



(And if you really want to be the Grinch about it, you can just go for the idea that Mad Dog likes the long green, and with the recession killing any number of big dollar teams, he probably wasn't going to make it this year. If the man really wanted to get to 400, I think he could have. But there's something to be said for getting out on your own terms.)

With Age Comes Ending

The bad year for legendary Braves starting pitchers from the 1990s continued this weekend, as Tom Glavine seems to have torn ligaments. Combine this with his less than encouraging numbers before the snap (2-4, 5.54 ERA), and you've got the ingredients for Later Stew.

One hopes that he really is done, is only for the nice numerical poetry that is 304-203 (career won-loss record), and the idea that he could go into the HOF in the same year as stablemate John Smoltz. That'd be sure to get all 38 Atlanta Braves fans nice and pleased... but if anyone is thinking that they are going to be joined by the third horse in the dynasty, Greg Maddux has other ideas.

For the year, the man is 6-9 with a 3.99 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP, which is to say, he's still a very reasonable back end of the rotation starter. You also get the feeling that when he goes into the HOF, he'll want to do it all by himself, as the greatest right-handed pitcher of his half century... at least, now that we know that Roger Clemens was a low down dirty cheater. 353 up, 223 down, and he's still got an outside shot at 400...

Saluting the Mad Dog

Tonight in San Diego, the 42-year-old Greg Maddux notched victory number 350 in a 3-2 win over the Rockies, and with each succeeding blowup moment for Roger Clemens, further cements his status as the best starting pitcher of the past 50 years.

Better yet, he didn't stagger into the mark; his 3.60 ERA and 1.16 WHIP is more than acceptable, though not as good as you might think, given that he's plying his trade in the best pitching environment in the bigs.

Health permitting, Maddux might get to 5,000 innings this year, and you'd have to think that he could get to 400 if he simply wants to. It's not like his game is based on velocity, or that the world is pushing a guy that takes the ball for 200 reasonable innings a year out of the door.

Even his post-season stats, which are supposed to be where he falls down a bit, aren't bad: 11-14 with a 3.38 ERA. The key, as always, has been control: he strikes out well over 3 guys for every walk even now, when he strikes out less than 5 guys for every 9 innings. So if you're going to beat him, you're not going to do it with a long inning. He's got a career OBA of .291, and even in his recent, relatively mortal years, you're still not going to string a lot of baserunners against him.

There is one part of the Maddux resume where I'm calling shenanigans, though -- and that's the 17 straight Gold Gloves. Honestly, there is no better fielding pitcher in all of the NL than a 42-year-old guy? You'd have to think there'd be someone with more range by now...