The Baseball World has suffered another loss, as 4 Time Cy Young Winner and pitching savant Greg Maddux has announced that he will announce his retirement. That's how big a deal he is, he actually had to announce that he will be announcing, and damned if he doesn't deserve it. Maddux started with the Cubs, then spent the best years of his career with the Braves, then returned to Chicago for a few seasons before finishing his career bouncing back and forth between the Dodgers and Padres.
Maddux had a great career in the Major Leagues, winning 355 games despite a fastball which topped out at 90 MPH or so. He did it with pinpoint control, plenty of movement, and above all a level of baseball intelligence matched by few others. He bested Roger Clemens by a single win, which makes me wonder just how great Maddux could have been with some of Clemens's "health regime".
Even without any pharmaceutical help, Maddux managed 3371 Ks, a .610 winning percentage, and a career ERA of 3.16 which includes a few not so great years tacked onto the end. He walked only 999 of the over 20000 batters he faced, and actually had more wins, 355, than home runs allowed, 353.
As a kid I once wrote a school report about Greg Maddux (which I got 100% on!). Its amazing to think that even then, some dozen or more years ago, Maddux was already considered bound for the Hall of Fame. I remember reading an article as part of my research for that report, a piece which was filled with stories of how Maddux was very cerebral yet almost in a casual way. Baseball is just a game, its not rocket surgery or anything, but if there was ever was such thing as a pitching genius it was Greg Maddux.
But never mind all the wins, the strikeouts, Cy Youngs or the World Series title. Greg Maddux wasn't just some glasses wearing namby pamby pitcher, he could swing the lumber when he had too, as shown in this classic clip:
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