Greg Maddux’s hall of fame career comes to an end

Greg Maddux announced his retirement on Sunday, bringing to a close a great career full of sure fire first ballot Hall of Fame numbers.  His greatest accomplishment, however, was to earn the respect of his peers and the admiration of fans for his class, professionalism and dedication to hard work.  Maddux, who will turn 42 in April, completed his 23rd season of baseball this past fall with the LA Dodgers.

Never one to rely on overpowering velocity or wicked breaking stuff, Maddux’s stock in trade was his pinpoint control and cerebral approach to pitching.  His knowledge of opposing hitters was legendary, and the site of Maddux sitting in the dugout on his off days charting opponents wearing eyeglasses that made him look like a geeky team manager on a high school squad was commonplace.  He was quick to share his knowledge with younger pitchers, and later in his career when acquired by a new team the rest of the staff would start to perform better almost as if by osmosis.

His low key demeanor and reserved persona gave way to the alter ego of a fiery competitor when he took the ball every fourth or fifth day.  Maddux was an eight time All Star and won 13 or more games in an astounding twenty consecutive seasons.  He was also known as one of the best fielding pitchers in baseball history, earning a record 18 straight Gold Glove awards including one in his final season.  His best years were with the Atlanta Braves, where he was the foundation of an almost absurdly talented starting rotation year after year along with John Smoltz and Tom Glavine.

Starting at the top with 355 career wins (eighth best in MLB history) and four consecutive NL Cy Young Awards, his numbers are remarkable.  Never known as a strikeout pitcher, he nevertheless amassed 3371 K’s, good for 10th on the all time list.  His strikeout to walk ratio of 3.37 is #16 all-time thanks in large part to a career walks per nine innings average of 1.795.  His longtime manager in Atlanta, Bobby Cox, praised Maddux and went on to suggest that his numbers alone couldn’t accurately reflect just how good he was:

"Mad Dog threw a shutout today. Special, special guy. I get choked up talking about him. Precision. I don't know how to describe him other than that. He's taught a lot of guys to try to do it. But nobody does it like him. Nobody."

"Everybody says he wasn't a strikeout guy. He was a strikeout guy. He'd get the strikeouts -- first inning, man on third, one out, infield back, give 'em a run -- believe me, he'd strike out the hitter."

Maddux said that he made up his mind a couple of years ago about his retirement timetable but “ended up playing another year anyway”.  He was characteristically low key and humble in his remarks:

"I really just came out here today to say thank you. I appreciate everything this game has given me. It's going to be hard to walk away obviously, but it's time. I have a family now that I need to spend some more time with. I still think I can play the game, but not as well as I would like to, so it's time to say goodbye."

Horror stories about how athletes behave when fans encounter them “in the wild” are commonplace, but Maddux was known for his respectful and courteous behavior toward them as much as for his on field dominance.  Watching him play for his entire career was an honor, and there are few professional athletes about whom that can be said.