Matt Christopher - Greg Maddux

Copyright 1997 by Matthew F. Christopher

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First eBook Edition: December 2009

ISBN: 978-0-316-09523-5

To Doris and Bill

Greg Maddux doesnt look like the best pitcher in baseball. But he is. In 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995, Greg won the National Leagues Cy Young Award. Named after Cy Young, baseballs all-time victory leader with 511 career wins, the award is given each year to the best pitcher in each major league. No other pitcher has ever won the award four years in a row.

In his ten-year big league career (through 1995), Greg has won 150 games and lost only 93. In his four Cy Young seasons, he won 75 games, and lost only 19.

Still, if you didnt know better, youd never guess that Greg Maddux is such a great pitcher. Although Greg is more than thirty years old, he looks like he just got out of high school. For a professional ath lete, he isnt very big. Greg stands only six feet tall and he weighs only 175 pounds. Off the baseball field, Greg wears glasses and dresses like someone in college. If he walked into your school today, you might think he was a student teacher dropping in to observe a class.

Even when Greg is wearing a baseball uniform and warming up before a game, he still doesnt look like the best pitcher in baseball. Greg is small for a pitcher, and he doesnt throw the ball as hard as most big league hurlers do, either. Most major league pitchers throw at least 90 miles an hour. Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens regularly throw the ball over 95 miles per hour, so fast that the hitter can barely tell where the ball is going before it smacks into the catchers mitt.

Although Greg was once able to throw 90 miles an hour, he doesnt throw that hard anymore. He rarely throws a ball faster than about 85 miles per hour. Thats still fast, but its not fast for the major leagues. There is probably someone on your local high school team who throws close to 85 miles per hour.

Of course, Greg throws more than a fastball. He also throws a cut fastball, or cutter, that moves, a curveball, and a change-up. But none of these pitches is much better than those thrown by many other players. If you watched all the pitchers on Gregs team, the Atlanta Braves, warm up before a game, and then you had to guess who was best, Greg Maddux would probably be the last guy you would pick!

Even when Greg takes the mound during a game, he doesnt look like the best pitcher in base-ball. He doesnt strike out very many hitters. In fact, he doesnt even want to strike out most hitters. Most batters facing Greg eventually hit the ball, and thats fine with him. The best pitcher in baseball actually wants the batter to hit the ball!

So when does Greg Maddux look like the best pitcher in baseball? At the end of the game. Thats when his teammates run out to the mound to congratulate him on another victory, while the hitters on the opposing team sit in the dugout dejectedly shaking their heads, wondering why they only managed to collect five or six hits and scored only one or two runs.

How does Greg Maddux do it? What makes him the best pitcher in the major leagues?

Greg is the perfect example of someone who just tries to do the very best he can with the talent he has. Since he doesnt have a great fastball, Greg learned that to be successful he had to do more than throw the ball by the hitter. He pitches with his brains as much as he does with his arm. Greg simply outthinks most hitters.

Imagine that you are at the plate and Greg Maddux is on the mound. Youve watched him warm up and you feel confident. After all, he doesnt throw the ball as fast as most pitchers, and everyone knows youre a good hitter.

Greg looks in at his catcher, winds up slowly, and throws his first pitch.

Its a fastball, just what you were hoping for!

The ball looks like its going to go right over the middle of the plate, so you decide to swing. But at the last second, the ball tails away and darts to the outside corner.

Oh no, you think to yourself, thats not just a fast-ball! Its Gregs cutter, a pitch thrown almost as hard as a fastball that curves a little bit at the last second. But its too late to stop your swing. Instead of hitting the ball squarely, you foul it off for strike one.

Okay, you think, since I fouled that ball off, he probably doesnt think I can hit the ball low and outside. This time, Ill be ready.

Greg goes into his windup, and youre expecting another pitch in the same place.

Wrong! This time Greg throws you a change-up, a pitch that looks like a fastball at first but is about 20 miles per hour slower. The pitch is waist high, on the inside part of the plate, just where you like it. But you are expecting a fastball outside and swing before the ball even gets to the plate. You miss it by a foot. Strike two!

Now youre really confused. You dont know what Greg will throw next. But Greg does.

He winds up and pitches. The rapidly spinning ball sails to the outside then curves away. You are so confused that you dont even bother swinging. But you get lucky. The pitch is just an inch or two outside, and the umpire calls it a ball.

Now what do you do? Where will Greg throw the next pitch? What pitch will he use? How fast will he throw it? Will it be inside or outside, high or low? Will he throw a fastball, a curve, or something else?

Greg winds up again and throws.

A fastball! But its not where you expected him to throw it. You were looking to the outside part of the plate. Wrong again! This time Greg threw the ball inside, an inch or two below your belt. Normally, youd smack an 85-mile-per-hour fastball like that over the fence for a home run. But Greg fooled you by throwing it inside. You swing anyway, but you dont get your bat around fast enough. You hit the ball off the handle.

The ball slowly dribbles out toward the mound. Greg fields it cleanly and flips it to the first base-man as you race down the line. Youre out by twenty feet.

As you turn and jog back to the dugout, you ask yourself, How did I miss that pitch?

You missed it because Greg Maddux is the best pitcher in baseball, thats why. But dont feel too bad. You have plenty of company. Nearly every batter in the National League has asked himself the same question.

It may be hard to believe, but Greg Madduxs pitching career began on a softball field.

Dave Maddux, Gregs father, was a member of the United States Air Force. He and his wife, Linda, Gregs mothertraveled all over the world as Dave was transferred from one air force base to another.

Dave Maddux loved sports, particularly baseball. But there wasnt an opportunity to play baseball on base. The air force only sponsored softball leagues. So no matter where Dave Maddux was stationed, the first thing he did was join the air force-base soft-ball team.

Dave didnt play slo-pitch softball. Thats the kind of softball that is often played in local parks on Saturday morning. In slo-pitch, the pitcher tosses the ball underhand toward the plate, and it is easy for hitters to hit.

Dave played fast-pitch softball, a game more similar to baseball than other kinds of softball.

In fast-pitch softball, the pitcher stands only fifty feet away from the batter. Instead of throwing the ball overhand, as in baseball, or lofting it underhand, as in other kinds of softball, in fast-pitch softball, the pitcher winds up like a windmill and throws the ball underhand as fast as he can. The ball travels al-most as fast as a baseball, and despite its larger size, it can be just as hard to hit. Games are often low scoring.