We knew it would happen eventually. It looks like it's happening now:Greg Maddux, the best major league player to come out of Las Vegas, appears on the verge of retirement after a 23-year pitching career that produced 355 victories and four straight National League Cy Young Awards.
"He hasn't made a final decision, but for now it is doubtful he will play (any longer)," Boras said of Maddux on the first day of the major league general managers' meetings in Dana Point, Calif.Maddux's agent, Scott Boras, said Monday that the certain Baseball Hall of Fame inductee is close to retiring, according to reports by the New York Post and Yahoo.com.
"As it stands now, he is not going to play."
I'm past the age where picking a "favorite player" makes the kind of sense it did 20 years ago, so Maddux will always be it. We will never see his like again in our lifetimes.
355-227
4 Cy Youngs
3.16 ERA; 132 ERA+
3,371 strikeouts
999 walks
17 Gold Gloves
1,765 audible F-bombs when he didn't get the corner
2,739 cut fastballs tailing back over to make hitters look foolish
A unanimous election to the Hall of Fame, or else I'm burning the place down
11 comments:
I have to admit, I'm really disappointed by this. I had hoped Maddux would putz around in large ballparks as a 4th starter for 5 or 6 more years, trying to get to 400 wins. Oh well.
As for the unanimous vote thing... as always, I'd be curious to hear the argument AGAINST his inclusion, since the arguments for are so abundant.
I have heard tell of some writers who have said that they won't vote for any steroid-era player on the first ballot out of some point of principle, no matter their credentials, no matter if they were ever linked to steroids or not.
If I ran things such a person would immediately be stripped of their voting credentials, obviously, but the BBWAA doesn't seem to care about the integrity of their votes, so they're allowed to hang on and sully the process.
By retiring now, Maddux leaves himself below that dread 1,000-walk plateau. Whew!
I'm gonna miss that guy.
Agreed, 1st ballot LOCK, however, I'm long past getting upset by the voters who withhold their vote just because... talk about selfish, self-aggrandizing, pompous, etc.
WE all know what Maddux is and was and he'll be remembered as such, not whether he lands 99.2% or 98.9% of the votes.
As long as Bill Conlin has a vote there will not be a unanimous choice as he is one of the old dinosaurs that makes HoF voting suspect.
BTW - With a ripped body like his what make you think Maddux didn't take steroids? Remember'chicks love the long ball'.
come on moose! chicks DIG the long ball
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ltD21rYWVw
the Professor will remain my all time favorite as well. sad to see him retire.
Forgive me - but I did get the Conlin equals dinosaur right.
I will also miss Maddux. He was the man when I first started to pay real attention to baseball, and he's my brother's favorite player. I will be very sorry to see him retire.
"2,739 cut fastballs tailing back over to make hitters look foolish"
I think you meant: "2,739 cut fastballs tailing back to within six inches of the corner, which was close enough for the umpires, to make hitters look foolish"
I kid. (In the sense that I don't mean it maliciously, not that I don't think it's true. :-) ) Even as a Braves hater, I have always loved Maddux.
As a lawyer, shouldn't know better about putting things in print that might come back to bite you in the ass later.
I mean, I think you're probably kidding about burning down the Hall.
But if Maddux isn't unanimous and there is some kind of mysterious blaze, and they offer a reward, I might have to send an anonymous copy of this post the powers that be.
Of course, I can be kept quiet for a price?
I remember watching Maddux as a kid since the Cubs were the only team to play day games and we got WGN out here in SoCal. And then when he went to the Braves, they had that ridiculous rotation with Smoltz, Glavine, and Mad Dog. Of the postseason baseball I watched during my formative years, he was probably the most prominent figure, even though they didn't win the big one all the time.
Outstanding player - should be a unanimous HoFer.
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