Hardly. But such is the life of the greatest right-handed pitcher in baseball since Young and Johnson set the standard against fellows named Ruth and Cobb. Consider: Maddux is the first pitcher since Johnson (in 1918-1919) to post an earned run average of less than 1.80 in consecutive seasons. Since the Dead Ball era ended (1920), he is the only pitcher other than Sandy Kou-fax, the great left-hander, with an ERA of less than 2.40 in four straight seasons. The differential between his ERA (1.98) and the composite major-league ERA (4.19) is the widest ever over a four-year span. And, since 1988, Maddux leads the major leagues in victories (142), starts, complete games and innings pitched.
‘Mad Dog’: As his Atlanta Braves gallop into another Indian Summer favored to reach the World Series, Maddux is the most unknown 19-2 pitcher in history. Maybe this is because Maddux, 29, is physically unremarkable-a six-foot, 175-pound, bespectacled, self-pro-fessed “schlub” who enjoys virtual anonymity when he walks his Shih Tzus in his hometown Las Vegas. “Mad Dog,” his teammates call him, with comic irony. Braves broadcaster Skip Carey’s moniker is more apropos: “Mr Peepers.” Maybe it’s because Maddux speaks barely above a whisper and does not fraternize with the opposition, upholding his reputation as a “mystery man.” His friend can be “very weird,” says Atlanta pitcher Tom Glavine, a frequent golfing partner “I look at him and just shake my head: how can you be the best pitcher in the world?”
It’s not easy; it just looks that way. His fastball tops out at 87 mph, while the best average in the high 90s. His economy of form and delivery all make it seem as if any, uh, schlub could waddle in from the bleachers and nail Maddux for a liner.
“Hitting is all timing. So pitching is all movement and location. The changes in ve-who throws seven or eight different pitches but relies on a nasty “cut” fastball (which, astonishingly, bends in the opposite direction from his regular heater) along with what Maddux calls his pitches’ “late life.”
Being square, Maddux shuns the spotlight with Kathy, the high-school sweetheart he married, and their young daughter, Amanda Paige. An air-force brat whose father retired to dealerdom in Vegas, Maddux ventures to the Strip only to comedy clubs. “We get invited backstage at the casino showrooms, but I pass,” he says. “I don’t want to get in the celebrities’ way.” Another charming Madduxian policy: he refuses all commercial endorsements. “Plugging products would just screw up a good day off,” he says. “Family, the wife, the kid, golf, video movies,
Wendy’s–that’s about it for my life outside baseball.”
The slasher: But inside? Mad-dux studies tapes of hitters zealously, and his mechanics always seem as flawless as his confidence is intimidating. Lolling in the dugout wearing his black specs, he is Chance, the idiot-savant gardener in “Being There”; on the mound whirling into the “cutter,” he is Freddy the slasher. Maddux’s command of the strike zone, his precision and control–recent-ly, he went 51 straight innings without a walk–and a crafty intelligence truly set him apart. “I understand how he knows when I’m going to swing,” says the Phillies’ Len Dykstra. “But how the hell does he know when I’m not swinging?”
Prior to Maddux’s start on Sept. 21, Mets coach Tom MeCraw resorted to telling his hitters to look only for pitches on one side of the plate or the other. “It’s like chasing a ghost,” he said. The result was a 8-0, five-hit victory for the home Brave, in which Maddux also smacked two doubles.
His versatility renewed talk of Maddux as MVP as well as the Cy Young Award winner for a record fourth straight time. Not that the pitcher would venture an opinion. “I’ll probably realize the meaning of all this after I’m gone. After I am history,” he says. “But until then, I just blow it off.”
Like most of the poor hitters. Like most of pitching’s rich legacy.
Greg Maddux is the best pitcher of his era. His legendary peers played on grass, in seasons that weren’t abbreviated. A comparison of their records, averaged over four years.
MADDUX KOUFAX JOHNSON 1992-95 1963-66 1913-16 Wins 18.75 24.25 29 Innings pitched 236.7 298 856.25 Starts 31 37.5 38.25 Complete games 9.25 22.25 33.25 Earned run average 1.98 1.86 1.57
