Greg Maddux: The Smartest Pitcher In History

widely known as the smartest pitcher who ever lived Greg Maddox was a God among men in his era he was simply unplayable in his prime time but how did he become so dangerous on the mountain despite forfeiting college and going through some hurdles on his way to stardom well this is the unreal peak of Greg Maddox growing up it All Began in Texas in 1966 when Maddox was born his dad was a military Personnel so his family moved around quite a lot Greg and his siblings developed an eternal love for various Sports along the way although they played other sports like basketball track and football they were hooked on baseball Greg's mom was the first to notice his baseball Obsession here's what she said about their love for the sport kids would come home from practice in the hot sun and the first thing they would do is head outside into the yard to play more baseball in the hot sun moreover in high school Greg eventually teamed up with with Coach Roger Fairless and an ex Scout Ralph Madar who helped him hone his pitching skills the youngster praised for being an intelligent pitcher helped Valley High School to a state baseball championship and guess what happened next the Chicago Cubs quickly snatched him up and signed him to a minor league contract in June 1984 while he forfeited College the minors in the minor leagues he linked up with dick pul who was also instrumental and molding him into a beast of a pitcher dick taught him the importance of the ground ball which he acknowledged later saying dick always told me you don't have to strike him out you just got to get him out Maddox Rose through the minor league ranks with so much ease and was in the majors after two years there Rise to his peak in 1986 he was a starter for the Cubs in Five straight games and faced his brother Mike in the fifth game Mike was the pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies but in the end Greg's Cubs ran away with an 8-3 win nevertheless the majors wasn't a bet of roses for him in his first full season 1987 he struggled to win games recording a poultry six wins and posting a hefty 561 ER he was subsequently sent back to the miners to regain his form it worked The Following Season he elevated his game posting an impressive 18-8 win loss ratio and pitching with a much cleaner 318 ER that year he was also an Allstar For the First Time by 1989 the Now 23 yearold had blossomed into the star pitcher for the Cubs propelling his team to success by racking up 19 wins especially noteworthy was his win against the Montreal Expos that sealed the Eastern Division title for the CBS let's not forget the following season in 1990 which he continued his epic streak of 15 wins and achieved a 346 X ER in the 1991 season he was at the cusp of his Peak the six-foot pitcher repeated the 15 wins of the previous season pitching 37 times and posting a 335 erra but he was just getting warmed up Maddox began the 92 season with a bang breaking in 10 wins by early July and secured a spot in the All-Star games however madx had his sights on his first Sai Young Crown as he produced a consistent performance till the end of the season posting an Immaculate 218 erra over 268 Innings he also led the league in wins above replacement with 9.4 and was the national league wins leader with 20 games one unsurprisingly he bagged his first national league Sai Young title despite his success when free agency came knocking the Cubs weren't willing to pamper him because after it seemed like he was dragging his feet with their initial offer of 27 .5 million they signed other pitchers instead then the Yankees waved a bumper offer at Maddox but since this wasn't about money he settled for a smaller deal from the Atlanta Braves Peak years meanwhile the Atlanta Braves pitching coach Leo mazone was overjoyed to have gotten him so easily saying when we signed Maddox I didn't realize at the time he was going to be the greatest free agent signing in the history of the game but I knew I was going to get a lot smarter real quick madx first game for his new crew was on the road against his former team the Cubs in Wrigley Field he was greeted by a course of booze from the fans who were less than impressed with his switch of Allegiance yet he was at the top of his game preventing the Cubs from scoring any runs for eight and a third Innings helping his new team for a 1 and zero Triumph that win set the tone for 19 more victories that regular season at the end of the 93 regular season he led the league with 267 Innings and posted an insane 236 ER grabbing his second consecutive Sai Young Award at the playoffs the Braves squared up against the Philadelphia Phillies for a chance at the World Series first game Maddox was absent and the Braves lost but in the second game he pitched seven Rock Solid Indians that helped the Braves tie the game when the dust settled though the Phillies proved to be too hot to handle going on a rampage and advancing to the World Series in six games 1994 Maddox is 1994 season proved to be even better than his previous ones despite a lockout that forced the season to be shortened he clocked in 202 Innings to lead the league while posting a jawdropping 156 erra he struck out in impressive 156 batters and only gave away 31 walks that's not all out of 25 starts GRE Maddox finished 10 games all by himself and won 16 games in total at the end of the season he wasn't just good he was 171% better than the average player in Major League Baseball unreal right as expected madg as he was nicknamed nailed his third consecutive Sai Young Award 1995 also even with the strike messing things up until 1995 that didn't stop Maddox from maintaining a stellar performance he was Unstoppable he logged an insane 163 erra he also achieved 16 wins during the regular season and his heroics for the Braves didn't go unnoticed as he coasted to a fourth Sai Young title in a row postseason time well the Braves finally made it to the World Series but they had the Cleveland Indians to contend with a spirited showing from Maddox in game one was enough to give the Braves a much needed 3-2 Victory Greg and Atlanta went on to win the World Series title after six games 1996 season after another top-notch perform performance during the regular season although he had loosened his grip on the Sai Young trophy he helped the Braves to a championship series win over the St Louis Cardinals but in the World Series the Braves surrendered the trophy to the Yankees 1997 moving on Mad Dog showed great efficiency and precision on the mountain in the 1997 season for instance while facing his former team the Cubs on July 22nd 1997 he pitched in nine innings he threw 63 strikes struck out six players in Drew zero walks the Braves walked away with a 4-1 win he maintained a consistent performance throughout the season and posted 19 wins in 232 Innings pitched he surrendered only 20 walks out of which six were deliberate his performance earned him a $ 57.5 million 5-year contract extension making him the highest paid player in baseball at the time at the turn of the century Maddox continued his amazing run of form but let's face it he wasn't quite the Beast he was in the '90s his Peak years were over he pitched with the Braves till 2003 before returning to the Cubs in 2004 he then had brief stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres before coling it quits at the end of the 2008 season the end of an era at the end of this illustrious career he grabbed 18 gold gloves and joined Sai Young as the only MLB player in history to win 15 or more games in 18 Seasons he won four er titles and made eight All-Star appearances with a 610 winning percentage Greg posted a total of 227 losses and 355 career wins placing him number eight the alltime wins list he's in the top 10 list of pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts and more than 300 wins Maddox had an impressive tally of 999 walks started 740 out of 7 144 games and had 3,371 strikeouts and 4,726 hits throughout his career amongst other things he's also ranked number 13 alltime with 58.1 Innings pitched finally he was an easy pick for the 2014 Hall of Fame induction with a 97.2% vote on his first ballot so what made Maddox special during his Heyday what made Maddox special well while most pitchers relied on sure speed and power his strength lay in his Precision although Maddox could throw 90 mph fast balls he didn't need it instead he focused on controlling his pitch making it do exactly what he wanted moreover he didn't just have a couple of pitching tricks up his sleeves he had a plethora of them in his repertoire the circle change the Sinker the curveball and many more all of which were catastrophic to any batter and guess who helped him fine-tune his deadly arsenal of pitches it was one of his tutors in high school Ralph Madar remember him he showed Maddox the ropes when it came to the science behind pitching let's hear what Maddox had to say he worked with me when I was 15 years old and he taught me that movement was more important than velocity he helped me make the ball move and sink as opposed to seeing how hard I could throw it I think I was fortunate to learn that lesson at such a young age Ralph's tutelage was crucial because it shaped him into a pitcher who knew how to outsmart batters with ease but hold up it wasn't just about the pitches Maddox had a deep understanding of his opponents he achieved this through careful study of them by watching his opponents he can preempt their next move confuse them with the appropriate pitch as Warren spawn put it hitting is timing pitching is upsetting timing Maddox understood this perfectly if you enjoyed this video about the unreal peak of Greg Maddox check out the video on this screen now or the one we posted below because we're sure you'll like that one too let us know in the comments if there's another baseball player whose Journey you'd like us to cover see you there