True legends are never forgotten, even when they retire.
Such is the case with former MLB star pitcher Greg Maddux.
He hasn’t thrown an MLB pitch in 15 years, yet those who saw him pitch remember him like it was yesterday.
Today, on his birthday, the baseball world is uniting in one voice to wish him the best.
“He turns 57 today, and we’re sure @gregmaddux Still can throw a shutout in less than 100 pitches. Happy Birthday Mad Dog! tweeted the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
He turns 57 today, and we sure @gregmaddux Still can throw a shutout in less than 100 pitches. Happy Birthday Mad Dog!
📷 Mary DeCicco / MLB Photos pic.twitter.com/pQEhq3pUa9
– National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum âš¾ (@baseballhall) April 14, 2023
We have to agree: Maddux’s game was never based in velocity, but in smarts, command, and courage.
To this day, we can confidently say that no pitcher has shown the kind of impeccable command that Maddux has.
Perhaps prime Clayton Kershaw has come too close.
Maddux could really put the ball wherever he wanted.
Winner of the 1995 World Series with the Atlanta Braves, he was the first pitcher in major league history to win the Cy Young Award four consecutive years (1992–1995).
That feat was later matched by only one other pitcher, Randy Johnson, who was dominant in another way.
Maddux is an eight-time All-Star, 18-time Gold Glove Award winner (!), and holds a spot in the Braves and Chicago Cubs Halls of Fame.
He retired with 355 wins, a 3.16 ERA, and 3,371 strikeouts.
You can say with confidence that he was baseball’s best pitcher of the first half of the 1990s and one of the best of that entire decade.
He was special and is turning 57 on Friday.
Time really does fly.
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