MORNING LINE: Young Maddux was ‘pretty dominant’
 Brothers Greg, left, and Mike Maddux |
 Greg Maddux at retirement announcement |
Texas Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux is best known as the brother of future Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux who announced his retirement Monday at the Bellagio during baseball’s winter meetings. Mike had his own 15-year big league career, but it’s clear he’s an even bigger fan of his brother’s success.
I batted a couple times against Mike back in high school. I recall hitting a foul ball, but that might be time bending the memory to salve my ego. With his ability to throw hard and change speeds, Mike was more like a card sharp than a high school pitcher. He dealt seconds to the suckers and made most of the batters look like country rubes. I know. I was one of hayseeds.
On Monday, Mike remembered a time when Greg was 12 and got a chance to pitch in Little League on a ballfield at Nellis Air Force Base.
“He started the game, struck out 17 of the 18, and the coach wouldn’t let him play anymore,” Mike recalled. “He said it’s no fun. Nobody gets to play when you pitch. So he never let him pitch again. That’s when I said, ‘Wow. That’s pretty good right there.’ That’s pretty dominant, what he did.”
With 355 career victories and 18 Gold Glove awards, Greg Maddux is in my mind the best living pitcher. He’s also a good husband and father and a helluva golfer. But he’s not known as much of an orator.
Sports writers, in fact, seem to admire him immensely until he opens his mouth. Then they’re forced to listen to Maddux’s amazing gift of understatement. To hear him tell it, he was luckier than a suitcase full of horseshoes in his 23-year career.
“I’m here to say thank you, from the teams I played for clubbies, the people that work in visiting ballparks,” Maddux said. “Everybody always treated me great. … I appreciate everything this game’s given me. It’s going to be hard to walk away, obviously.”
My money’s on Maddux to become a manager within three years.
On pitching for the Cubs the second time around: ”We got close. We didn’t win, but we almost did, and it was fun trying.”
On his specialty: “I don’t really know a whole lot about anything, but I feel like I know a few things about baseball. I’m gong to miss it, but hopefully I won’t miss it too much.”
On learning to pitch: “The best way to learn is to screw up and not do it again. I think it’s OK to make mistakes. Hopefully you learn by it, and you don’t make those mistakes again. I think that’s probably the easiest way to learn. It was OK to make a mistake. I tried not to make the same mistake twice.”
Apply that same approach to life, and you’ll probably pitch into the late innings with success.
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