Greg Maddux
April 14, 1966 — San Angelo, Texas
Gregory Alan Maddux is a retired Major League Baseball starting pitcher who is widely considered the most intelligent pitcher in the history of the sport — a master of command, movement, and reading hitters who won four consecutive Cy Young Awards from 1992 to 1995 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 on the first ballot with 97.2% of the vote.
Control Artist
Born on April 14, 1966 in San Angelo, Texas, Maddux grew up in Las Vegas and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1984. He made his major league debut in 1986. Unlike the power pitchers who dominate most eras, Maddux succeeded through deception, location, and an almost supernatural ability to predict what a hitter was thinking. He could locate a 88-mph fastball to within half an inch of his intended spot, repeatedly, and he changed angles and movement to keep hitters permanently off-balance. Batters described facing him as deeply unsettling: he always seemed to know what pitch they were expecting.
Four Cy Youngs and a Dynasty
In 1992 Maddux won his first Cy Young Award with Chicago, then signed with the Atlanta Braves — a team entering its great dynasty of the 1990s — and won three more consecutive Cy Young Awards in 1993, 1994, and 1995. No pitcher in the live-ball era has ever won four consecutive Cy Youngs; no one in the history of the award has won four in a row from two different teams. In 1995 he posted a 1.63 ERA — one of the best seasons by any pitcher in the modern era — and led the Braves to the World Series title. He won 18 Gold Glove Awards for fielding excellence, another unmatched total.
Did You Know?
Maddux was famous for studying hitters between innings, and teammates have described him correctly predicting the result of at-bats before they happened — naming the count, the location, and the outcome. He reportedly told a Braves teammate exactly where Tim Raines would hit a pitch and then watched the ball land precisely on the predicted spot. He called it "pattern recognition." Hitters called it intimidating.
Hall of Fame Career
Maddux won 355 games overall — 10th most in baseball history — and struck out 3,371 batters with a career ERA of 3.16. He also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres before retiring in 2008. His Hall of Fame induction in 2014 came alongside fellow Braves contemporary Tom Glavine, completing what Braves fans regard as baseball's greatest pitching rotation. He is listed as a pitching coach consultant with the Chicago Cubs and remains one of the most respected analytical minds in baseball.