The Maddux

[motherscratcher]

By way of Calcaterra, I found this blog post with an cool new baseball stat.

How awesome is it? So awesome that I'll bet even Pup and LP like it.

The Maddux. Behold.

http://groundballwitheyes.blogspot.com/2012/04/maddux.html

[pup]

Does it include routinely getting pitches 6 inches off the edge of the plate called a strike to put you in pitcher's counts all the time?

By the way. I hate Greg Maddux. Almost as much as stats.

[motherscratcher]

Who the hell can hate Greg Maddux? Christ but you're miserable.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

I can't believe people around here say they don't like you. You are just delightful.

[motherscratcher]

I can't believe people around here say they don't like you. You are just delightful.

I know right? I don't know why people say that. I think I'm a swell fellow.

[leadpipe]

Outside of when the pre-coked Dwight Gooden burst on the scene, Maddux was my favorite pitcher to watch ever.

[motherscratcher]

Outside of when the pre-coked Dwight Gooden burst on the scene, Maddux was my favorite pitcher to watch ever.

Me too. Loved watching that guy pitch. I wish I could say the same about pre-coke Gooden. 1984 was a hell of a year for him. But I doubt I saw him pitch much at all. Back then you could pretty much see Cleveland or the Braves. After that it was box scores.

A few years ago I caught an old game on MLB Network. I think the station was fairly new. It was June 28, 1976 Tigers v Yankees Monday Night Baseball. Fidrych was pitching. Uecker was announcing. It was mesmerizing.

Fidrych was an absolute lunatic. Talking to the ball and himself. Patting the mound. All of the crazy things you[ve heard about but probably haven't seen. The stands where packed for the kid (who was 21 at the time I think) and they were going nuts. He got a standing O and a curtain call after the game followed by an on field interview with Uecker. I thought the fans were going to rush the field. For a freakin' June game!

I've never seen anything like it and it was absolutely wonderful. Anyone who likes baseball would be doing themselves a solid if they ever stumbled across that game.

[Erie Warrior]

Why not call it pitching a "Tweksbury"? Or at least say the other team got "Tweksburied".

Really, a CG with 78 pitches? Insane.

I guess this is as a good a place as any, but this website is pretty good, especially for newbie baseball guys.

http://eephusleague.com/

[leadpipe]

Outside of when the pre-coked Dwight Gooden burst on the scene, Maddux was my favorite pitcher to watch ever.

Me too. Loved watching that guy pitch. I wish I could say the same about pre-coke Gooden. 1984 was a hell of a year for him. But I doubt I saw him pitch much at all. Back then you could pretty much see Cleveland or the Braves. After that it was box scores.

A few years ago I caught an old game on MLB Network. I think the station was fairly new. It was June 28, 1976 Tigers v Yankees Monday Night Baseball. Fidrych was pitching. Uecker was announcing. It was mesmerizing.

Fidrych was an absolute lunatic. Talking to the ball and himself. Patting the mound. All of the crazy things you[ve heard about but probably haven't seen. The stands where packed for the kid (who was 21 at the time I think) and they were going nuts. He got a standing O and a curtain call after the game followed by an on field interview with Uecker. I thought the fans were going to rush the field. For a freakin' June game!

I've never seen anything like it and it was absolutely wonderful. Anyone who likes baseball would be doing themselves a solid if they ever stumbled across that game.

Saw The Bird pitch the second game of a doubleheader at Municipal Stadium. It was "Banner Day" - used to be a deal where fans could make a banner and parade it around the field between games. Someone had one reading "The Bird is a Turd." Anyways, I was very young and still remember quite a few details, so that ought a tell you something.

And when cable TV started making the rounds in NE Ohio, WOR out of New York was in the package along with TBS, so you could watch the Mets about as much as the Braves. That's were I used to xcatch the Doc.

[swerb]

Dennis Martinez, Kevin Gross, Chris Bosio, Kenny Rogers, Kevin Brown, David Cone, and Derek Lowe all threw a no-hitter-Maddux. Martinez, Rogers, and Cone each had a perfect-Maddux.

Phillip Humber with the fourth perfect-Maddux in history.

Great link BTW moscratch. Very well done by the author.

[pup]

Hating stats and Greg Maddux makes me some sort of miserable asshole?

Wouldn't want to know what you guys would think of me if you knew my opinion on puppies.

[motherscratcher]

Stats...no. Baseball is beautiful and there are a lot of ways to love it. Stats is just one aspect. I love it because I've always loved the maths. But it don't make no nevermind.

But Greg Maddux, well yeah...not liking Greg Maddux absolutely makes you a miserable asshole. Frankly I'm not sure how you could see it any other way.

But no worries, you were already a miserable asshole well before the Maddux revelation. It just adds one more thing to he list. Besides, we are pretty much all miserable assholes. You're just way better at it.

[mattvan1]

Pup may be a miserable asshole but that does not mean he's wrong. Greg Maddux was the the greatest beneficiary of a liberal strike zone in recent memory.

Now, that also doesn't mean that Maddux wasn't a great pitcher or didn't have amazing command. Essentially, his control was so good that in inning 1 he put it on the black and kept moving the ball further and further outside every inning until balls were 8 inches off the plate being called strikes.

[e0y2e3]

FWIW: my three favorite baseball players ever are Manny, Bonds, and Maddux

[dmiles]

I think there is a special place in hell for any umpire that gives strikes off of the outer part of the plate no matter who is pitching. 1-ball off I can live with, but these pricks who give strikes on balls going across the inside line of the oppo batter box need to be publicly flogged. Doesn't mean I didn't enjoy Maddux, because if I am coaching a pitcher and I know the umpire is a tool, I'd fully expect my pitcher to attack out there where he's giving the call.

I have some video somewhere of Maddux at 18 or 19 and he was 90+ at that age BTW. It's very hard for a righty to even get a shot if they are below 90, but once he got there he stayed long past the time when the velocity dropped off.

[WiscTribeFan]

You don't win 355 games in The Show simply because some umpires had a liberal strike-zone in the 90s.

I'd read an article that talked about his approach, and how he'd set hitters up for later in the season by pitching a certain way in certain situations in spring training games.

That's why he won 355.

[hebner20]

This was an awesome preformance. A complete game shutout in 68 ptiches. This was back in 1976. see below.


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _76133594/

[motherscratcher]

^^^nice link there. Sound like Randy Jones might have more Madduxes than Maddux.