Maddux

In an effort to divert my mind from the horrors of last night's game (Santana giving up 7 earned runs?! I said, "What is this?!" and Dad said, "It's baseball") I thought I'd pass on the following, from George Will:

One year in spring training, facing a Met who had hit him hard the previous season, Maddux told teammates he would throw dinky sliders to encourage the Met to hit a home run. Maddux figured that hitters remember, and subsequently look for, what they crush. The Met homered—then, always looking for the same pitch, went hitless against Maddux in the regular season.

Leading 8-0 in a regular-season game against the Astros, Maddux threw what he had said he would never throw to Jeff Bagwell—a fastball in. Bagwell did what Maddux wanted him to do: he homered. So two weeks later, when Maddux was facing Bagwell in a close game, Bagwell was looking for a fastball in, and Maddux fanned him on a change-up away.

Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci collects such stories demonstrating Maddux's knowledge of hitters. Four times in one season, Maddux, while in the dugout, warned the man sitting next to him that the batter would line a foul into the dugout. Three times the batter did. Another time Maddux said on the bench: "Watch this. The first-base coach may be going to the hospital." The batter lined the next pitch off the coach's chest. Once with runners on second and third and two outs, Maddux's manager suggested an intentional walk. "Don't worry," said Maddux, explaining that on the third of his next pitches the batter would pop out foul to third. Maddux was wrong: The pop was a few feet fair.

I find this fascinating. It reminds me of Christy Mathewson, who said, "I always tried to learn about the hitters. Anytime someone got a hit off me, I made a mental note of the pitch. He'd never see that one again."

Thinking about Mathewson reminds me of Santana, too. Damon Runyon said this about Matty: "Mathewson pitched against Cincinnati yesterday. Another way of putting it is that Cincinnati lost a game of baseball. The first statement means the same as the second." For months we could have said the same. But gee, now he's lost twice; what do we do? :)

The Rooster Says:
Thanks for this great post, Melodee. I've always like Greg Maddux - a clear hall of famer with over 300 wins. He is universally known as not at all overpowering, but one of the most crafty and shrewd pitchers in the history of the game. He knows hitters like no other pitcher. Thanks for the confirmation of that!