Greg Maddux was not highly recruited back in the day. He wasn’t even the top pitching prospect in his own family as his brother Mike was bigger, stronger and considered to be more suited for a long career in Major League Baseball.
The cover of S.I summed it up best during his prime when they put him n the cover with the tagline, Looks like an Account, Pitches like an Assassin.
Going to Baseball games ⚾️ wasn’t part of my Family life as a child but I more than made up for it later on. This was especially true when it came to the end of Madduxs time in The Show.
In 1985, Maddux pitched for the Peoria Chiefs and it was during a visit to the Illinois city years later that I ran into someone who was working at the Stadium and we started up a conversation about Maddux. I was proud to say that I owned a jersey from every team that my Hero had pitched for and by the end of our long chat, the gentleman had created a retro 1985 Chiefs jersey that Maddux had worn.
The thing that made me appreciate Maddux was the fact that he knew that he was never going to be Big and Strong so it was about being Smarter. The stories that came up over the decades were endless and my favorite was the day that he called pitches for Brad Penny when they were teammates on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Back in 2006, when Maddux joined LA late in the season it was Penny that gave up his #31 jersey to the right-hander and then let Greg call his pitches during some of his starts.
In recent years, Emma Leath became the All-Time wins leader in the history of Carroll County High School Softball. It was very easy to call her the Greg Maddux of Softball because of her ability to win despite an average playing weight of 110 pounds 💷.
Location, Location, Location was the answer for Maddux and Leath. It was such a treat to have a great seat 💺for both carrers.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 